Publications

To gain a better understanding of the topographic and landscape evolution of the Cenozoic Sierra Nevada and Basin and Range, we combine geochemical and isotopic age correlations with palaeoaltimetry data from widely distributed ignimbrites in the northern Sierra Nevada, California. A sequence of Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrites is preserved across the modern crest of the range and into...

Uncertainty remains on the origin of distal mass deposition maxima observed in many recent tephra fall deposits. In this study the link between ash aggregation and the formation of distal mass deposition maxima is investigated through reanalysis of tephra fallout from the Mount St. Helens 18 May 1980 (MSH80) eruption. In addition, we collate all the data needed to model distal ash...

Using a flow domain that we constructed from 30 m digital-elevation model data of western United States and Canada and a two-dimensional numerical model for shallow-water flow over rugged terrain, we simulated outburst floods from Pleistocene Glacial Lake Missoula. We modeled a large, but not the largest, flood, using initial lake elevation at 1250 m instead of 1285 m. Rupture of the ice...

A suite of 23 basaltic to dacitic lavas erupted over the last 350 kyr from the Mount Adams volcanic field has been analyzed for U–Th isotope compositions to evaluate the roles of mantle versus crustal components during magma genesis. All of the lavas have (230Th/238U) > 1 and span a large range in (230Th/232Th) ratios, and most basalts have higher (230Th/232Th) ratios than andesites and...

Volcanic activity has caused significant hazards to numerous airports worldwide, with local to far-ranging effects on travelers and commerce. Analysis of a new compilation of incidents of airports impacted by volcanic activity from 1944 through 2006 reveals that, at a minimum, 101 airports in 28 countries were affected on 171 occasions by eruptions at 46 volcanoes. Since 1980, five...

During mid-June 2007, the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i, deflated rapidly as magma drained from the subsurface to feed an east rift zone intrusion and eruption. Coincident with the deflation, summit SO2 emission rates rose by a factor of four before decaying to background levels over several weeks. We propose that SO2 release was triggered by static decompression caused by magma...

Digital cameras, sensitive to specific regions of the ultra-violet (UV) spectrum, have been employed for quantifying sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in recent years. The instruments make use of the selective absorption of UV light by SO2 molecules to determine pathlength concentration. Many monitoring advantages are gained by using this technique, but the accuracy and limitations have not...

The Long Valley caldera (California) formed ~760,000 yr ago following the massive eruption of the Bishop Tuff. Postcaldera volcanism in the Long Valley volcanic field includes lava domes as young as 650 yr. The recent geological unrest is characterized by uplift of the resurgent dome in the central section of the caldera (75 cm in the past 33 yr) and earthquake activity followed by...

Age spectra from 40Ar/39Ar incremental heating experiments yield ages of 298 ± 25ka and 310 ± 31ka for transitional composition lavas from two cones on submarine Mahukona Volcano, Hawaii. These ages are younger than the inferred end of the tholeiitic shield stage and indicate that the volcano had entered the postshield alkalic stage before going extinct. Previously reported elevated...

We have inverted polarity and amplitude information of representative microearthquakes to investigate source mechanisms of seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing in the Carthage Cotton Valley, east Texas, gas field. With vertical arrays of four and eight three-component geophones in two monitoring wells, respectively, we were able to reliably determine source mechanisms of the...

Newberry Volcano in central Oregon is dry over much of its vast area, except for the lakes in the caldera and the single creek that drains them. Despite the lack of obvious glacial striations and well-formed glacial moraines, evidence indicates that Newberry was glaciated. Meter-sized foreign blocks, commonly with smoothed shapes, are found on cinder cones as far as 7 km from the caldera...

Late Holocene dome-building eruptions at Mount Hood during the Timberline and Old Maid eruptive periods resulted in numerous dome-collapse pyroclastic flows and lahars that moved large volumes of volcaniclastic sediment into temporary storage in headwater canyons of the Sandy River. During each eruptive period, accelerated sediment loading to the river through erosion and remobilization...