Neotectonics at the Jackson School of Geosciences

What is Neotectonics?
Neotectonics is the study of recent deformation of the earth’s crust. On a geologic time scale, this “new” deformation of the Earth’s crust has occurred over the past few million years and includes the movement of active faults that are responsible for producing large earthquakes and tsunamis. As human populations grow, especially in densely populated coastal areas, there is an increased need to understand the causes and effects of active fault movements including large and destructive earthquakes, rapid coastal uplift and submergence, terrestrial and submarine landslides, and waves (tsunamis) produced by sudden submarine fault displacements or slumps. Seismology, or the study of earthquakes, is perhaps the best known specialty of neotectonics. However, the need for understanding fault history has created new and growing specialties that integrate more geologic approaches like excavating and logging faults and studying coral reefs in coastal areas.

Neotectonic Research Areas

• Marine Geophysics

• GPS Geodesy

• Tsunamis

• Seismology

• Tectonic Geomorphology

• Coral Tectonics

• Paleoseismology