Hazard

The Hazards theme encompasses research activities and projects devoted to geological hazard-generating processes and systems (earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, surface instabilities, coastal erosion and flooding, etc.). This work covers a spectrum ranging from the fundamental study of hazard-related systems to their quantitative assessment. Interactions with risk assessment are also considered in collaboration with the human and social sciences. Our research work is supported by some twenty researchers, lecturers and technical staff whose areas of expertise cover the observation, measurement and modeling of hazard-related objects and processes. More specifically, the hazard axis is structured around three major themes: (1) Faults, the seismic cycle and seismic hazard; (2) Gravity processes and landslides; (3) Methodological developments for hazard characterization.

Our research work is linked to that of the Deformation, Couplings & Transfers and Hydrosystems themes. Responses to tectonic and environmental forcing, as well as the deformation and rheology of materials, are central to the characterization of hazard-generating systems and processes. Similarly, couplings and feedbacks between all elements of geological and environmental systems are fundamental to understanding and characterizing hazards (e.g. atmosphere-ocean-sediment couplings in coastal systems).

By their very nature, our research activities involve numerous partnerships outside the academic field: civil society, local authorities, public establishments, companies… The projects developed within the framework of the 2021-2025 five-year period integrate theoretical and methodological developments as well as their transposition to hazard practitioners thanks to these partnerships, from the local scale (e.g.., i-site MUSE) to international (e.g. Bhutan, Mongolia, Iran, Armenia), in public (e.g. SNO INSU-CNRS) or private (e.g. EDF) settings.