Author: Richard Walker

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research updates

Journey to the Roof of the World: how fast does the Pamir Frontal Thrust move?

Ben Johnson, a PhD student from the University of Oxford, describes his experiences from fieldwork over the summer of 2021. Read on to find out more about the Alai valley, glacial histories, and shortening across the northern margin of the Pamir.

The Pamir and Tien Shan are colliding along the Alai valley as part of the wider India-Eurasia continental collision. The Pamir are moving northwards along the Pamir Frontal Thrust (PFT), closing the valley. The rate of shortening across the PFT is contested, with short-term geodetic rates from GPS giving faster rates from those measured from palaeoseismology.
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Categories
research updates

Active faulting and earthquake hazard in Azerbaijan – a collaboration between Oxford University and the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

In November 2021 two of us (Ian Pierce and Richard Walker) were able to travel to Baku to begin a collaborative project between the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and the University of Oxford addressing regional tectonics, active faulting, and earthquake hazard. The project was due to begin in early 2020 but was postponed due to travel restrictions.

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