Session I details: (Seismo-)tectonics

Conveners: Boris Kaus (U Mainz), Onno Oncken (GFZ/FU Berlin)
Keynote Speakers:

  • Kelin Wang (Geological Survey Canada, Victoria, BC): Thermal Expressions of Stick-slip and Creeping Subduction Megathrusts
  • Bertrand Maillot (U Cergy-Pontoise): The long-term evolution of fold-and-thrust belts: Consistency of numerical approaches and physical experiments

In the past decade, several large to great earthquakes have occurred (e.g. Sumatra 2004, Sichuan 2008, Haiti 2010, Japan 2011) that appeared in different aspects as surprises to our then current understanding of the world’s seismo-tectonic behaviour. Such events now belong to the group of very thoroughly observed earthquakes investigated with integrated instrumentation and field observation encompassing seismology, geodesy, and tectonic geomorphology. These investigations have dramatically increased our understanding of the seismic cycle and triggered new visions of how tectonic deformation is accumulated through many of them. Numerical and physical simulation in particular are benefitting from these results and are beginning to reveal driving mechanisms contributing to an advancement in theoretical understanding. We particularly solicit contributions that add to this development and to an improved understanding of the relationship between deformation accumulation at a wide range of temporal scales.