Université de Fribourg

Geodynamics, seismicity, and seismic hazards of the Caucasus

Ismail-Zadeh, Alik ; Adamia, Shota ; Chabukiani, Aleksandre ; Chelidze, Tamaz ; Cloetingh, Sierd ; Floyd, Michael ; Gorshkov, Alexander ; Gvishiani, Alexei ; Ismail-Zadeh, Tahir ; Kabanh, Mikhail K. ; Kadirov, Fakhraddin ; Karapetyan, Jon ; Kangarli, Talat ; Kiria, Jemal ; Koulakov, Ivan ; Mosar, Jon ; Mumladze, Tea ; Müller, Birgit ; Sadradze, Nino ; Safarov, Rafig ; Schilling, Frank ; Soloviev, Alexander

In: Earth-Science Reviews, 2020, vol. 207, p. 103222

Being a part of ongoing continental collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates, the Caucasus region is a remarkable site of moderate to strong seismicity, where devastating earthquakes caused significant losses of lives and livelihood. In this article, we survey geology and geodynamics of the Caucasus and its surroundings; magmatism and heat flow; active tectonics and tectonic stresses...

Université de Fribourg

Tectonics of the Neuchâtel Jura Mountains: insights from mapping and forward modelling

Rime, Valentin ; Sommaruga, Anna ; Schori, Marc ; Mosar, Jon

In: Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 2019, vol. 112, no. 2, p. 563–578

This study focuses on a geological section in the Jura Mountains across the villages of Travers, La Brévine in Switzerland, and Morteau in France. Field mapping was conducted to complement and densify existing data. A kinematically and geometrically consistent forward model has been developed to understand and interpret the observed surface structures. The proposed solution features a...

Université de Fribourg

Tectonics controls on fluvial landscapes and drainage development in the westernmost part of Switzerland: Insights from DEM-derived geomorphic indices

Radaideh, Omar M. A. ; Mosar, Jon

In: Tectonophysics, 2019, vol. 768, p. 228179

This work focuses particularly on the geomorphological evidence for the tectonic controls on the development of the present-day fluvial landscapes in the westernmost part of Switzerland. The tectonic deformation was evaluated on the basis of a combined analysis of several classical geomorphic indices (hypsometric curves and integrals, transverse topographic symmetry index, and channel's...

Université de Fribourg

Multi-scale imaging of a slow active fault zone: contribution for improved seismic hazard assessment in the Swiss Alpine foreland

Vouillamoz, Naomi ; Mosar, Jon ; Deichmann, Nicholas

In: Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 2017, vol. 110, no. 2, p. 547–563

Seismic hazard assessment of slow active fault zones is challenging as usually only a few decades of sparse instrumental seismic monitoring is available to characterize seismic activity. Tectonic features linked to the observed seismicity can be mapped by seismic imaging techniques and/or geomorphological and structural evidences. In this study, we investigate a seismic lineament located in...

Université de Fribourg

Seismotectonic analysis around the Mont Terri rock laboratory (Switzerland): a pilot study

Abednego, Martinus ; Blascheck, Patrick ; Schefer, Senecio ; Nussbaum, Christophe ; Joswig, Manfred ; Bossart, Paul ; Mosar, Jon

In: Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 2017, vol. 110, no. 1, p. 233–251

For this pilot study we used recorded seismic events from the SED permanent network and data from a dedicated SNS network to improve the seismotectonic understanding of very weak seismicity in the vicinity of the Mont Terri underground laboratory. We combined field data on faults with microseismic events and modelling of stress and focal mechanisms. Eighty-six events with very low magnitudes...

Université de Fribourg

Optimizing event detection and location in low‐seismicity zones: case study from western Switzerland

Vouillamoz, Naomi ; Wust-Bloch, Gilles Hillel ; Abednego, Martinus ; Mosar, Jon

In: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2016, vol. 106, no. 5, p. 2023–2036

Obtaining robust event catalogs in regions of low seismicity can be time-consuming, because quality events are less frequent and sensor coverage is generally sparse. Optimizing event detection and location in such regions is all the more crucial because these areas tend to host a higher density of sensitive infrastructures. The meth- odology proposed consists of reprocessing existing data...

Université de Fribourg

Detection and analysis of morphotectonic features utilizing satellite remote sensing and GIS: An example in SW Jordan

Radaideh, Omar M.A. ; Grasemann, , Bernhard ; Melichar, Rostislav ; Mosar, Jon

In: Geomorphology, 2016, vol. 275, p. 58–79

This study investigates the dominant orientations of morphological features and the relationship between these trends and the spatial orientation of tectonic structures in SW Jordan. Landsat 8 and hill-shaded images, constructed from 30 m-resolution ASTER-GDEM data, were used for automatically extracting and mapping geological lineaments. The ASTER-GDEM was further utilized to automatically...

Université de Fribourg

The eastern Black Sea-Caucasus region during the Cretaceous: New evidence to constrain its tectonic evolution

Sosson, Marc ; Stephenson, Randell ; Sheremet, Yevgeniya ; Rolland, Yann ; Adamia, Shota ; Melkonian, Rafael ; Kangarli, Talat ; Yegorova, Tamara ; Avagyan, Ara ; Galoyan, Ghazar ; Danelian, Taniel ; Hässig, Marc ; Meijers, Maud ; Müller, Carla ; Sahakyan, Lilit ; Sadradze, Nino ; Alania, Victor ; Enukidze, Onice ; Mosar, Jon

In: Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 2016, vol. 348, no. 1, p. 23–32

We report new observations in the eastern Black Sea-Caucasus region that allow reconstructing the evolution of the Neotethys in the Cretaceous. At that time, the Neotethys oceanic plate was subducting northward below the continental Eurasia plate. Based on the analysis of the obducted ophiolites that crop out throughout Lesser Caucasus and East Anatolides, we show that a spreading center...

Université de Fribourg

Multiple detachments during thin-skinned deformation of the Swiss Central Jura: a kinematic model across the Chasseral

Schori, Marc ; Mosar, Jon ; Schreurs, Guido

In: Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 2015, vol. 108, no. 2-3, p. 327–343

Combining field observations, cross-section area balancing techniques and kinematic forward modelling, we present new insights into the evolution of the Jura fold-and-thrust belt in the Chasseral area between Lake Biel and the Vallon de St-Imier, in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. Our results show that the structures of the Chasseral area and the associated regional uplift can be explained by...