Intraplate Earthquakes
Seismological Research Letters (SRL) is soliciting papers for a Focus Section on Intraplate Earthquakes.
More than a half century after plate tectonics provided an overarching framework to explain earthquakes along active plate boundaries, numerous theories have been proposed to explain where, why, and how often earthquakes occur well away from active plate boundaries, but a paradigm remains elusive. Even the classification of earthquakes away from active plate boundaries as “intraplate” raises issues, with potentially important distinctions between Stable Continental Regions and more actively deforming regions. Some of the largest known intraplate earthquakes themselves remain enigmatic, having occurred before the modern instrumental era. Hazard assessments are data-limited: low fault-slip rates relative to landscape modification rates result in poor discoverability of fault sources, characterization of source zones and earthquake recurrence rates is challenging in data-poor regions, earthquake catalogs require homogenization using uncertain magnitude conversions, and ground-motion models remain poorly constrained for large-magnitude events, particularly at near-source distances. Data from recent intraplate earthquakes around the world, from the M7.7 2001 Bhuj, India, earthquake 25 years ago to the M4.8 2024 Tewskbury, New Jersey, earthquake, have yielded both new insights and new questions.
We invite submissions from all disciplines that focus on topics including investigations of notable intraplate earthquakes, the seismotectonics of intraplate regions, neotectonic fault studies, seismic source characterization, intraplate ground motion datasets and models, and the translation of intraplate seismic hazard assessments into public policy and risk reduction.
Guest Editors:
- Trevor Allen, Geoscience Australia (Allen@ga.gov.au)
- Marcelo Assumpçāo, University of São Paulo (iasgusp@gmail.com)
- Oliver Boyd, USGS – Golden (olboyd@usgs.gov)
- Susan Hough, USGS – Pasadena (hough@usgs.gov)
- Felix Waldhauser, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (felix@ldeo.columbia.edu)
Deadline for Submission: 15 September 2025
Articles accepted to this SRL Focus Section on Intraplate Earthquakes will be published online soon after acceptance and collectively in print in the March 2026 issue. Papers will be reviewed as they are received and published online prior to the print issue.
In preparing manuscripts, authors must follow the SRL author guidelines at www.seismosoc.org/publications/srl-authorsinfo/. Papers must be submitted via the SRL online submission system (SRL online submission system (www.editorialmanager.
Please address questions about scientific issues to the guest editors or SRL Editor-in-Chief Allison Bent at srleditor@seismosoc.org. Submission-related questions should be addressed to the SRL Editorial Office at srl@seismosoc.org.