Stress transfer and Quaternary faulting in the northern Alpine foreland

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We propose to investigate the relationship between seismicity and the faulting behaviour of major faults in the Northern Alpine foreland region. This will be done interdisciplinary by means of seismology (exact and precise hypocentre determination, fault plane solution, and stress estimation) and neotectonics (remote sensing, near-surface geophysics, and geological field studies). Although the Alps and their forelands seem to have experienced major seismicity in the past, historical seismicity only find c. Mw 6.9 near the Upper Rhine Graben (URG), with uncertain epicentre(s) and causative fault(s). Only the Vienna basin has evidence for M~7 from paleoseismology. The bias between earthquake activity, (surface) rupture during major earthquakes and tectonic morphology in the northern foreland remains not understood; contributing factors may be i.e. deglaciation rebound, sediment loading, stress decoupling etc., however their quantitative influence is not sufficiently known.We focus our studies on three areas in the first term of the SPP: the Albstadt Shear Zone (ASZ), the Molasse basin (MB) and the southern half of the URG. High resolution seismicity studies (hypocentres, fault planes, stresses) will help to understand the surficial expression of faults and long-term slip rates. Overall, the study will reveal how the deformation is distributed and if the reactivation of faults is preferred over the formation of new ones in this structurally complicated and highly populated area. The seismology work will be based on recordings from the AlpArray network, the KIT KABBA datacentre and the state earthquake surveys, this offers a unique chance to study the local seismicity in details. The discrepancy between the tectonic morphology and the absence of seismicity will be studied by neo- and active tectonic studies that will focus on young landscapes (post-glacial) and also the youngest fault deposits. All research themes are closely related to SPP 4D-MB and AlpArray.