PALEOSEISMOLOGY AND GEOMORPHIC IMPLICATIONS OF QUATERNARY EARTHQUAKES IN ARID AUSTRALIA

Machette and colleagues conducted paleoseismic studies of Quaternary faults in Australia and were amongst the first to document the episodic long-term behavior (earthquake clusters separated by quiescent intervals of 10,000 to >100,000 yrs) typically thought to characterize stable intracontinental region faults. Since these studies, hundreds of previously unrecognized Quaternary faults have been documented across the Australian continent and paleoseismic investigations have been undertaken on many of these structures. By combining paleoseismic, geomorphic and geochronologic approaches, an improved understanding of the relationships between intraplate faulting and arid region geomorphology has emerged. In this paper, I present some of the recent research highlights from across the Australian continent and discuss how some of the work emerging from Machette et al.'s studies has led to a better undertanding of the geodynamic and geomorphic evolution of the 'ancient' continent.