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SSA welcomes and encourages the free exchange of ideas and welcomes your comments and questions on our social media pages.

The Seismological Society of America (SSA) is an international scientific society devoted to the advancement of seismology and the understanding of earthquakes for the benefit of society. It is our goal to provide productive and engaging spaces for the community. We reserve the ability to delete posts that contain the following:
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Commenters who post any of these types of comments may be permanently banned from the SSA page.

10/29/2026

📣 PRESS RELEASE 🌟 OPEN ACCESS 🌟 The 24 June 2026 Venezuela Earthquake Sequence: A Multifault Mw 7.6 Supershear Rupture on the Boconó and San Sebastián Faults Constrained by Near‐ and Far‐Field Observations

The June 24, 2026 Venezuela earthquake sequence ruptured across two fault segments and reached supershear velocities along one of the faults.

In an new study, researchers from Universidad de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, UCSC Concepción, Universidad Central de Venezuela, and Fundación Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismológicas conclude the unusual duration of ground shaking felt during the magnitude 7.6 event—about 70 seconds—may have been related to this multi-fault process. For more, please visit the paper and accompanying press release.

PRESS RELEASE: https://www.seismosoc.org/news/venezuela-earthquake-ruptured-on-two-faults-and-reached-supershear-velocities/

PAPER: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/tsr/article/6/4/433/799148/The-24-June-2026-Venezuela-Earthquake-Sequence-A?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=papers

10/28/2026

Please help us welcome Jeroen Ritsema as the new editor-in-chief for The Seismic Record! Learn more about Jeroen and the critical role plays among journals: https://buff.ly/duDX60j

10/28/2026

Multisensor Observations of Shallow Rupture and Surface Deformation of the 2025 5.4 Xinlong Earthquake on a Previously Unmapped Normal Fault in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau

When moderate-magnitude earthquakes strike, surface expression is usually subtle and localized. Characterizing seemingly imperceptible clues can require observations across multiple spatial scales.

In a new paper, a team from China University of Geosciences, Wuhan University,, Tianjin University, University of Leeds, and Zhuzhou Space Interstellar Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. investigated the 2025 magnitude 5.4 Xinlong earthquake that occurred on the eastern Tibetan plateau. They used multisensor geodetic and geological observations, including satellite data, UAV photography, field mapping, and seismic constraints. Results showed that multisensor observations spanning spatial scales can constrain shallow rupture-related deformation associated with this earthquake.

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article/doi/10.1785/0220260231/769106/Multisensor-Observations-of-Shallow-Rupture-and?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=papers

10/27/2026

Santiago Rabade was on the academic track, with an interest in seismic imaging, until an internship with Zanskar changed his plans. Read more about what happened next in this month's SSA At Work!

https://buff.ly/Xs7oeKW

10/27/2026

📣 PRESS RELEASE 📣 A Low‐Cost Tool for Communicating the Time‐Critical Feasibility of Near‐Field Tsunami Evacuation: A Proof of Concept in Viña del Mar, Chile

People living in coastal communities sometimes have only minutes to reach a safe spot after an earthquake-triggered tsunami. But will the evacuation route that they’ve chosen lead them to safety?

In a new study, researchers from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso demonstrate that the safety of these routes strongly depends on how soon after an earthquake people begin to evacuate. The team built a low-cost tool that combines data from GPS tracks, collected from participants in community evacuation drills in Chile’s Viña del Mar, with models of inundation from the type of tsunami expected in this central region of the country.

Specifically, they found that if people began to evacuate immediately after the start of the earthquake, 100 of the 119 trajectories studied would have allowed people to reach safety before being inundated. But if they waited eight minutes after the earthquake’s origin before evacuating—roughly when a tsunami warning would be issued—only 49 of the trajectories would have led to safety.

For more, please visit the press release and paper.

Press release: https://www.seismosoc.org/news/a-low-cost-tool-can-help-people-plan-successful-evacuation-routes-during-a-tsunami/

Paper: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article/doi/10.1785/0220260245/799120/A-Low-Cost-Tool-for-Communicating-the-Time?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=papers

10/26/2026

Introduction to the Special Section on Advancing Physics‐Based Ground‐Motion Simulations for Seismic Hazard Applications

This Special Issue of contains 27 articles that illuminate the rapid progress made in the field of physics‐based ground‐motion simulations. According to the guest editors, from INGV Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi, University of Canterbury, The University of Tokyo / UTokyo, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Politecnico di Milano, these papers illustrate the breadth of scientific questions that can now be addressed.

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article/116/5/1765/785886/Introduction-to-the-Special-Section-on-Advancing?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=papers

10/25/2026

🌟 OPEN ACCESS 🌟 A Spectrum of Elastic and Inelastic Distributed Surface Deformation: Remote Observations of the 2026 Venezuela Earthquakes

On June 24, 2026, two major earthquakes struck northern Venezuela along the right‐lateral Boconó and San Sebastián faults, initiating on land west of Morón. The events caused intense shaking and damage. Preliminary subsurface slip estimates suggest that the rupture propagated more than 215 kilometers, with 70% of the rupture offshore.

In a new paper, a team from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, Venezuela, investigated the surface deformation near five coastal towns intersecting the fault. They accomplished this task via mapping and subpixel correlation of high-resolution optical imagery. For findings, please visit the paper.

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/tsr/article/6/4/400/793463/A-Spectrum-of-Elastic-and-Inelastic-Distributed?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=papers

10/24/2026

10/23/2026

🌟 OPEN ACCESS 🌟 Ground‐Motion Intensity in Caraballeda During the 24 June 2026 Mw 7.5 Venezuela Earthquake Estimated from CCTV Video

On June 24, 2026, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Venezuela, causing massive damage in Caraballeda, a city on the country's northern coast. In the city and within 10 kilometers of the rupture, no strong‐motion records were obtained.

In a new paper, a team led by scientists from the Universidad de Chile estimated the time history and intensity of the ground‐motion pulse that struck Caraballeda from two closed‐circuit television (CCTV) recording. The team tracked the frictional sliding of a traffic delineator post and the oscillation of a light pole. They inferred peak ground velocity of 202 centimeters per second and an incremental velocity of 366 centimeters per second, comparable with the most intense ground motions ever recorded. These findings are consistent with the near-simultaneous collapse of eight buildings visible in the footage.

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/tsr/article/6/4/411/793476/Ground-Motion-Intensity-in-Caraballeda-During-the?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=papers

10/22/2026

📢UPDATED CALL FOR PAPERS📢 is soliciting papers for a Focus Section on the 2026 Venezuela, Colombia and Panama Earthquakes

Deadline for Submission: 21 December 2026

On 24 June 2026, an earthquake doublet occurred in northern Venezuela, west of Caracas. A magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred approximately 21 kilometers east-northeast of San Felipe, Venezuela, followed 30 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake 17 kilometers west of Catia La Mar, Venezuela. The location, shallow depth (10 kilometers) and strike-slip mechanism are consistent with rupture along the San Sebastian fault system extending along the northern coast of Venezuela, near the plate boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates. A vigorous aftershock sequence is ongoing.

Less than a month later on 10 August 2026, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurred in western Colombia five kilometers south of San José del Palmar, at a depth of approximately 110 kilometers. The earthquake originated in a region of eastward subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate. While intermediate-depth earthquakes cause less intense shaking than shallow earthquakes of the same magnitude, the 10 August earthquake led to shaking over a wide area, and triggered landslides and liquefaction.

On 9 October 2026, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred near Pitaloza Arriba, Panama. This was followed by numerous reported aftershocks, including a magnitude 6.8 earthquake west of Río Grande, Panama. The earthquake’s focal mechanism indicates left-lateral strike-slip faulting, consistent with the style of deformation commonly observed along the complex plate boundaries around the Panama microplate.

While different in character, the three earthquake sequences caused significant deaths, casualties and infrastructure collapse in their respective countries, and recovery and restoration efforts are ongoing.

Research on these earthquakes will improve our understanding of source processes and regional tectonics and also identify methods for improved response and mitigation. We invite papers on topics including but not limited to focused source studies; geological and engineering reconnaissance; relocation and stress transfer; aftershock patterns; liquefaction; mass wasting events; intermediate-depth earthquake dynamics; impact assessment from crowdsourced data; early warning; implications for regional and local hazard; and societal impacts of the earthquakes, including lessons for enhancing earthquake resilience in vulnerable communities.

https://www.seismosoc.org/publications/calls-papers/srl-call-for-papers-18/

Guest Editors

Franck Audemard, Universidad Central de Venezuela
Benazir Orihuela, ETH Zürich
Omar J. Pérez, Universidad Simón Bolívar
Jorge G. F. Crempien, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Carlos E. Reinoza Gómez, CICESE
Manuel Alberto Florez, Universidad Industrial de Santander

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