President: Carlo Bartolini, Dip. Sc. della Terra, Via G. La  Pira 4, 50121 Firenze,   Italy.
e-mail: c.bartolini@geo.unifi.it
Fax: 0039.55.218628. Tel: 0039.55.2757522.

Vice-President: Clifford Ollier, 8 Dry Street, Curtin, ACT,  2605 Australia.
 e-mail: cliffol@cres.anu.edu.au

Secretary: Iain S. Stewart. Dept. of Geology, Brunel  University, Borough  Road, Isleworth, London TW7 5DU, U.K.
e-mail: iain.stewart@brunel.ac.uk
Fax: 0044.181.8918237. Tel. 0044.181.8910121.
 
 

        W.G. I - Formalization of neotectonics maps.
        Coord.: I. Mariolakos (Athens) and P. Silva (Salamanca).

        W.G. II - Paleoseismicity: methods, criteria and dating.
        Coord.: A.M. Michetti (Rome) and F.M. Audemard (Caracas).

        W.G. III - Mountain building.
        Coord.: F. Dramis (Rome) and N.- A. Mörner (Stockholm).

        W.G. IV - Coastal tectonics
        Coord.:  C. Zazo (Madrid), P. Pirazzoli (Meudon-Bellevue) and  I. S. Stewart (Isleworth).

        W.G. V - Tectonic hazards
        Coord.: K. Okumura (Higashi), S. Pavlides (Thessaloniki).

 Neotectonics deals with any crustal movement or deformation which occurred (or it is likely to occur) in time-scales ranging from instantaneous (seismic events), 10 - 102 y. (geodetic monitoring), 102 -  104 y. (Holocene), 104 -  5.106 y. (Plio - Pleistocene).  Geodynamic mechanisms, the regional tectonic context and the societal implications (as, for instance, seismic hazard and the storage of nuclear waste) are among the research areas being investigated by Commission members and working groups.
 
 

The present inter-congress period has been an extremely busy and fruitful one for the Neotectonics Commission, with the working groups engaged in a number of high-level collaborative research ventures. Three major scientific volumes have been published on the topic of Neotectonics by Commission working groups, and this, alongside the regular organisation of international geoscientific meetings and workshops, means that the Commission can justly claim to be at the forefront of research in this theme. Further conferences and special edited volumes are planned beyond Durban meeting. For example, Commission members are currently planning an international workshop on ‘Earthquake potential in low-seismicity regions of Europe’ in Belgium (March 13-16 2000) and a special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews (Eds: I. Stewart, J. Sauber & J. Rose) is already arranged on the topic of ‘Ice sheets, crustal deformation and seismicity’ (Symposium 10.6 at INQUA XV). In both these and other areas, major international research programmes are planned involving Commission members. In summary, the Neotectonics Commission continues to be an important international driving force in both pure and applied research into recent crustal movements, and future ventures look forward to fostering neotectonic studies in regions outside the European domain where its core membership currently lies, and in taking up the challenges of identifying ongoing and recent crustal deformation in a more diverse range of tectonic settings.

 The main scientific activities and events organised by, or in partnership with, the Neotectonics Commission during this period were:

1996

• • International meeting on the May 13 1995 Kozani-Grevena earthquake, Kozani, Greece, May 24-26. Convenor: S. Pavlides (WG V).
• • Lignes de rivage et zones côtieres au Quaternaire, Perpignan, France, December 2 - 4. Convenor: P.A. Pirazzoli (WG IV).

1997

• Late Quaternary Coastal Tectonics held in London, UK, 18-19 June. Convenors: I. Stewart (WG IV) & C. Vita-Finzi.

A mid-intercongress business meeting of the Commission was held during this conference. The minutes of the meeting are published in the Neotectonic Commission’s Bulletin and on the Commission’s WWW site (http://www.letras.up.pt/geograf/minute.html).

• Recent crustal movements of coastal regions: new geodetic, geologic and geophysical results. Open session at European Geophysical Society XXIII General Assembly, Nice, France, 20-24 April. Convenors: P.A. Pirazzoli (W.G. IV) & L. Bastos.
• Fission-track analysis: theory and application. Workshop held on May 19, in Florence, Italy. Convenor: M.L. Balestrieri (W.G. III).
• Formalization of Neotectonic Maps. Workshop held in Patras, Greece, 28 May - 2 June. Convenors: I. Mariolakos (W.G. I) & P. Silva (W.G. I).
• The resolution of geological analysis and models for earthquake faulting studies. Workshop held in Rome and Camerino, Italy, 3 - 6 June. Convenor: A. Michetti (W.G. II)
• Rapid coastal changes in the Late Quaternary, processes, causes, modelling and impacts on coastal zones. Conference/ final meeting of IGCP Project 367 held in Corinth/Samos, Greece, 10-20 September. Convenors: S. Stiros & P.A. Pirazzoli (W.G. IV).

1999

• An international workshop and field excursion on Uplift, sea level changes, paleoseismicity, climate, coastal dynamics is planned in southern Sweden in May. Leader: N.A. Mörner (WG III)
• Large-scale vertical movements and related gravitational processes - international workshop, Rome-Camerino, Italy, 21-26 June. Convenors: Bartolini, C. (Pres.), Dramis, F. (WG III), N-A. Mörner (WG III), C.D. Ollier (Vice Pres.) & I.Stewart (WG IV).
• Interaction between tectonic and Earth surface processes - Symposium G6 at the European Union of Geosciences 10th Assembly, Strasbourg, 28 March - 1st April , France. Convenors: I.Stewart (WG IV), P.A. Allen & K. Lambeck.
• Palaeoseismicity in Europe - Symposium J7 at the European Union of Geosciences 10th  Assembly, Strasbourg, 28 March - 1st April , France. Convenors: N-A. Mörner (WG III), A.  Michetti (WG II) & I.Stewart (WG IV).

 Two research projects proposed by the Commisison were approved and funded by the INQUA Executive Committee in April 1997. These are:
 

• Multi-proxy high-resolution studies of earthquakes in Mediterranean coastal and lacustrine environments. Leader: I. Stewart (UK)
• Timing and rates of uplift affecting the Apenninic Chain. Leaders: C. Bartolini and M. Boccaletti (Italy)  (Project finished in 1997)

The results are separatedly reported. It should be noticed that the effort spent in project setting  drained an overwhelming amount of energy.

1997
‘Geomorphology and Quaternary evolution of Central Italy’, 4th International Conference on Geomorphology, Excursion B5, Bologna, 28 Aug. - 3 Sept. Leaders: Raffy, J., Blumetti, A.M., Ferreli, L. Michetti, A.M. (WG II)

1998
‘The Pollino and Castrovillari Faults: Geomorphic and geologic expression of recent faulting. NATO Workshop on ‘Natural and Anthropogenically Induced Hazards’, Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, May. Leaders: Michetti, A. (WG II) & Blumetti, A.M.

1998
‘The resolution of geological analysis and models for earthquake faulting studies’, Rome and Camerino, Italy, 3 - 6 June. Leader: Cello, G., Deiana, G., Ferreli, L., Mazzoli, S., Michetti, A.M. (WG II), Serva, L., Tondi, E., Vittori, E.

1998
‘Records of Late Pliocene and Quaternary sea-level changes in coastal settings, Southeast Spain’, 15th International Sedimentological Congress Excursion A7, Alicante, Spain. (Joint with INQUA Shorelines Commission). Leaders: Zazo, C. (WG IV), Bardaji, T., Dabrio, C.J., Goy, J.L. & Hillaire-Marcel, C.

1998
‘Late Quaternary coastal changes in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece: tectonics, earthquakes, archaeology. Corinth, Greece, 14 - 16 Sept. Leaders: S. Stiros & P.A. Pirazzoli (WG IV).

1998
‘Late Quaternary coastal changes in Samos Island, Greece: morphotectonics, palaeoseismology, archaeology’. Corinth, Greece, 16 - 19 Sept. Leader: S. Stiros.

 An updated survey of the Commission membership undertaken by the Chair and Secretary in 1996-1997 has revealed that there are presently 162 active members of the Commission. Since the bulk of these members are now contactable via e-mail, an electronic mailing list has been established to permit the rapid and wide dissemination of information about the Commission’s activities and events.
 
 

W.G. I - Formalization of Neotectonic Maps

 N.-A. Mörner reported orally at the Corinth Business meeting that there had been much progress in the activities of this group, culminating in the successful summary workshop held in Patras, Greece, in 1998.  The results of questionnaires sent to 350 scientists were presented and discussed at this meeting and, on the basis of this, discussions are continuing about the future direction of research within this group.

W.G. II - Paleoseismicity: methods, criteria and dating

Since the last INQUA Congress the Working Group on Paleoseismicity carried on two main activities: 1) in the period August 1995 - August 1997 the editing of the Proceedings of the Symposium on Paleoseismicity (hold at the XIV INQUA Congress, Berlin, August 3-10,1995); and 2) in the period September 1997 - June 1998 the organization of the Workshop-Field Trip on the "Resolution of Geological Analysis and Models for Earthquake Faulting Studies", that took place in Camerino, June 3-6, 1998.
 

1)  Proceedings of the Symposium on Paleoseismicity, XIV INQUA Congress, August 3 to 10, 1995, Berlin.
 

 A collection of scientific papers presented at the Berlin Symposium on Paleoseismicity has been included in the following Special Issue of Journal of Geodynamics:

Hancock, P.L. & Michetti, A.M. (Eds.) 1997. Paleoseismology: Understanding Past Earthquakes Using Quaternary Geology, J. Geodynamics, Volume 24, Numbers 1-4, September-December, 304 p., Pergamon Press, Oxford, Great Britain.

 The 20 papers in the Special Issue represent some of the 30 oral and 8 poster contributions presented during the 4 half-day session (August 8 through 10) of the Symposium, that was attended by 50 participants from 14 different countries. The INQUA Vice-President, Yoko Ota, kindly prepared a Foreword for the Special Issue. The contributed papers cover not only interdisciplinary fields of science (archaeology, history, geology, geomorphology, pedology, seismology, tectonics), but also refer to various parts of the world, such as Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America.

2)  Workshop - Field trip on the "Resolution of Geological Analysis and Models for Earthquake Faulting Studies"
 

 The recent earthquake sequence in Central Italy (September 1997 - April 1998), that had the Colfiorito basin as main epicentral area and attracted the global attention because of the serious damage suffered by many artistic towns such as Assisi, raised a considerable interest on the study of earthquake geology. The ground effects of the earthquakes, and in particular the evidence for surface faulting, were studied in detail by several research groups, and allowed to substantiate paleoseismological interpretations for seismic hazard assessment. For this reason, the Paleoseismology WG sponsored the event of an international meeting organized by the University of Camerino and ANPA (Italian Agency for Environmental Protection), which took place from June 3 to 6, 1998, including a two days field-trip in the Central Apennines and oral-poster presentations in Camerino. About 70 participants from 7 countries convened in Roma on June 3, to begin the excursion along the most important normal faults that show evidence for historical earthquake surface faulting in Central Italy (Fucino, Piani di Pezza, Norcia, Colfiorito). On June 5 to 6, 30 oral communications and 15 posters were presented during the scientific session in the Palazzo Ducale of Camerino.

The presentations covered all the geological methodologies of surface faulting studies, providing case-histories from different tectonic settings worldwide, including Asia, Europe and North America. During the meeting, a field-trip guide-book and an abstract volume were distributed. The proceedings of the meeting will be published in the internationally recognised Journal of Geodynamics.

3) the participation in a joint research proposal, the"HERACLES project", coordinated by Iain Stewart, for seeking funds from the European Commission (March 1997);

4)  the organization of a field trip in the Fucino Basin during the post-congress excursion in the Central Apennines of the Fourth International Conference on Geomorphology (Bologna, August-September 1997);

5)  the organization of a field trip in the Pollino area during the ESF Conference on "Frequency-magnitude relationships in earthquake and fault populations: implications for seismic hazard" (Acquafredda di Maratea, May 1998); and

6)  the publication of scientific papers.
 

 The circulation of information from the WG was also greatly enhanced by the availability of INQUA web sites on Internet. First we had a page devoted to our WG on the INQUA Home page thanks to the kind help of Prof. Silvy Haldorsen; through this page since September 1997 it was possible to obtain an extended abstract of the introduction paper for the J. of Geodynamics Special Issue cited above and the relative list of contents. Recently, after the creation of a specific Home page for the Neotectonics Commission, thanks to Maria Assuncao Araujo we had the Circulars of the Camerino Workshop promptly available to the scientific community. Moreover, the Paleoseismology Page of the USGS kindly posted the Camerino Workshop Announcement, thanks to the kind help of Alan Nelson. We also took advantage from several e-mail list servers, such as Eq-geo-net, Geomorphylist, Quaternary listserver and Geohazards.

W.G. III - Mountain-building

 N.A. Mörner reported orally at the Corinth Business meeting that research over the last few years had revealed considerable new insights into mountain building process at a global scale. The topic had benefitted from major conferences in China and Canada and Mörner commended the role of the Commission, and in particular its Vice-President C. Ollier, in raising the profile of this important area of study. C. Bartolini is actively working on this topic since the early 90's.
 

W.G. IV - Coastal tectonics

 Activities in this working group have centred round the organisation of international conferences and the editing of associated conference volumes.

1) In addition to convening the Lignes de rivage et zones côtieres au Quaternaire meeting, Pirazzoli is currently editing a thematic set of papers emerging from the EGS session on Recent crustal movements of coastal regions: new geodetic, geologic and geophysical results. This will appear as a special issue of Physics and Chemistry of the Earth.

2) Papers emerging from an Commission-funded conference on Late Quaternary Coastal Tectonics have been published as a thematic set of  papers in the following Special Publication of the Geological Society of London:
 

Stewart, I.S. & Vita-Finzi C. (Eds) 1998. Coastal Tectonics, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 146, 352p.

The Special Publication describes the application of high-resolution coastal records to developing and testing tectonic models. The case studies are at scales ranging from global to local, and deal with glacisostasy, relative sea-level change and seismic and aseismic crustal deformation at a variety of timescales. An international perspective presents a host of field data from contrasting parts of the world as well as novel modelling and analytical approaches. It is the only book that considers the topic with such scope.

Other activities undertaken by WG IV included:

3) Collaborative research activities with UNESCO-IUGS IGCP-367 on ‘Rapid Coastal Changes in the Late Quaternary’. (P. Pirazzoli)

4) Collaborative activities with the INQUA Commission on Quaternary Shorelines (C. Zazo). Among these, three main events should be mentioned:

- "Late Quaternary Coastal Changes in Northern Chile", Antofagasta, Chile, November 1995. Organized by: L. Ortlieb.
 Field trip leader: L. Ortlieb.
 Guide book: L. Ortlieb, 175 pp. Collaboration: J. L. Goy, C. Zazo, Cl. Hillaire-Marcel and G. Vargas.

- "Late Quaternary coastal tectonics".
 London, U.K., June 1997. Organized by: I. Stewart and C. Vita Finzi.
 Program Committee: T. Nunn, K. Berryman, D. Smith and C. Zazo

- "15th International Sedimentological Congress (IAS 1998)".
 Alicante (Spain), April 1998. Field trip, A-7 "Record of Late Pliocene and
 Quaternary Sea Level changes in coastal settings, Southeast Spain". Guide
 book, 19 pp. Leadered by; C. Zazo, T. Bardají, C. J. Dabrio,
 J. L. Goy and Cl. Hillaire-Marcel

W.G. V - Tectonic Hazards

 The main activity within this group has centred round the editing of a collection of papers presented during an international meeting ‘On the results of the May 13 1995 Kozani-Grevena earthquake (Greece)’, held in Kozani (Greece) 24-28 May 1996. From 27 submitted papers introducing an analysing the geology of the area, the seismological processes and the effects of the events, 22 were published in the following special issue of the Journal of Geodynamics:

 Pavlides, S.B. & King, G.C.P. (Eds) 1998. The Results of the May 13, 1995, Kozani-Grevena earthquake - INQUA Neotectonic Commisision parallel Session on Earthquake Geology. J. Geodynamics, Volume 26, 304 p., Pergamon Press, Oxford, Great Britain.

 Additionally, members of this working group have been engaged in a range of national and international research projects, though none of these are presently funded by INQUA.
 
 

 Due to staff cutbacks in the Editorial Office in Stockholm and the present policy of the Executive Commission, the Bulletin of the INQUA Neotectonics Commission, which has been issued yearly since 1978, was discontinued. The final volume, Vol. 19, was edited by N.A. Mörner and published in December 1996 with support from INQUA funds. It included 27 short reports and papers and numerous general notes and abstracts.

 The Bulletin has been a powerful medium for circulating science free of charge to the world's four corners, especially to those who cannot afford traveling and/or subscribing to highly specialized scientific reviews. Since 1997 an exhaustive web-page for the Commission has been set up and is kept updated by Maria Assunção Araújo (Porto University, Portugal). The web site is:

The information related to Commission activities is also circulated via e-mail to some 120 members.
 
 

 Several proposals for Commission symposiums, poster sessions and/or workshops for the 1999 Durban INQUA Congress were submitted to the Executive Committee in November 1997. Those accepted by the Executive Committee are:

Symposium 10.5

Ice sheets, crustal movements and seismicity: neotectonics of glaciated and deglaciated terrains. Convenor: I. Stewart (UK) & J. Sauber (USA)

Impact of tectonics on Earth surface processes. Convenors: C. Bartolini (Italy) & F. Audemard (Venezuela)

Quaternary geology, paleoseismology and seismic hazard for critical facilities such as Nuclear Power Plants. Convenors: A. Michetti (Italy) & L. Serva (Italy)

The following poster session was also co-proposed by the Commission:

Poster session (P9)

Extreme events in the Quaternary record. Convenor: A. Dawson (UK) & Bill McGuire (UK)