The basaltic Bolaven volcanic field covers 11,000 km2 of southern Laos and has erupted often in the past half-a-million years. Nonetheless, the exposure of populations and infrastructure to its volcanic hazards is unknown.
Earthquake Geology
Director Kerry Sieh’s principal research interest is earthquake geology, which uses geological layers and landforms to understand the geometries of active faults, the earthquakes they generate, and the crustal structure their movements produce. His early work on the San Andreas fault led to the discovery of how often and how regularly it produces large earthquakes in southern California.
More recently, his group has begun a study of the earthquake geology of Myanmar and New Guinea. Current research is especially focused on the subduction megathrust that produced the devastating giant Aceh-Andaman earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.
Latest Publications
"Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117, no. 3 (2020): 1346-1353.
"Reassessment of the 1907 Sumatra "Tsunami Earthquake" Based on Macroseismic, Seismological, and Tsunami Observations, and Modeling." Pure and Applied Geophysics 176, no. 7 (2019): 2831-2868.
"Earthquake-triggered 2018 Palu Valley landslides enabled by wet rice cultivation." Nature Geoscience (2019).
Events
10 Dec 2018 to 14 Dec 2018
10 Oct 2018 to 11 Oct 2018
Collaborators
Latest Projects
This project is a multi-lateral collaboration between several EOS researchers and colleagues at other research institutions to study the tectonics and earthquakes of Southeast Asia.
Awards
2018
Honorary Membership, Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
2017
AXA Fellowship
2014