ABOUT
The 7th IASPEI / IAEE International Symposium on the Effects of Surface Geology on Seismic Motion (ESG7) will be held on October 19–21, 2026, in Grenoble, France. The study of ESG is promoted worldwide by the Joint Working Group on the Effects of Surface Geology (JWG-ESG), established in 1985 by the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI) and the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE). The first ESG International Symposium was held in 1992 in Odawara, Japan. Since then, symposia have taken place around the world, including ESG2 in 1998 in Yokohama, Japan; ESG3 in 2006 in Grenoble, France; ESG4 in 2011 in Santa Barbara, USA; ESG5 in 2016 in Taipei, Taiwan; and ESG6 in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, all organized by members of the JWG-ESG.
ESG7 will explore all facets of site effects on ground motions, including the challenges of quantitatively predicting ground motions that incorporate these effects. Continuing the tradition of 'blind test experiments' organized by the JWG-ESG community during past ESG International Symposiums, which provided benchmarks for seismic motion prediction and site characterization, ESG7 proposes a blind prediction exercise focused on topographic effects and a benchmark for H/V inversion in site characterization, results to be presented as special sessions.
ESG7 also plans to hold special sessions focused on new data/methods for evaluating and characterizing site effects (e.g., Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS); Artificial Intelligence), last damaging significant earthquakes, and progress of studies related to ESG over the past three decades.