Call for Abstracts: Seismic Triggering Session at SSA 2026

[Hajaji Salgado, Sonia]

We invite you to submit abstracts to our session: “Action at a Distance: Understanding Seismic Triggering” at the 2026 Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California (14-18 April).

We want to hear about your research into observations, causes, and messaging about the propensity of earthquake deformations and seismic waves to initiate other geophysical phenomena (earthquakes, landslides, liquefaction, eruptions, etc.) We hope to assemble a collection of studies that reveal commonalities and differences between types of triggering from field and laboratory observations to theoretical models and risk communication.

Session Overview and Topics of Interest
A variety of geological/geophysical phenomena may follow shaking or deformation by earthquakes. Examples of triggered phenomena include other earthquakes (including aftershocks, foreshocks, swarms, etc.), volcanic eruptions, mud volcanoes, landslides, geysering, seiches, and liquefaction. While the underlying physical processes involved may not be universal, triggering can be described as a sudden departure from an equilibrium state followed by a return, often gradual, to a new equilibrium. Triggering only initiates the disequilibrium process, rather than providing the energy that powers it, so the triggered site must be close to disequilibrium, or "ripe". An enhanced understanding of triggering could improve characterizing geohazards, communicating them to stakeholders, understanding cascading events, and mapping the state of internal Earth forces and materials. Yet recognizing and understanding triggering is tricky, in part due to the difficulty of determining if a purportedly triggered event would have taken place had the triggering event not happened. Inferences of triggering, which inherently are probabilistic, are challenged by the fact that Earth processes are slow and recurrence intervals are long relative to the observational record. Moreover, the relevant Earth observations are generally difficult to acquire and imprecise. At a target site, triggering presumably involves both the triggering event's deformational products (i.e., seismic waves, quasi-static deformation), and the relevant and sometimes altered conditions (often involving fluids). Assessing the ripeness of a triggered site may be particularly challenging. Given this broad topic and the hope of unifying a disparate and difficult subject, we invite contributions related to understanding the elements or observations of triggering. This includes theoretical studies, field observations, laboratory studies, and communication to stakeholders of triggering potential in the aftermath of an earthquake.
Abstract Deadline: January 13, 2026, 11:59 PM Pacific Time (US)

Submit at: https://meetings.seismosoc.org/submit/

Conveners
Paul Bodin, University of Washington (bo...@uw.edu)
Esteban J Chaves, Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (esteban....@una.ac.cr)
Joan Gomberg, U.S. Geological Survey (gom...@usgs.gov)
Sonia Hajaji, Georgia Institute of Technology (ssalg...@gatech.edu)
Stephanie G Prejean, U.S. Geological Survey (spre...@usgs.gov)