GAST project starts

15 March, 2017

A new project "interdisciplinary earthquake hazard research in Gulf of Aqaba and Strait of Tiran (GAST)" has started with a kick-off meeting at KAUST on 8 March.  The GAST area has most significant earthquake hazard in Saudi Arabia, which is due earthquakes on the Dead Sea fault system, which extends from the Red Sea, through the Strait of Tiran, along the entire Gulf of Aqaba and all the way north to Turkey. In this project we plan various activities for improving knowledge of the location and geometry of active faults in the GAST region and its overall tectonics, as well as obtaining new information about how frequent and how large major earthquakes in the area likely are. The project is funded by a competetive research grant (CRG) from the office of sponsored research at KAUST.

​ The Co-PIs in the project are:

Sigurjon Jonsson, KAUST
Yann Klinger, Institut de Physique du Globe (IPG) - CNRS, Paris, France 
Frederic Masson, IPGS/EOST – University of Strasbourg, France 
Sherif El-Hanafy, KAUST 
Ulas Avsar, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey
Martin Mai, KAUST 
Alice Gabriel, Ludwig-Maximilian University (LMU), Munich, Germany