The devastating earthquake that struck North Sumatra and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Boxing Day 26 December 2004 caused a tsunami that inundated coastal communities around the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people in 14 countries. That earthquake was caused by a slip on a subduction zone plate boundary fault beneath the eastern Indian Ocean.
Now, over the coming weeks, a team of international researchers are returning to offshore Sumatra to collect marine sediments, rocks and fluids from this particular zone for the first time to gain a better understanding of the materials and to collect data for predicting how they behave in fault zones to generate large earthquakes.
Throughout August and September the researchers, including experts from Ocean and Earth Science at the University, will spend two months on board the drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution as part of the International Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP). The Expedition, number 362 of the IODP, involves 33 scientists and two educators from 13 countries including Professors Lisa McNeill and Tim Henstock from the University. Professor McNeill is one of the Expedition leaders, along with Associate Professor Brandon Dugan of the Colorado School of Mines and Dr Katerina Petronotis of the IODP.
“We are very excited that the project is about to start as it has taken many years of preparation and the dedication of a large team of scientists from around the world,” said Professor McNeill.
“We have an excellent team on board and we hope the results will help us understand what controls the size of the very largest earthquakes on Earth, particularly following the enormous numbers of casualties due to subduction earthquakes and tsunamis in the last 10-15 years.
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