DIAMENT , Michel

We present the aftershock activity following the February 15, 1994, Mw 6.8 earthquake which was strongly felt in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, near the Great Sumatran Fault (GSF). At this place, the slip rate is supposed to be low; neverthless, three M>6 events occurred along this segment during this century. No significant instrumental...

Knowledge of the position and motion of points on the seafloor can be critically important in both fundamental research (for example, global geodesy and plate tectonics) and for more practical applications such as seismic risk evaluation, off-shore construction and pipeline monitoring. In the Vanuatu subduction zone, for example, measuring...

We analyzed interseismic velocity fields along the Vanuatu arc subduction zone from more than 45 GPS station measurements spanning 15 years. Convergence with respect to the Australian plate (AP) is normal to the trench, with amplitudes that vary greatly from a maximum of 170 mm a−1 at Vanikoro to 27 mm a−1 facing the D'Entrecasteaux Ridge...

Decades of cruise-based exploration have provided excellent snapshots of the structure of mid-ocean ridges and have revealed that accretion is a mixture of steady-state and quantum events. Observatory-type studies are now needed to quantify the temporal evolution of these systems. A multi-disciplinary seafloor observatory site is currently...