I get this error with a negative determinant for a hexahedral cell that is oriented according the Pylith manual. This cell does not look highly distorted at all. What surprises me is the negative value. Could you please explain what could cause this error?
The only explanations I know of for a Jacobian of -154.37 (negative and a magnitude much larger than one) is that the orientation is incorrect or the coordinates of the vertices are incorrect.