In the past two decades, unexpected and impactful moderate magnitude co-seismic surface rupturing earthquakes occurred in intraplate and low strain regions in Europe, North America, and Australia. Potential active and seismogenic structures in these regions have been frequently overlooked despite capable of hosting moderate-size to large damaging earthquakes. Poorly characterized fault Quaternary activity and seismogenic assessment are conditioned by long recurrence periods, frequently by a lack of Quaternary sediments, and sparse seismic and geodetic networks. Furthermore, older fault systems at these settings prone to reactivation favor active wide fault zones with distributed deformation within a previous deformed bedrock, masking subtle Quaternary deformation. Analyses and investigations for long-term deformation may be useful to recognize a built-in imprint of subtle deformation through time, and to corroborate tectonic activity, but these are under-utilized for seismic hazard analyses, which usually focus on shorter time scales. Evidence for long-term deformation analyses can be provided through geomorphic analyses and detailed geologic and paleoseismologic studies combined with geochronology and geophysical data. All of them may help to constrain regions with seismogenic potential or to reveal Quaternary cryptic structures and distributed Quaternary deformation. Short-term activity and deformation can be investigated using dense local seismic networks, which may further help to associate local instrumental seismicity with faults localization. Depending on the strain and period of observation, remote sensing and geodesy may also highlight noteworthy regions.
In this session, we welcome studies that focus on intraplate deformation using and/or testing methods to investigate surface and sub-surface evidence of Quaternary tectonic deformation and seismic sources characterization. These methods include but are not limited to geology, geomorphology, paleoseismology, geochronology, geophysics, observational/statistical seismology, seismic tomography, and remote sensing/geodesy. We encourage studies on indirect evidence of regional seismicity such as liquefaction, deformed stalactites, and patterns of regional landsliding.