Fold-and-thrust belts are a characteristic structural unit that forms at convergent plate boundaries. The active folds and thrusts usually develop at the piedmont and within the foreland basins of mountain belts, where human population, fertile lands, infrastructures and economic centers also commonly concentrate, hence exposed to seismic hazard. Coastal areas are also exposed to tsunami hazard when active structures lie underwater. Besides, foreland basins and fold-and- thrust belts represent a significant host for fossil energy resources. These general characteristics are valid for southwestern Taiwan. To better live with these hazards, this project proposes to constrain the location and geometry of active structures and explore fault seismic behavior. This kind of database allows calculating probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) maps, designed to predict ground shaking and used to establish building codes. More specifically, this project offers to look into the contribution of aseismic deformation in the densely populated Tainan and Kaohsiung area. Indeed, if aseismic deformation is dominant, the earthquake hazard is considerably reduced, in spite of rapid deformation rates. The outcomes of this project will be shared with the Taiwan Earthquake Model (TEM) project, which aims at characterizing the potential fault-sources of earthquakes across the island and produce PSHA maps, and with the E-DREAM research center (Earthquake Disaster and Risk Evaluation and Management Center, e-dream.tw/en/about-us/) that aims to bring closer Earth scientists and engineers in charge of natural hazards mitigation.
