IASPEI SYMPOSIA

S01 Observational Seismology – Open Session

Convener: Torsten Dahm (Germany)
Co-convener(s): Domenico Di Giacomo (UK), Johannes Schweitzer (Norway)

The Commission on Seismological Observation and Interpretation (CoSOI) covers a broad spectrum of observational and theoretical seismology, and organises and coordinates several topic-oriented symposia to focus discussions and presentations.
The open session in CoSOI provides space for any topics not already covered in the focused symposia. We invite presentations from all areas of CoSOI, including new developments for integrating non-seismological data into seismic observations. This year, it is also a forum for the presentation and discussion of methods for standardisation and automation of (near real-time) seismic data processing and interpretation including all CTBT related topics.

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S02 International, National, Regional and Local Networks and Earthquake Data Centers: Highlights and Challenges

Convener: Dmitry Storchak (UK)
Co-convener(s): Kristine Pankow (USA)

National and regional seismic operation centers play an important role in monitoring for natural earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other phenomena, such as induced seismicity. The products generated by these centers, from raw waveforms to earthquake catalogs are used by a wide variety of stakeholders, including researchers, emergency management agencies, policy makers, educators, regulators, and the general public.
This symposium focuses on the important role that earthquake centers play in advancing scientific study, especially as it relates to local and regional hazard; integrating new technological advances in data acquisition and processing; and communicating earthquake hazard and risk.
We welcome contributions describing new and evolving networks, data policies and data sharing, new processing algorithms, hazard assessments, and novel education and outreach initiatives. Other topics that highlight current advances and challenges for earthquake operation centers are also of interest.
Potential outcomes of the symposium may include summary publications, organized advocacy, and frameworks for closer collaboration.

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S03 Seismic Scattering and Absorption, Ambient Noise, and Monitoring Earth’s Structure

Convener: Hisashi Nakahara (Japan)
Co-convener(s): Ulrich Wegler (Germany)

Seismic scattered waves or coda waves carry rich information on heterogeneities within the Earth. Amplitude information from coda waves has been used to estimate the spatial distribution and the frequency dependence of the strength of scattering attenuation and intrinsic absorption in the Earth. Recently, ambient noise cross-correlation has also been used to study seismic structure in the Earth thanks to the development of seismic interferometry. Time-lapse imaging or monitoring of the Earth has been conducted using tiny changes in phase information of cross-correlation functions of ambient noise and coda waves. Increasing the spatial and temporal resolutions of the imaging will help to understand the Earth’s heterogeneities and dynamics. In this session, we would like to widely invite presentations related to theoretical and observational studies of attenuation, coda waves, ambient noise, and their applications to the imaging and monitoring Earth’s heterogeneous structure.

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S04 Advancements in observation, processing and interpretation of seismological data

Convener: Francesco Grigoli (Italy)
Co-convener(s): Mostafa Mousavi (USA), Aitaro Kato (Japan)

Observational seismology is currently undergoing a revolution both concerning new types of instruments and processing paradigms. Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and Large-N nodal arrays, in combination with classical seismological instruments, led to a dramatic increase in the volume of available seismic data. On one hand, this data explosion gives us the possibility to further advance our understanding of tectonic and earthquake processes but, on the other hand, it highlights the limits of the current standard routine seismic analysis, often performed manually by seismologists. The combination of big datasets, new monitoring instrumentations, and novel processing methods, including improvements in rapid communication of scientific results, are leading to breakthroughs in many fields of seismology. For instance, AI-based methods for seismic data analysis are now able to detect at least 10x the number of earthquakes as current operational best practice and reduce the magnitude of completeness by a full magnitude unit, revealing hidden patterns associated with the earthquake generation processes. Waveform-based methods have also grown in popularity and their extensive application is dramatically improving our capability to characterize seismicity in near real-time. Such techniques are particularly useful when working with data sets characterized by large numbers of weak events, with low signal-to-noise ratios, such as those collected in induced seismicity, seismic swarms, and volcanic monitoring operations.
However, the results of these automatized processing approaches may have errors when their uncertainties are not carefully evaluated, suggesting future research focus directions. Last but not least, the real-time application of these techniques is especially valuable for the robust implementation of early warning systems in gravitational wave detectors, which are vulnerable to transient noise from high-magnitude teleseismic events or moderate regional earthquakes, potentially disrupting their operations for extended periods. This session aims to bring to light new methods that can be applied to large data sets, either retroactively or in (near) real-time, to characterize seismicity (i.e., perform detection, location, magnitude, and source mechanisms estimation) at different scales and in different environments. We thus encourage contributions that demonstrate how the proposed methods help improve our understanding of the earthquake processes or improve seismic monitoring operations.

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S05 Frontiers in Fiber-Optics Sensing in Seismology

Convener: Verónica Rodríguez Tribaldos (Germany)
Co-convener(s): Hsin-Hua Huang (Taiwan), Cecilia Clivatti (Italy), Meghan Miller (Australia)

In recent years, a wide variety of fiber-optic sensing technologies have emerged as a novel and revolutionary tool in seismology. Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) converts fiber-optic cables into ultra-dense arrays of seismic sensors that can record the unaliased seismic wavefield along distances of 10’s of km, providing opportunities for local and regional subsurface imaging and monitoring at unprecedented spatial resolution in challenging environments such as boreholes, urban areas, volcanoes, or glaciers. Novel approaches based on the analysis of optical phase changes from ultrastable laser signals, the state of polarization (SOP) of regular telecommunication traffic, or optical phase changes obtained as by-product of phase-noise cancellation (PNC) approaches routinely conducted in metrological networks are extending the range of fiber sensing to several 1000s of km, demonstrating the potential of transoceanic fiber-optic cables as a tool to improve earthquake detection and early warning offshore. Along with technological developments, advances in data processing and analysis methods, machine learning approaches and numerical modeling tools enable mining these new, and sometimes massive, datasets.
This session will span a wide range of topics related to fiber-optic sensing methods in seismology and geophysics, including but not limited to: developments in theoretical and methodological aspects of fiber-optic sensing, novel processing and data handling approaches, case studies from fiber-optic sensing experiments worldwide, and insights gained from fiber-optic sensing measurements in the context of other types of seismological/geophysical datasets. We invite contributions from research related to all aspects of fiber-based sensing.

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S06 Pre-Instrumental Earthquake Data

Convener: Kenji Satake (Japan)
Co-convener(s): Paola Albini (Italy)

Evidence of global seismic activity from instrumental records covers about one century, too short a period to catch the recurrence interval of large earthquakes. Historical seismological studies and macroseismic intensity data have significantly expanded backwards in time our knowledge of the seismic behaviour of many areas in the world. Paleoseismological studies of inland active faults, as well as coastal geological studies on tsunami deposits or marine terraces, and marine geological studies on deep-ocean turbidites, have provided important information for the past occurrence of pre-instrumental earthquakes, too.
The combination of data deriving from these three domains would result in a better vision of the long-term seismicity, which may be utilized for long-term forecast. However, challenges are still posed to researchers on how to best derive earthquake parameters from originally non-seismological observations of earthquake effects, as it is the case of both macroseismic and geological data.
This session welcomes contributions suggesting new prospects related to these topics, such as case studies of historical and paleoseismological records, their unfiltered association to specific events as well as their usual parameterization in seismological terms, or their combination with modern instrumental data, or any further issue on long-term seismicity analysis and forecast of moderate and especially of large earthquakes.

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S07 Anthropogenic Seismicity

Convener: Beata Orlecka-Sikora (Poland)
Co-convener(s): Stan Lasocki (Poland), Harsh Gupta (India), Yusuke Mukuhira (Japan)

Human activities such as constructing artificial reservoirs, engaging in various mining operations, extracting hydrocarbons, and producing geothermal energy are increasingly recognized as significant triggers for earthquakes under specific geological conditions. The socio-economic impact of these anthropogenic seismic events is profound, with potential outcomes ranging from structural damage and economic losses to serious injuries and fatalities. Notably, earthquakes exceeding magnitude 5 have been linked to underground mining in South Africa and India, hydrocarbon exploitation in the USA, Russia, and China, and geothermal operations in South Korea. This highlights the urgent need for a deeper understanding of these phenomena.
This session aims to unravel the complexities of anthropogenic seismicity, providing a platform for presenting detailed case studies and pioneering research that illuminates the origins and mechanisms of these events. We seek contributions that deepen understanding of the conditions conducive to induced earthquakes and advance practical approaches for hazard assessment, risk mitigation, and management strategies in affected regions.
Join us in exploring the multifaceted challenges of anthropogenic seismicity, where multidisciplinary research converges to safeguard our communities and environments from the impacts of human-induced earthquakes.

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S08 Recent Advances and Challenges in Environmental Seismology

Convener: Graça Silveira (Portugal)
Co-convener(s): Martin Schimmel (Spain), Joana Carvalho (Portugal), Elenore Stutzmmann (France), Daniela Kühn (Norway)

Over the last few years, environmental seismology has emerged as a key field in understanding natural hazards and climate change.
By leveraging seismic technologies, we can gain crucial insights into the dynamics of the Earth’s systems and develop effective strategies to monitor and mitigate environmental challenges.
We invite submissions on environmental and non-impulsive seismic phenomena, as well as presentations on innovative data processing and analysis methods related to volcanic eruptions, environmental landslides, groundwater dynamics, geothermal fields, the safety of geological CO2 storage sites, and tailings, among many others.
Contributions from researchers in fields outside of seismology, such as geology, hydrology, hydrogeodesy,  geotechnical engineering, and environmental science, are also strongly encouraged, as interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial for tackling complex environmental challenges.

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S09 Cryoseismology

Convener: Andreas Köhler (Norway)
Co-convener(s): Masaki Kanao (Japan), Wojciech Gajek (Poland)

Insight into cryospheric dynamics is of utmost importance to a wide spectrum of scientific fields, from glaciology and polar climate research to projections of sea-level rise. During the last decade, a growing volume of literature has been establishing cryoseismology as a very appropriate interdisciplinary tool to answer questions on diverse dynamic processes in the cryosphere, from ice-shelf crevassing and iceberg detachment, to glacier surging, basal stick-slip and tidally induced grounding-line migration, as well as phenomena related to subglacial water flow. In addition, techniques such as seismic interferometry and H/V spectral ratios of ambient noise have been emerging as potent tools to gain knowledge on the structure of shallow ice layers and changes in the permafrost. We invite submissions which cover the full gamut of “cryoseismology”. We encourage contributions treating the observation and modeling of seismic signals involving dynamics of ice sheets, sea ice, icebergs and glaciers, as well as changes to the thermal and physical structure of permafrost and snow. We invite submissions on case studies, development of survey techniques, advances in the processing, integration with other geophysical methods or in-situ observations, as well as new technologies such as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) with fiber optics. We invite contributions on all topics of cryoseismological research, covering both the Arctic and Antarctica, as well as mountain glaciers in temperate climates.

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S10 Volcano seismology

Convener: Pinar Büyükakpinar (Germany)
Co-convener(s): Ivan Lokmer (Dublin)

Improving our knowledge of the evolution of magmatic and fluid systems and their mechanisms is a major goal in volcano seismology. In recent decades, the field has undergone a revolution thanks to innovations ranging from developments in monitoring, large-N seismic networks and advanced analysis techniques to machine learning. These innovations have been crucial in developing comprehensive models of eruption mechanics, fluid dynamics and earthquake swarms for volcanic unrest. Despite these advances, important questions remain about source processes, volcanic structure, and the interplay between seismicity and volcanic activity.
This session will focus on volcanic seismology and invites contributions in the following areas:
(i) High resolution tomography for imaging subsurface volcanic and fluid systems.
(ii) Large-N seismic networks for monitoring and analysing earthquake swarms and their associated with volcanic unrest,
(iii) Seismic arrays for mapping the spatio-temporal properties of long-period (LP) seismicity,
(iv) Moment tensor inversions to determine source mechanisms, faulting processes and magmatic fluid dynamics,
(v) Spectral analysis of LP events to characterise the acoustic properties of magmatic and hydrothermal fluids,
(vi) Experimental and numerical modelling of volcanic tremor signals,
(vii) Integration of seismic, geochemical and machine learning approaches to understand fluid-driven seismicity, volcanic unrest and earthquake swarms.
This session aims to address key challenges in volcano seismology, focusing on the physical processes of fluid flow, magma ascent and fracture extension driven by water and/or gas. Discussions will focus on new methods, the design of future monitoring networks or short-term.

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S11 Disaster risk reduction for the built environment and resilient societies

Convener: Danijel Schorlemmer (Germany)
Co-convener(s): Emily So (UK), Fatemeh Jalayer (UK), Maria Luisa Sousa (Portugal), António A. Correia (Portugal)

The substantial reduction of disaster risk and live losses, a major goal of the Sendai Framework by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) requires a clear understanding of the risks a society is exposed to, the dynamics of the built environment and its vulnerability and how it affects, in case of disasters, the life of communities, represented by local governments and individuals. These dynamics are best understood and captured by local communities, following two of the guiding principles UNISDR formulated: “empowerment of local authorities and communities” and “engagement from all of society”. Moreover, communities that participate in risk assessments increase their understanding of efficient risk mitigation measures.

Understanding the hazards, their potential impact and the methods to measure and quantify them are the necessary tools to develop strategies and techniques to reduce risk and mitigate the impacts of disasters. These encompass methods to assess the hazards but also to characterize the built environment and social fabric. Such methods need to consider the time evolution of hazards, the changes of the built environment and the reasons behind the changes, and also economic and societal developments.

We invite contributions from all areas of disaster research and approaches to increase resilience or mitigate the disaster effects, with special focus on damaging earthquakes and their interactions with other natural hazards (e.g., tsunamis, landslides, flooding) and their societal consequences. These can be but are not limited to machine-learning procedures to characterize the built environment, vulnerability modeling for the built environment, data-driven vulnerability and loss modeling (e.g., using sensors, empirical vulnerability modeling), loss and consequence models, validation of vulnerability and loss models, multi-hazard inputs for risk assessment, multi-hazard vulnerability models, community-based resilience strategies, and educational approaches to disaster risk reduction.

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S12 Toward the next generation of earthquake ground-motions models, ShakeMaps and macroseismic scales

Convener: Fabrice Cotton (Germany)
Co-convener(s): David Wald (USA)

The aim of this session is to provide a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art as well as innovative ideas and methods using the latest generation of open ground-motion and macroseismic datasets, data-mining analysis, and HPC to evaluate, predict, and visualize ground motions, their spatial correlations, and to relate peak ground motion metrics to intensities or damage.

We invite contributions related to the:
1. Estimation of earthquake ground motions and associated uncertainties (aleatoric and epistemic) and spatial correlations,
2. Improvement of current ground-motion models by integrating physics-based models and AI methods,
3. Development of transparent and innovative methods for testing and visualizing ground-motion models,
4. Modernization of conversions between ground-motions and intensities,
5. Collection of post-earthquake building-damage data and assignment of macroseismic intensities and in a modern framework and,
6. Incorporation of the above into rapid shaking maps.

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S13 Recent Devastating Earthquakes and rapid response after devastating events

Convener: Li Li (China)
Co-convener(s): Thorne Lay (USA), Johannes Schweitzer (Norway)

Since the IUGG General Assembly in July 2023, large, damaging earthquakes continue to strike globally, producing loss of life and destruction in many regions around the world. About 12 earthquakes with Mw ≥ 7 (NEIC/GCMT) have occurred globally as of September 10, 2024. These include the January 2024 Mw 7.5 Noto earthquake in Honshu, which occurred in the shallow crust above an intense long-duration seismic swarm, and the April 2024 Mw 7.4 Hualien earthquake, which is the latest major event in the collisional zone along the eastern coast of Taiwan. Major earthquakes have also struck the Philippines and other subduction zones in the western Pacific and along South America. Earthquake science is essential for revealing the nature of earthquake generation and for extracting lessons from these events to help society reduce the impacts of future events. Seismologists, Geodesists, Geologists and Tsunami experts have been cooperating to characterize the full earthquake cycle and to image the rupture process of earthquakes with steadily improving resolution. This session welcomes reports on all studies of recent large and/or devastating earthquakes with geodetic/seismological/tsunami techniques, including investigations of source process, slip distribution, damage, pre/co/post-seismic deformation, geological/geophysical structure around the source faults, tectonic implications, and other associated phenomena.

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S14 The 1755 Great Lisbon Earthquake, 270 years later: Earthquake and Tsunami Hazard & Risk in Portugal and the western central Atlantic

Convener: Susana Custódio (Portugal)
Co-convener(s): Luis Matias (Portugal), Marta Neres (Portugal), Rachid Omira (Portugal), Josep Batlló (Spain), Vitor Silva (Portugal)

The great Lisbon earthquake & tsunami of 1 November 1755 remains as one of the most significant events in earthquake and tsunami science. With an estimated magnitude of 8.5-8.7, the earthquake devastated Portugal, caused a tsunami widely observed across the Atlantic basin, and sparked the scientific minds of the epoch, causing an inflamed debate on the causes of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami. This event is considered by many as marking the birth of modern Seismology, considering the detailed and systematic questionnaire on the effects of the earthquake, as well as the rational organization of the relief & recovery efforts.

Given the lack of scientific instrumentation at the time, 270 years later several outstanding questions remain with no consensual answers, namely which fault or sets of faults generated the earthquake, what was its magnitude, what were the contributions of the ground motion, fire and tsunami to the observed destruction, etc… Over past years, many studies and lively discussions on this topic highlighted the difficulty in explaining the observations with a simple model, rather pointing to an earthquake & tsunami with some degree of complexity. In addition, these studies also unveiled a multitude of active faults in the southwest Iberia and Atlantic margins of Portugal, and their mainland counterparts, which together pose a significant risk to Portugal and the western central Atlantic.

In this session we welcome presentations from a broad range of domains that contribute to an improved understanding of earthquake and tsunami risk in Portugal and the western central Atlantic, namely: New analysis of historical datasets; Earthquake modeling, monitoring & warning; Earth structure, down from mantle dynamics up to the oceanic sediments; Tectonics & geodynamics, including the quantification of driving forces and deformation models; Tsunami modeling, monitoring, forecast & warning; and Hazard assessment & risk mitigation. We encourage insights from and for new data acquisition, novel technologies, new data processing techniques including ML, AI, and big data, and critically the integration of different datasets.

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S15 Earthquakes in low strain regions: Challenges, Advances and Opportunities – From field studies to seismic hazard assessment

Convener: Susana Custódio (Portugal)
Co-convener(s): Laurentiu Danciu (Switzerland), Beau Whitney (France), Andrea Walpersdorf (France), Michele Carafa (Italy)

Wide regions of distributed tectonic deformation are observed in the Earth, where fault slip rates are low. Intraplate earthquakes illustrate active yet low strain processes typical of deformation within the interior of plates. Earthquakes in these regions can reach large magnitudes and can, due to the crustal characteristics of these settings and lower preparedness, become disproportionately damaging compared to similar magnitude events along plate boundaries. Our understanding of earthquake processes in these regions is slowly maturing, however, quantifying the seismic hazard in these regions remains challenging.

The significant increase in seismological, paleoseismological, geological, and geodetic data collected in recent years has yielded high-quality data sets on earthquake hypocentral locations, focal mechanisms, fault slip rates, Earth structure, crustal stress patterns, and GNSS surface deformation. Collectively, these data are beginning to provide insights to better understand earthquake processes in low strain regions. Ongoing research in these regions are still grappling with fundamental questions that directly feed into the development of seismic hazard models and their societal applications. How can we identify “active” faults in regions of broad distributed deformation? How can we relate the characteristics of fault networks to earthquake potential, frequency distribution, and subsequently to seismic hazard? What is the role of fault interaction in long-term seismicity forecasts? How can the time-space variability of earthquakes in these regions be modeled? How can we integrate GNSS, seismic and geological data in physics-based models for future seismic hazard assessment?

In this session we welcome contributions that improve our understanding of seismogenesis and seismic hazard in regions of distributed low-strain deformation. We welcome theoretical, observational, and numerical contributions from a broad range of disciplines, including field geology, structural geology, seismology, paleoseismology, geodesy, rheology, crustal stress, geodynamics, modelling and seismic hazard assessment. We also encourage studies that use advanced technologies, such as machine learning, high-performance computing, and novel datasets and processing techniques, to address these complex issues.

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S16 Imaging seismic discontinuities in the mantle – from the mantle transition zone to D”

Convener: Morvarid Saki (Germany)
Co-convener(s): Lauren Waszek (Australia), Carl Martin (Netherlands), Christine Thomas (Germany)

Earth’s mantle comprises numerous seismic discontinuities at multiple depths from the upper mantle down to the core-mantle boundary, arising as a consequence of mineral physics phase transitions or thermochemical variations. Some of these boundary layers act to impede or promote convection at global or regional scales. Thus, mapping the detailed properties of their structures offers key insight into heat and material flux throughout the whole mantle, with implications for global geodynamical processes and geochemical reservoirs.
Over the last few decades, seismological studies have resulted in significant improvements in direct observations of boundary layers in the mantle across both global and regional scales. However, the origins (thermal, chemical) of some of these features are still debated. Combining seismic observations with further constraints from mineral physics, geochemistry, and geodynamics provides important clues on composition, temperature, and dynamic processes associated with these discontinuities.
This session aims to bring together scientists from different seismological disciplines to better understand the structure, composition, and influence of boundary layers in the Earth’s mantle, from the mantle transition zone down to the D” layer.

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S17 Decoding the Earth’s interior through seismic anisotropy: Implications from modeling and observations

Convener: John Keith Magali (France)
Co-convener(s): Jonathan Wolf (USA), Andy Nowacki (UK), Shubham Agrawal (USA)

Convective flow in the deep mantle controls Earth’s dynamic evolution, influences plate tectonics, and has shaped Earth’s current surface features. Present and past convection-induced deformation manifests itself in seismic anisotropy, which is particularly strong in the mantle’s uppermost and lowermost portions, and Earth’s core. Seismic anisotropy can be investigated through three key research domains: (1) Seismology, which has detected seismic anisotropy at various depths through the analysis of earthquake data, (2) experimental mineral physics, which characterizes mineral microstructures and how they influence the propagation of seismic waves in the laboratory, and (3) geodynamic modeling, which uses constraints from (2) to better understand the relationships between flow and the seismologically observed large-scale anisotropy. While a plethora of contributions have been made in the last decade, open questions with respect to the origin of anisotropy and its geodynamic interpretation still exist. Publicly available massive seismic datasets, which are growing faster than ever, the development of novel mineral physics experiments, and their implementation in geodynamic modeling approaches pose a unique opportunity to characterize and interpret seismic anisotropy globally, from the lithosphere down to the inner core. The aim of this session is to enable the exchange of multidisciplinary knowledge for all researchers working on seismic anisotropy. We invite submissions from a range of disciplines including – but not limited to – seismology, mineral physics, and geodynamic modeling. This provides a unique opportunity for individuals to share their insights, network with different geoscientists in the field, and gain valuable feedback on their work.

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S18 Earthquake Source Mechanics

Convener: Satoshi Ide (Japan)
Co-convener(s): Keisuke Ariyoshi (Japan), Simone Cesca (Germany), Daniela Kühn (Norway), Germán Prieto (Colombia), Dodla Shashidhar (India), Hongfeng Yang (Hong Kong)

Recent high-quality seismic and geodetic observations provide large data volumes, which enable accurate determination of earthquake source parameters (locations, magnitudes, durations, moment tensors, etc.) and detailed imaging of spatio-temporal deformation processes. In addition to traditional earthquakes including foreshocks, aftershocks, swarms, repeaters, deep-focus events, volcanic, and induced events, we now observe various slow earthquakes such as tectonic tremors, low-frequency earthquakes, and slow slip events. Furthermore, techniques for extracting information using inverse problems and machine learning have improved substantially, enhancing in turn the available information to infer stress state, fault geometry, and fluid movement around seismogenic regions. Based on such observations, we can numerically simulate the entire earthquake process from long-term tectonic loading and slow nucleation to rapid rupture propagation with strong motion radiation, utilizing high-performance computing. The validity of assumptions in these simulations is tested by data assimilation, laboratory experiments, and field observations. In this symposium, we invite contributions on data analysis and interpretation of earthquake source mechanics, on improvement and validation of analysis techniques, on theoretical and numerical modeling of dynamic ruptures and earthquake sequences as well as observational and experimental studies on the physics of earthquakes. Studies of recent large earthquakes and noteworthy seismic sequences are also welcome.

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S19 Thermochemical Heterogeneities in the Crust and Upper Mantle from Geophysical Approaches

Convener: Magdala Tesauro (Italy)
Co-convener(s): Fabio Cammarano (Italy), Juan Carlos Afonso (Netherlands), Javier Fullea (Spain)

Tectonic processes, which shape the surface of the Earth and cause its seismic activity, are driven by strong heterogeneities of density due to temperature and compositional changes in the crust and upper mantle. Knowledge of variations of these parameters in the lithosphere and sub-lithospheric mantle offers the opportunity to estimate other physical properties of the Earth, such as the rheology and is essential for understanding the evolution of the continental interiors. Seismic and other geophysical studies, such as gravity and magnetotelluric, provide essential insights into the physical properties of the crust and upper mantle at increasingly higher resolution. In particular, tomographic images of seismic velocity perturbations are a powerful tool to evidence variations of the crustal and lithospheric thickness and estimate temperatures, assuming a uniform composition. However, it is more challenging to derive temperatures taking into account compositional variations. For this aim, different types of geophysical (e.g., seismic data, geoid, gravity anomalies, elevation, surface heat flow, and gravity gradients) and petrological (e.g., xenoliths) data, have to be interpreted using interdisciplinary approaches. In this session, we welcome contributions that integrate seismic data with mineral physics, petrology, potential fields, and thermal constraints, to unravel the thermo-chemical conditions of the crust and upper mantle, with potential applications to tectonics, seismic hazard assessment, and resources exploration. We especially encourage contributions from young researchers and studies that focus on the interdisciplinary understanding of the physical state of the lithosphere.

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S20 Structure and evolution of Alpine-Mediterranean mountain belts and basins revealed by seismic large-scale passive experiments

Convener: Irene Molinari (Italy)
Co-convener(s): Thomas Meier (Germany), Claudia Piromallo (Italy)

The tectonic evolution of the circum-Mediterranean region is characterized by a complex interplay of oceanic subduction, continental collision, and backarc-spreading. This interplay has resulted in mountain ranges from the Betics-Atlas to Anatolia, known for their intense seismic activity, and in widespread intraplate and subduction-related volcanism. The geodynamic mechanisms driving these tectonic processes, such as continental mantle delamination, slab windows, asthenospheric flow, and mantle upwelling, remain debated.
In recent decades, the region has been the focus of extensive broadband, large-scale passive seismic experiments, conducted in a collaborative effort. The international AlpArray initiative (2015-2019) has generated a large amount of data to test the hypothesis that mantle circulation drives plate reorganization during collisions, impacting the structure, motion, earthquake distribution, and landscape evolution of the mountain belts over time. For instance, seismic anisotropy may reveal three-dimensional patterns of asthenospheric flow and lithospheric deformation; seismically active zones are clarified by homogeneous catalogs of seismic events with decreasing magnitudes of completeness; geodetic measurements give new insight into plate kinematics and vertical uplift. Integrating 3D geophysical imaging and results from various disciplines with geological observations and modeling offers insights into the time evolution of tectonic processes. This integrated 4D approach, initially applied to the Alps, has been expanded to the Pannonian-Carpathian region with the PACASE (2019-2022) experiment. At present, the AdriaArray (2022-ongoing) initiative is running an extensive seismic network to study the Adria plate, including the Apennines and Dinarides-Hellenides, to better understand plate-scale deformation and orogenic processes in this dynamic part of the Alpine-Mediterranean chain.
In this session are welcome contributions to showcase the latest findings, ongoing questions and methodological advancements in the circum-Mediterranean region, in the frame of the abovementioned projects.

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S21 Integrating Plate Tectonics, Volcanism, and Geodynamics: Insights from the Lithosphere and Underlying Mantle Structure

Convener: Chiara Civiero (Italy)
Co-convener(s): Matthew R. Agius (Malta), Alexander Koptev (Germany), Nicola Piana Agostinetti (Italy)

The origin and evolution of the continental lithosphere are closely linked to temporal changes in the dynamics of the Earth’s mantle and are thought to play a role in the source of volcanism. Mapping the mantle lithospheric structure in terms of seismic velocity, density, rheology, and other physical properties is crucial to better constrain the physical and chemical processes that it hosts and to link surface phenomena to the deep Earth’s interior.
This session welcomes submissions from a variety of fields dealing with lithospheric deformation and continental evolution, the origin and stabilization of ancient cratons, the formation of continental crust and lithosphere and connections to mantle plume processes, as well as studies of tectonically complex areas of the lithosphere, such as active margins, basins, and orogens. We invite contributions focused on applying geophysical (seismic, thermal, gravimetric, electromagnetic) methods, with an emphasis on integrated approaches and interpretations across different scales and disciplines. Early career scientists are encouraged to participate.

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S22 The main lithospheric discontinuities, Imaged by Seismic Anisotropy and Integrated Studies, and their influence on the Earth’s tectonics

Convener: Jaroslava Plomerova (Czech Republic)
Co-convener(s): Daniel Kalmar (Hungary), Laura Petrescu (Romania)

Lithospheric discontinuities, above all the Conrad (the upper-lower crust discontinuity), the Moho (the crust-mantle boundary), the MLD (the intra upper-mantle lithosphere discontinuity), or the LAB (the lithosphere-asthenosphere transition), are fundamental tectonic features offering key insights into structure and evolution of both the continental and/or oceanic plates. The prominent discontinuities broaden our view on plate-tectonic processes including the natural hazard. This session welcomes contributions that explore various geophysical methods of discontinuity imaging, particularly active and passive seismic, gravitational, magnetic ones and especially their combinations. We also invite case studies of the lithospheric boundaries at regional and global tectonic scales, as well as novel interpretations of lithospheric discontinuities from multidisciplinary perspectives, including geology, geochemistry, and geodynamics.

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S23 Seismology at High-school Classrooms

Convener: Raju Sarkar (India)
Co-convener(s): Aaron Velasco (USA), Xyoli Pérez-Campos (Mexico)

Low-cost seismographs are now being installed in schools around the world. Beyond their traditional role in seismic monitoring and seismological research, the installation of these instruments offers a unique opportunity to engage high-school students. By providing practical examples of seismology, students reinforce their learning in the classrooms, and at the same time, they get engaged in the field of Earth sciences, allowing students to start taking ownership of risk management in their surroundings.
This symposium aims to facilitate connections among various global projects, serve as a platform for exchanging experiences, and foster the creation of a network of high-school seismographs worldwide.

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