The Cook-Austral island chain has been the center of debate for many years. Contrary to the classical hotspot hypothesis, this volcanic island chain does not exhibit a linear age progression with a single node of active volcanism, but instead shows evidence of young volcanism at several points along the chain....
Contiential margins on plate boundaries are complex systems with morphologies and characteristics dictated by the interplay of sediment deposition and erosion, tectonic faulting, folding, and strong ground motion generating mass wasting events. With ever increasing advances in high-resolution remote sensing techniques these systems are increasingly becoming illuminated.
A ~120 km...
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...
The Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif (NPHM) is a north-south trending
structural and topographic high, which interrupts the east-west trend
of the Himalaya in northern Pakistan. Previously, the massif was
thought to be bounded by the Main Mantle thrust (MMT), a north-dipping
thrust along which the Kohistan-Ladakh arc was thrust south over...
Elliptical borehole enlargements or "breakouts" caused by systematic spalling of a
borehole wall due to regional maximum horizontal stresses were identified in 18 wells
drilled in the Coast Range and Willamette Valley of western Oregon. The breakouts
generally indicate a NNW to NNE orientation of maximum horizontal compression
(oH[subscript max])...
At collisional mountain ranges the tectonic history of crustal shortening and
subsequent post-collisional erosion is preserved in the form of the presently observed
gravity anomalies. In this study, models of erosion and isostatic rebound at various stages
of collision illustrate the evolution of crustal structure, topography, and resulting gravity
anomalies....
Two examples of Pacific rim plate boundary deformation are presented. In the first
part of the thesis crustal models are derived for the northwestern part of the Vizcaino
block in California using marine seismic and gravity data collected by the Mendocino
Triple Junction Seismic Experiment. A northwest-southeast trending kink in...