The long-term seismic regime of Turkey for the 17th - early 21st centuries are analyzed. It is shown that the fundamental feature of the seismic regime is periodic seismic activations (SA) of strong earthquakes. During the analyzed period, 14 seismic activations of various durations (from 4 to 24 years) and a different number of events (from 4 to 22) were traced. The last SA in Turkey began in 2011, and most likely did not end with the Kahramanmarash earthquake in 2023. SA, as a rule, involves the main seismically active regions of the country (the Aegean coast, the North and East Anatolian faults), but with a clear dominance a certain seismically active area with reduced activity of others. An analysis of historical seismicity shows that strong earthquakes along the North and East Anatolian faults in many cases occur in the same source zones, confirming the concept of seismic sources as inherited geological structures, which may serve as an important prognostic symptom. The Kahramanmaraş earthquakes on February 6, 2023 occurred in the framework of the seismic activation that began in 2011.The position of the Mahmaranmarash seismic source on the southern segment of the East Anatolian fault is in good agreement with displacement of seismic sources from north to south along this fault in the 20th century.

The data on seismic activations (SAs) in Italy, Greece, and Turkey for the 17th–19th centuries are analyzed to clarify the common patterns of SA occurrence in the different seismically active regions associated with similar geodynamic conditions. The time clustering of strong earthquakes ( М ≥ 5.6, I ≥ IX) in Italy, Greece, and Turkey in the 17th–19th centuries has made it possible to identify a number of SAs of various durations both in each country and in the whole region. However, the revealed recurrences are extremely uneven in the time range, the number of earthquakes, and the intervals between the individual SAs. Italy is recorded to have had 12 SAs; the 17th and 18th centuries are characterized by the maximum seismic activity, declining gradually by the 19th century. Nine and eight SAs were detected in Greece and Turkey, respectively, with seismic activity increasing strongly in these countries in the 19th century. The periods of common seismic activation for the entire region are also defined: 1658–1680, 1694–1743, 1766–1791, and 1846–1867.

The article generalizes materials on the earthquake of March 31, 1761, which is almost unknown in our scientific discourse, although very significant in its seismological impacts; it can therefore be considered as a twin of the Great Lisbon disaster of November 1, 1755. The 1761 earthquake struck a large part of Europe and, although it did not involve such disastrous consequences as the 1755 Lisbon quake, it significantly changed the seismic regime observed after after the latter. Both earthquakes were followed by tsunamis on the western margins of Europe and the eastern coasts of North America; they also triggered seismic activations of vast, spatially different regions in Western Europe and North Africa. It is possible to associate a number of strongest seismic events in the West Atlantic region with the 1761 earthquake. In the recent research literature on the topic, predominantly by Portuguese authors, the sources of both earthquakes are located in the eastern part of the Azores–Gibraltar Transform Fault. It is of particular interest that the initial data for this article were taken from the newspaper Sankt-Petersburgskie vedomosti for the 18th century and were supplemented with information from historical catalogs and recent foreign papers.

The article is an attempt to trace the seismic regime (temporal recurrence and grouping of strong earthquakes) in the central and southern Apennines during the historical period, beginning from the 13th century. The special attention is paid to consideration of seismic events of 2009–2017 in Italy in the context of the spatiotemporal regularities of the regional strong seismicity in the past. The analysis of data on historical and modern seismic catalogs enabled to identify eight seismic activations within the central and southern Apennines since the 15th century. These are both general activations, covering the central and southern Apennines, and those that occurred only within the central or predominantly southern Apennines. The identified activations included from three to seven strong earthquakes and continued from 3 to 20 (?) years. The last activation of 1997–2017 is characterized by concentration of seismic events (with no extreme values of magnitudes and intensity) only in the central Apennines and by considerable duration. The role of historical sources (in this case, the Saint Petersburg Vedomosti newspaper) in reconstructing a more complete timeline of past seismicity is emphasized.

This paper analyzes the article published in Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti (SPV) and a number of foreign studies addressing the natural cataclysm that occurred in Savoy (Western Alps) in 1751 and was recognized by witnesses as a volcanic eruption. This event was observed by V. Donati, a famous natural sc-ientist of the 18th century, and described by H.B. de Saussure, a prominent researcher of the Alps. Other evidence of similar phenomena in the Alps is presented from the historical data. It is suggested that a special type of explosive eruption, not accompanied by lava pouring out but still very dangerous may occur in the Alps.

The contribution made by V.V. Beloussov (1907–1990), an outstanding Earth scientist in the former Soviet Union and Russia, to the development of planetary geophysics is considered. Beloussov was a brilliant coordinator of international cooperation and direct inspirer of international scientific programs of paramount importance. He took up one of the key positions in organizing and holding the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957–1958. In 1960, Beloussov was elected President of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and proposed the project “The upper mantle and its influence on the Earth’s crust,” which subsequently became known worldwide as the Upper Mantle Project. The project underlined that the experience of the IGY should be extended to studies of the deep structure of the Earth and the processes taking place in the Earth’s interior. The fulfillment of this and the subsequent Geodynamic project resulted in a breakthrough in the knowledge about the deep structure of the Earth, particularly the structure of the oceans. Beloussov actively advocated integrating science of the Earth, geonomy, and in his scientific research sought a geonomic approach incorporating the entire complex of geological, geophysical, and geochemical data. Beloussov’s scientific heritage contains propositions that are of current importance and can be involved in modern developments of the Earth sciences.

The paper considers the results of an archeoseismological approach to studying the seismic history of Crimea based on recent publications, devoted to reconstructing strong seismic events in the 15th–18th centuries. The reliability of the references involved is analyzed. Reconstruction of the timeline of earthquakes in Crimea is related to two problems: determination of doubtless evidence of a strong earthquake and dating of such an event. The first problem can be solved mostly by careful field studies using the developed technique and with representative historical, literary, and folkloric material, whereas dating of events encounters considerable difficulties. The main difficulties and limitations of this generally progressive research field are shown, which are related to both objective and subjective factors. Objective factors include, in particular, large uncertainty in establishing the chronology of seismic events using not only folkloric, but also historical data. The efficient cooperation of historians and seismologists is complicated by many unresolved issues in the reconstruction of historic events in Crimea, which deprives seismologists of a reliable basis and forces historians to rely on seismological conclusions that are not always valid. Subjective factors are related to lack of scrutiny when using sources and hasty conclusions. In addition, data on geological and man-made destruction in historical sources are used insufficiently. Despite doubts on the reliability of chronologically dating earthquakes, successful application of the archeoseismological method in Crimea is confirmed by solid evidence of strong seismicity. Obviously, to solve the dating reliability problem, further research and more complete reconstruction of Crimea’s history are needed.

Pull-apart basins are a specific class of structures related to strike-slip tectonics in various geodynamic settings. Their formation is caused by an intricate kinematic play of crustal blocks, and substantially differs from the formation of other types of sedimentary basins. The review of the literature, largely foreign, is focused on structure, evolution, and the formation mechanism of pull-apart basins.

Deep sedimentary basins with transformed crust display a number of specific features in the structure of their sedimentary cover and the consolidated crust. Their origin is associated with salients of anomalous mantle material, which are marked by the surface of the asthenosphere. The mechanism of anomalous mantle's effect on the lithosphere consists in rock ceramization (sintering) that increases the P-wave velocity. This process results in a sharp rise of the M-discontinuity. Therefore, only a minor, high-velocity part of the consolidated crust is retained within the lithosphere.

The Western Macedonia earthquake of 13 May, 1995 occurred within a territory where high seismic hazard was not expected. However, the estimation of the seismic potential of Europe including Northern Greece, conducted earlier in the United Institute of Physics of the Earth RAS, testified to the existence of the seismotectonic situations of predominantly high prognostical Mrmmax in this region. In particular, epicentral zone of Western Macedonia earthquake has prognostical Mrmmax = 6,7 according to this data. Estimation of seismic potential was performed applying original seismotectonic method. The essence of this method lies in detecting of the hidden analogies in structure and state of the Earth's crust on detailed level, relevant to the seismic process. To achieve this, a zonation of the vast territories with different tectonic units was performed, according to the seismotectonic settings. The map of the seismotectonic settings has been obtained after performing the complex detailed typification of Earth's crust on the base of data reflecting the recent structure and state of the Earth's crust. The types of the Earth's crust are considered as seismotectonic settings due chosen initial parameters. Comparison of their spatial distribution with seismological data allows to give the prognostical values of Mmax to the most of them. Further spreading obtained estimates of Mmax in space results in yielding of the zonation of study area according to the seismic potential.