Understanding the degree to which topography of erosional landscapes in active mountain belts encode the rates and patterns of active deformation in the upper crust is a primary goal in the field of tectonic geomorphology. In particular, the convolved influence of variations in rock mass quality and the erodibility of...
The nature of upper plate deformation along the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) is poorly understood. Systematic covariation among topographic relief, geodetically determined uplift rates, decadal to millennial erosion rates, and the frequency of episodic tremor and slip (ETS) along the Cascadia forearc suggest a genetic association between forearc topography and...
The Panamint Valley fault zone (PVFZ) is an active, dextral-oblique normal fault that partially accommodates dextral shear across the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ). The fault system has a complex geometry, characterized by a relatively high-angle dextral oblique normal fault in the south and a low-angle detachment system that accommodates...
The Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) is a broad zone of dextral shear inboard of the North American - Pacific plate boundary. Despite decades of study, the significance of a mismatch between geodetic velocities and geologic fault slip rates across the ECSZ remains incompletely understood. Geodetically determined interseismic strain across...
Reconstructing the sensitivity of past climate to forcings, and of ancient glaciers and ice sheets to this climate, can allow us to better understand the range of climate and cryosphere behavior we may see in the coming centuries. The Arctic is a region of particular importance due to its well-documented...
The Hi-CLIMB broadband seismic experiment (2002-2005) operated 233 stations along an 800 km long north-south line from the Himalayan foreland into the central Tibetan Plateau and in a 350x350 km sub-array within southern Tibet and central and eastern Nepal. Station spacing was approximately 8 km along the line and 50...
To investigate the dynamic response of the outer accretionary wedge updip from the patch of greatest slip during the Mw8.8 2010 Maule earthquake, 10 Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) were deployed from May 2012 to March 2013 in a small array with an inter-instrument spacing of ~10 km. Nine instruments were...
Measuring surface heat flow at the Hikurangi Trough is key toward characterizing the local thermal regime and the influence of thermally sensitive processes such as fluid flow and slow slip. Marine heat flow data were collected during May– June 2015 in the northern Hikurangi Trough at sites seaward and landward...
This thesis consists of three studies to better understand the environmental sustainability potential for algal-based biofuels. Initially, a comparison of recent life cycle assessments (LCA) of theoretical full-scale algal biofuel facilities was developed. These studies include varying boundaries and scope, functional units, and technology maturity assumptions. The comparison converted results...
University supervisors are critical to improvement in K-12 teaching and learning due to their roles in designing field experiences, managing relationships, mentoring, and supervising teacher candidates. The encouragement, support, and feedback shared by university supervisors in respect to the teaching performance of teacher candidates is especially powerful, and is a...
Cinder cones are useful geomorphic features for geological analysis because they generally have known initial states and follow a similar pattern of degradation as they are exposed to erosive processes. This is largely because cinder cones are produced by monogenetic eruptions. Characterizing large cinder cone fields in terms of age...
Discrete fault systems accommodate both N-S contraction and dextral shear in concert with clockwise rotational deformation of the North American plate above the Cascadia Subduction Zone. In Washington, the Yakima Fold and Thrust Belt (YFTB) accommodates N-S contraction as a series of ENE-WSW trending thrust faults and folds. NW-striking, predominantly...
By inverting EarthScope long-period magnetotelluric (MT) data from the southeastern United States (SEUS), we obtain electrical conductivity images that provides key insights into the geodynamics of this region. Significantly, we resolve a highly electrically resistive block that extends to mantle depths beneath the modern Piedmont and Coastal Plain physiographic provinces....
Marine and coastal sedimentary archives show that the Cascadia Subduction Zone can generate great earthquakes of ~M9, most recently in 1700 CE, yet we still know little of the impacts of these events inland of the Pacific coast. Inland lakes have recently been exploited for their use as paleoseismic records...
The Toba Caldera Complex is the youngest resurgent caldera in the last 100 kyrs, formed from four overlapping eruptions starting 1.2 Myrs ago. The last caldera-forming eruption, the Youngest Toba Tuff eruption, occurred ~74 kyrs ago, emitting 2800 km3 of ash and pumice into the atmosphere and forming the caldera...
Although variations in insolation and emergent feedbacks among soil moisture,
vegetation, and soil cohesion are commonly invoked to explain topographic asymmetry that
depends on aspect, few studies have directly quantified the efficiency of regolith transport along
hillslopes of opposing aspect. We utilize meteoric ¹⁰Be concentrations in regolith (n = 74)...
A fundamental debate exists regarding the geometry and depth extent of seismogenic faults in eastern Tibet. Along the Longmen Shan, geologic and seismic reflection data reveal a belt of low to moderate angle thrust faults, some of which may have been activated in devastating earthquakes in 2008 (Mw ~7.9, Wenchuan)...
This dissertation reports on four related, though separate projects. The first project details the process of carrying out a digitally augmented soil mapping (DSM) effort alongside an ongoing survey in Oregon's Ochoco National Forest (ONF) using a Random Forest algorithm. The second chapter describes a initial soil survey in Oregon's...
Tsunami loading can cause sediment instability, which can compromise the structural integrity of coastal buildings and infrastructure. To understand the process by which a tsunami can cause sediment instability, it is necessary to understand how the pore water pressure in the soil changes during tsunami loading. Tsunami run-up causes the...
Controversial end member models for the growth and evolution of the Tibetan Plateau demand quantitative constraints of the lithospheric rheology. Direct determinations of bulk crustal rheology, however, remain relatively sparse. Here we use the flexural rebound of lacustrine shorelines developed during the Lingtong highstand around Siling Co, in central Tibet,...
Full Text:
, EricKirby, Kevin 128
P. Furlong, Kai Meng, Ruth Robinson and Erchie Wang. Earth and Planetary