PRESEISMIC

The earthquake nucleation process is how it all begins; it is the initial rupture of the fault. Studying the birth of earthquakes is important for characterising fault mechanics and, ultimately, for understanding if seismic events are forecastable. However, earthquake nucleation is poorly understood. Near-fault observations offer a unique opportunity to capture the genesis of earthquakes. The EU-funded PRESEISMIC project will develop new methods assimilating various datasets to investigate the preparation of earthquakes. The project will apply a unified approach to study the contribution of seismic and aseismic deformation during the genesis of large earthquakes around the world (e.g. Chile, California). Beyond the study of tectonic faults, these methods will be valuable to monitor other active environments such as volcanoes.