Objective This project combines fundamental and applied research to investigate the risk of stress-related environmental geohazards in the south Caspian and Caucasus region. The south Caspian and Caucasus region is seismically active area that is home to over 15.5 million people- yet the region is seismically active and is under constant threat of earthquakes and associated natural hazards such as landslides and mud volcanoes. Furthermore, the region's extensive infrastructure (factories, nuclear power plants, refineries, pipelines, tunnels), which is critical for the regions economic development, is also highly vulnerable to earthquakes and associated geohazards.This proposal focuses on the hypothesis that seismic and related geohazards result primarily from stress-controlled fault reactivation, which leads to fault slippage and associated ascension of volatile fluids to the surface. Hence, the primary goal of the project is to develop an understanding of the contemporary state of tectonic stress in the Caucasus-Caspian area, and thus, develop a map of slip tendency values (reactivation risk) for the region's major faults. Slip tendencies estimate the relative risk of fault reactivation by calculating the ratio between shear stress (which causes fault slip) and normal stress (which resists fault slip) along the fault plane.The determination of fault reactivation risk involves four key parts:a) a systematic examination of potential stress-related geohazards in the South Caucasus;b) a detailed compilation and analysis of the contemporary tectonic stress pattern;c) the mapping of active and inactive faults (for validation of results), and;d) analytical and numerical modelling of slip tendencies.The second main goal of this project, directly linked to the first, is to use the slip tendency analysis to highlight areas, towns and infrastructure that are at the highest risk of geohazards. This aspect of the project will involve the combination of stress related geohazards (the slip tendency analysis) with other potential geohazards in the region. Hence, this project will combine the data and results from different, and often fragmented, archives throughout the region into one publicly useful database. Furthermore, additional, and essential part of this geohazard risk assessment will be the development of a practical method for disseminating this information to public decision makers so that effective strategies and actions can be taken to prepare for and minimise damage due to geohazards.The final goal of this project is the fostering of international linkages between project partners in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Germany and Italy. Hence, in addition to the potentially vast social, economic and environmental benefits of geohazard assessment, the close collaborative nature of the project will also provide unique opportunities for training and development of staff and students from all the project organisations. Keywords Elasticity Geodynamics Seismic Process Tectonics Programme(s) IC-INTAS - International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), 1993- Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator UNIVERSITÄT KARLSRUHE EU contribution No data Address HERTZSTRASSE, 16 KARLSRUHE Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (4) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES Armenia EU contribution No data Address MARSHAL BAGRAMIAN AVE., 24A YEREVAN See on map Total cost No data INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY OF AZNAS Azerbaijan EU contribution No data Address H. JAVID PROSPEKT, 29 BAKU See on map Total cost No data INSTITUTE OF GEOPHYSICS OF GEORGIA Georgia EU contribution No data Address M. ALEKSIDZE, 1 TBILISI See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITÀ DELLA BASILICATA Italy EU contribution No data Address VIA DELL'ATENEO LUCANO, 10 POTENZA See on map Total cost No data
