Geology

Projections for AD 2100 suggest warming of +1-4°C in the North Pacific Ocean, which will result in widespread transformations throughout the marine environment and western North America. Many of these changes are beyond the predictive capabilities of current climate models. To better address this future uncertainty, our team is developing a geological framework using past warm intervals as...

This project uses geologic and geophysical mapping to build an earth-science framework for scientific investigations that include assessments of critical resources, such as groundwater, and of hazards, such as those resulting from earthquakes, in California west of and including the Sierra Nevada and Cascade arc. Questions of particular interest include: What are the geometries, slip rates, and...

Tephrochronology is the study of volcanic ash deposits, combining petrology, geochemistry, and isotopic dating methods. We use tephrochronology, along with other chronostratigraphic techniques, to (1) determine the ages of coincident deposits, and, when multiple tephra layers are present, determine the history of geologic events and rates of geologic processes; and (2) correlate sediments from...

Landslides in the San Francisco Bay area (SFBA) of California impact people, infrastructure, and the environment, and are commonly induced by intense or prolonged rainfall associated with strong winter storms.

Project objectives are to develop a modern probabilistic quantitative mineral resource assessment of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and adjacent geologically similar areas that examines the potential for minerals-based economic development and trade within the region.