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Geohazards

...understanding the full chain from hazard to risk

The principal solid Earth geohazards are earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. Additional hazards can occur as meteorite impacts from space. Hazards occur on very different time and space scales that strongly depend on local geological conditions, making each one of them challenging to assess and forecast. It is of utmost relevance to decipher their underlying causes and the physical processes that drive them, to understand the full chain from hazard to risk.

Key questions demanding our immediate attention

  • What are the drivers initiating and controlling earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and mass movements?
  • How do we distinguish faults, volcanoes and potential landslides that present an immediate threat from those with low hazard?
  • How do we build a better quantative understanding of physical processes, allowing us to provide advanced warning time to mitigate the risk associated with geohazards?

Projects addressing Geohazards

GONAF

A Deep Geophysical Observatory At The North Anatolian Fault

STAR

A Strainmeter Array Along The Alto Tiberina Fault System

SAFOD

San Andreas Fault Zone Observatory At Depth

KOYNA

Probing Reservoir Triggered Earthquakes At Koyna, India