(Note: An official link between IASPEI and the World Stress Map project was established by Resolution at the IASPEI General Assembly in Hanoi)
The World Stress Map (WSM) was started in 1986 as an ILP project headed by Mary Lou Zoback. After its successful termination within the ILP in 1996 it has been continued as a research project of the Heidelberg Academy of Science, Germany (located at the Geophysical Institute, University Karlsruhe, Germany).
The WSM project is headed by Karl Fuchs and has a long-term perspective at the Heidelberg Academy of Science. It is frequently evaluated by an independent international commission and is supported by an advisory board of which Phil Hartl, Mark Zoback and others are members of.
Mission of the WSM is to maintain and extend a public database on recent tectonic stress. The latest data base release consists of more than 10,000 data sets with 55 entries each. In order to guarantee data homogeneity, all data sets are assessed according to an international developed and accepted quality-ranking scheme. Detailed information on the database, the mapping tool CASMO (Create A Stress Map Online) and the WSM research program can be viewed on our website (http://www.world-stress-map.org).
Since the WSM has no official link to any international association or society at present, we seek a closer contact with IASPEI within the new Commission of Tectonophysics, e.g. in form of a task group. Since the knowledge of the stress field is a key parameter for geodynamic processes, this link and our work as a task group of IASPEI would certainly give valuable input.
Of course, this input will not be limited to the database only, but will also include our expertise on tectonic stress in general and our research results on modeling geodynamic processes on regional scale (3-D finite element models, slip tendency, stress- and strain field modeling and interpretation etc.).
For the WSM project an official relation with IASPEI will intensify our contact to the scientific community. This link will also strengthen our position with the hydrocarbon industry, where a high amount of stress data is stored in databases.
If there is need for further information on our project and our research program, please let us know. Our contact address is:
World Stress Map Project
Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe University
Hertzstr. 16
76187 Karlsruhe
e-mail: wsm@gpi.uni-karlsruhe.de
tel.: 0049-721-608 4609
fax: 0049-721-7 11 73
