Earth Observatory of Singapore

Studies focused on tectonic activity along the Sumatran Fault zone (SFZ), which traverses the entire 1900-km length of Sumatra, are still lacking. The SFZ is segmented and the slip rate varies for each segment, but rates are poorly known, particularly at the southern end of the SFZ.

“We scientists usually think we know everything,” said Dr Wang Yu, a Research Fellow at the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), “but when we go into the field, we start to realise that actually farmers have most of the important knowledge about the land, and that we are just visitors with lots to learn.”

Today is World Tsunami Awareness Day. It is a timely opportunity to create greater global awareness about tsunamis as a geological hazard.

Our multi-disciplinary project explores the paleotsunami record in northwestern Aceh Province, Sumatra. We are focusing on an extraordinary sedimentary deposit in a coastal limestone cave that contains a series of tsunami deposits separated by guano, and offer a nearly complete mid-Holocene record of tsunamis. Our investigations will be incorporated into tsunami hazard modelling and risk assessment along the western...