Near Surface Geophysics and Earthquake Hazards

The group uses passive seismic surface-wave methods to assess thickness and softness of upper layers of the earth (2m thick to 2km thick) in order to compute ground-motion amplification in the event of an earthquake, or to map thickness of soft sediments as an aid to engineering design studies.  Other methods used by the group include ground-probing radar, electrical resistivity and electromagnetic sounding methods.
At a site west of Erzincan (eastern Turkey)  Prof Michael Asten (at right) of Monash University stands on the Eurasian geotectonic Plate, while graduate students Fatma Nurten Sisman and Shaghayegh Karimzadeh (at far left) of the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, stand on the Anatolian Plate.  The North Anatolian Fault dividing the hills underlies the highway and is one of the most earthquake-active plate boundaries on Earth.