New book on Ancient Earthquakes

Geological Society of America
Ancient Earthquakes
Editors: Manuel Sintubin, Iain S. Stewart, Tina M. Niemi, Erhan Altunel
2010, 280 p., $85
ISBN 9780813724713

Ancient earthquakes are pre-instrumental earthquakes that can only be identified through indirect evidence in the archaeological (archaeoseismology) and geological (palaeoseismology) record. Special Paper 471 includes a selection of cases convincingly illustrating the different ways the archaeological record is used in earthquake studies. The first series of papers focuses on the relationship between human prehistory and tectonically active environments, and on the wide range of societal responses to historically known earthquakes. The bulk of papers concerns archaeoseismology, showing the diversity of approaches, the wide range of disciplines involved, and its potential to contribute to a better understanding of earthquake history. Ancient Earthquakes will be of interest to the broad community of earth scientists, seismologists, historians, and archaeologists active in and around archaeological sites in the many regions around the world threatened by seismic hazards. This Special Paper frames in the International Geoscience Programme IGCP 567 “Earthquake Archaeology: Archaeoseismology along the Alpine-Himalayan Seismic Zone.”

GSA offers free downloads of papers on Haiti

2010 Haiti Earthquake and the Enriquillo-Plaintain Fault

In response to the  earthquake that struck southern Haiti, the Geological Society of America has made 14 relevant scientific papers available via open access (free).  These papers address the Caribbean plate and the Enriquillo-Plaintain fault line. 

Onthe GSA page, click on the article title, then the free text or pdf download.

Thank you, GSA. With the new semester upon us, these should be useful in the geology classroom.