Led by Dr. Tobias Diehl, the seismotectonics group studies the relationship between earthquakes, individual faults, and tectonic processes in Switzerland and other tectonically active regions worldwide. The field of seismotectonics mainly incorporates information from precise earthquake locations, focal mechanisms, structure and properties of the lithosphere imaged by passive and active seismic data, geodesy, and geology.
A core task of seismotectonic analysis at the SED is the determination of focal mechanisms of earthquakes from seismic records. The group’s work is crucial to conducting probabilistic seismic hazard assessments. A special focus lies on the seismotectonic processes in the northern Alpine foreland since this region is targeted for future underground waste repositories.
Seismotectonic research is carried out in close collaboration with geologists from different Swiss universities (e.g., University of Bern) and non-academic partners (e.g., swisstopo, Nagra). The group is also involved in deploying seismic instruments and real-time monitoring tasks. In collaboration with other groups of the SED, the seismotectonic group is responsible for the regular earthquake reports published in the Swiss Journal of Geosciences.