Research results in these pages are funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.
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The role of crustal quartz in continental tectonism...
(More info...) Gravity, surface heat flow and EarthScope seismic data are combined in a new tool for measuring the averaged abundance of crustal quartz... And the results are surprising. |
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Slow fault slip after the 2004 M9.3 Sumatra- Andaman earthquake
(More info...) The 2004 earthquake is the largest to occur since the dawn of GPS positioning. In the first two years post-event, GPS sites on the Andaman Islands continued to move upward and southwestward by up to half a meter. These motions serve to relax stress changes during the earthquake, but the mechanism is unclear: Poroelastic fluid movements, flow of hot rock deep in the Earth and continued fault slip at depth are all candidate processes. Large differences in motion at closely-spaced (10-30 km) sites however suggest that fault slip played a dominant role in the first two years. |
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Slow opening of the Rio Grande Rift
(More info...) The Rio Grande Rift in Colorado and New Mexico is a classic example of a narrow continental rift. Three years of continuous measurement at 26 GPS sites suggests that opening of the rift is occurring at rates of less than a millimeter per year, which is near the lower bound of rates inferred from geology and terrestrial geodetic measurements. This may not be the final chapter of the story however, as other geophysical and geological data suggest a very dynamic history of magma flux into the crust (a process which is inherently transient rather than steady-state). Stay tuned... |
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A thought: "Our future is being decided now in a struggle that pits two divergent rivers of intellect: one that views truth as an objective reality, to be pursued through honest and open inquiry, a second that views reality as a fluid, and truth as a football match in which the ball advances via advocacy. To which future do you belong?" Updated 18/Mar/2011 Tony Lowry |