Solid Earth

Research developments during 1996 in earthquake seismology, tectonics and structural geology, volcanology, sequence stratigraphy, and studies on core and mantle to elucidate the inner structure of earth are reported. The studies on the slow earthquakes which are considered to precede bigger earthquakes are detailed. The discovery of the post-collisional extension collapse of the Taiwan mountain is also discussed. The studies indicate differential rotation rates between the inner core and the mantle.