Associate professor of active tectonics at GM, University of Montpellier.
He uses all means available to study active tectonics and geodynamics. He started with GPS and numerical modeling and added geomorphology combined with terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides to overcome GNSS lower limits for intraplate deformation. His study areas encompass the Himalayan-Alpine belt with a special interest for the African-Arabian-Eurasian plate boundary and the Mediterranean region.
Lecture Title: When recent GNSS velocity fields challenge our understanding of the Euro-Mediterranean geodynamics and active seismotectonics.
Lecture Abstract
Sailing around the Mediterranean, we will stop in three places where GPS and GNSS velocity fields have brought unexpected results challenging our understanding of the Earth and the forces responsible for active tectonics over the last decade. We will stop in Anatolia and its surprising co- and post-seismic displacements of the Mw7.8 and Mw7.6 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes on February 6, 2023. The GNSS observed displacement fields diverge from the models and bring new information on the plate motions of the region, the peculiar rheology of the Anatolian plate and question the way the seismic hazard should be revisited along the North Anatolian fault. Then we will sail due west to Morocco where deep processes trouble the surface velocity field and blur the plate boundary deformation. These results illustrate the fact that separating the plate boundary motion signal from deeper processes related to delamination is not so easy. Finally, anchoring our boat along the southern French shoreline, we will see that we can go beyond the individual station precision. It will allow significant progress in the use of GNSS velocity fields to better understand intraplate domains where surface processes can play an important role on fault loading and seismotectonics.