Publications

A paper recently published in this journal (Pirulli & Pastor, 2012) uses numerical modelling to study the important problem of entrainment of bed material by landslides. Unfortunately, some of the basic equations employed in the study are flawed, because they violate the principle of linear momentum conservation. Similar errors exist in some other studies of entrainment, and the errors...

We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), body wave seismology, satellite imagery, and field observations to constrain the fault parameters of the Mw 7.1 2011 Van (Eastern Turkey) reverse-slip earthquake, in the Turkish-Iranian plateau. Distributed slip models from elastic dislocation modeling of the InSAR surface displacements from ENVISAT and COSMO-SkyMed interferograms...

To better understand the impact of geomagnetic disturbances on the electric grid, we recreate surface electric fields from two historical geomagnetic storms—the 1989 “Quebec” storm and the 2003 “Halloween” storms. Using the Spherical Elementary Current Systems method, we interpolate sparsely distributed magnetometer data across North America. We find good agreement between the measured...

We examine the conditions necessary to trigger tremor along the San Jacinto fault (SJF) near Anza, California, where previous studies suggest triggered tremor occurs, but observations are sparse. We investigate the stress required to trigger tremor using continuous broadband seismograms from 11 stations located near Anza, California. We examine 44 Mw≥7.4 teleseismic events between 2001...

The ChemCam instrument package on the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is the first planetary science instrument to employ laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to determine the compositions of geological samples on another planet. Pre-processing of the spectra involves subtracting the ambient light background, removing noise, removing the electron continuum, calibrating...

Rootless cones on Mars are a valuable indicator of past interactions between lava and water. However, the details of the lava–water interactions are not fully understood, limiting the ability to use these features to infer new information about past water on Mars. We have developed a model for the pressurization of a dry layer of porous regolith by melting and boiling ground ice in the...

In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California's State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps and associated data layers through the...

The plate boundary southwest of Sumatra is part of a long tectonic collision zone that extends over 8,000 km from Papua, New Guinea, in the east to the Himalayan front in the west. The Sumatra-Andaman part of the collision zone forms a subduction zone plate boundary, which accommodates convergence between the Indo-Australia and Sunda plates. This convergence is responsible for the...

The Third International Planetary Dunes Workshop took place in Flagstaff, AZ, USA during June 12–15, 2012. This meeting brought together a diverse group of researchers to discuss recent advances in terrestrial and planetary research on aeolian bedforms. The workshop included two and a half days of oral and poster presentations, as well as one formal (and one informal) full-day field trip...

Tidal-marsh sediment is an archive of Holocene environmental changes, including movements of sea and land levels, and extreme events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Accurate and precise radiocarbon dating of environmental changes is necessary to estimate rates of change and the recurrence interval (frequency) of events. Plant macrofossils preserved in growth position (or...

No abstract is available for this article.

The authors discuss some of the unique aspects and lessons of the New Zealand post-earthquake building safety inspection program that was implemented following the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010–2011. The post-event safety assessment program was one of the largest and longest programs undertaken in recent times anywhere in the world. The effort engaged hundreds of engineering...