CNIC/Caucasus: Regional Collaboration on Seismology

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OISE 11-33000This project supports a two-week planning visit for faculty from the University of Missouri-Columbia (Eric Sandvol), Michigan State University (Kevin Mackey) and Oregon State University (John Nabelek) to meet with scientists at the Russian Geophysical Survey in Obninsk and with scientists of the seismic surveys in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. The primary goal of the visit is to lay the foundations for a major multi-national seismic experiment that will help address fundamental questions about the nature of continental deformation in this poorly understood region.The Caucasus is a tectonically and structurally complex region. It is perhaps the best example of a very young continent-continent collision zone. Due to a lack of quality data, the region has largely been unexplored in terms of the detailed lithospheric seismic structure. These researchers will begin to remedy this problem by establishing a series of collaborations that will take advantage of the many newly deployed seismic stations that form the various national seismic networks in the region. The broader impacts of this project include improving seismic hazard assessment in an area where thousands of lives and billions of dollars are at risk from recurrent devastating earthquakes.