Jeff Lang: Breaking the Wall of Earthquake Forecasting 

We seek to test a new method of reconstructing prehistoric earthquake records, based on chemical signals of earthquakes encoded in stalagmites.
Current paleoseismic methods are limited in record length and dating accuracy, whereas stalagmites, often tens of millennia in age, can be dated precisely. Longer records of past earthquakes will lead to improved seismic hazard assessment and earthquake forecasting.

Jeff is a postdoctoral researcher with the Environmental Research (ER) team at Lincoln Agritech Ltd. He has a strong background in geology and geochemistry. Currently he works with the ER team investigating the pressures of climate change on river ecosystems (freshwater acidification), while continuing to seek opportunities to build on his PhD research co- developing new cave-based methods of investigating prehistoric earthquakes. His PhD (Geology), MSc (Earth Sciences), and BSc (Geology, Geophysics) are from the University of Auckland.