A specialist discussion meeting of the RAS.
Organised by Shamita Das (Oxford)
Summary: Even though the possibility that earthquakes can rupture at speeds exceeding the shear wave speed of the medium was theoretically shown in the 1970's; convincing observations have only occurred in the last decade. Laboratory experiments have shown how the associated “Mach fronts” can result in high ground motion (analogous to the sonic boom generated by supersonic airplanes), this has opened up a new insights for earthquake hazard assessment. These advances will be discussed at this meeting.
Invited speakers include Raul Madariaga (ENS, Paris), Ares Rosakis (Caltech), Michel Bouchon (Grenoble), Ralph Archuleta (UC Santa Barbara), Andrea Bizzari (INGV, Rome), Peter Mozco (Bratislava) and David Robinson (RAS Winton Capital Awardee 2010, Oxford).
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