Location: Auditorium between Bldgs. 4 & 5
For online participation: https://kaust.zoom.us/j/98139995065
On 22 November 1995, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the southern Dead Sea fault in the Gulf of Aqaba, causing significant damage to coastal communities in Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as triggering a tsunami. This was the largest earthquake to occur on the 1000-km long Dead Sea fault in more than a century and remains as the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in Saudi Arabia. However, historical accounts document that even larger earthquakes have occurred in this region.
To commemorate this important earthquake, we will host a one-day symposium at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) on 20 November 2025. The purpose of the symposium is to review what has been learned about this large earthquake and the earthquake hazard of the Gulf of Aqaba region in recent years, as well as to discuss what remains to do for better assessing the regional earthquake hazard.
The symposium will consist of a series of presentations (by invitation only) and a panel discussion focusing on the 1995 earthquake and earthquake hazard research in the Gulf of Aqaba. Please let the organizing committee know if you would like to participate in symposium in person or online.
Symposium program overview
| Thursday, November 20, 2025 | |
| 8:30 – 09:30 | Registration and Refreshments |
| 9:30 – 09:45 | Welcome Remarks by KAUST President Prof. Sir. Edward Byrne |
| 9:45 – 10:00 | Introductionary Remarks by Symposium Committee P. Martin Mai, Sigurjón Jónsson, Abdulkader A. Afifi, KAUST |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Gulf of Aqaba Earthquake Hazard Research Projects Sigurjón Jónsson, KAUST |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Fault mapping within the Gulf Yann Klinger, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), France |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Faults around the Gulf Abdulkader A. Afifi, KAUST |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Seismoturbidites in Sediment Cores: Past Earthquakes Ulas Avsar, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey |
| 12:00 – 14:00 | Lunch in Diner |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Modeling of the 1995 Earthquake P. Martin Mai and Bo Li, KAUST |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Earthquake Cycle Simulations Olaf Zielke, KAUST |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Offshore Surveying and Discoveries in Gulf of Aqaba Sam Purkis, University of Miami, USA |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Instrumentation and Hazard Assessment Tarek Mansoub, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Coffee Break and Photo Session |
| 16:30 – 18:00 | Panel Discussion: Panel: Hani Zahran (SGS), Yann Klinger (IPGP), Sam Purkis (UoM), Sigurjón Jónsson (KAUST) Moderator: P. Martin Mai |
| 19:00 – 21:00 | Symposium Dinner |
Organizing committee:
Prof. P. Martin Mai, martin.mai@kaust.edu.sa
Prof. Sigurjón Jónsson, sigurjon.jonsson@kaust.edu.sa
Prof. Abdulkader Afifi, abdulkader.alafifi@kaust.edu.sa