Richard M. Iverson
My USGS career has focused mostly on evaluating and modeling the dynamics and hazards of landslides and debris flows, with a secondary focus on the dynamics of volcanic extrusions. Part of my work involved design, development, and utilization of the USGS debris-flow flume, a unique, large-scale experimental facility at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest near Blue River, Oregon.
Career Highlights
A written account of some career highlights was published in 2020 in Perspectives of Earth and Space Scientists. An oral history interview recounting some of my career highlights is archived at Oregon State University.
Professional Experience
Senior Research Hydrologist, USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory
Adjunct Professor, University of Washington and Portland State University
Education and Certifications
Stanford University, Ph.D., 1984, Applied Earth Sciences
Stanford University, M.S., 1981, Hydrology
Stanford University, M.S., 1980, Applied Earth Sciences
Iowa State University, B.S., 1977, Geology major, Mathematics and Physics minors
Honors and Awards
Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU) and Geological Society of America (GSA)
E.B. Burwell Award, GSA, 1991
Kirk Bryan Award, GSA, 2001
Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer, GSA, 2005
Langbein Lecturer, AGU, 2006
U.S. Department of the Interior Distinguished Service Award, 2019
Science and Products
My research career, including information about the debris flow experimental flume facility, is docuymented in this memoir.
Landslide disparities, flume discoveries, and Oso despair
Basal stress equations for granular debris masses on smooth or discretized slopes
Discussion of “Case study: Oso, Washington, landslide of March 22, 2014-Material properties and failure mechanism” by Timothy D. Stark, Ahmed K. Baghdady, Oldrich Hungr, and Jordan Aaron
Discussion of “Shallow water hydro-sediment-morphodynamic equations for fluvial processes” by Zhixian Cao, Chunchen Xia, Gareth Pender, and Qingquan Liu
Discussion of “Oso, Washington, landslide of March 22, 2014: Dynamic analysis” by Jordan Aaron, Oldrich Hungr, Timothy D. Stark, and Ahmed K. Baghdady
New methodology for computing tsunami generation by subaerial landslides: Application to the 2015 Tyndall Glacier landslide, Alaska
Debris flow runup on vertical barriers and adverse slopes
Discussion of “The relation between dilatancy, effective stress and dispersive pressure in granular avalanches” by P. Bartelt and O. Buser (DOI: 10.1007/s11440-016-0463-7)
Modelling landslide liquefaction, mobility bifurcation and the dynamics of the 2014 Oso disaster
Comment on “The reduction of friction in long-runout landslides as an emergent phenomenon” by Brandon C. Johnson et al.
Clawpack: Building an open source ecosystem for solving hyperbolic PDEs
Lahars and their deposits
Scaling and design of landslide and debris-flow experiments
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
My research career, including information about the debris flow experimental flume facility, is docuymented in this memoir.
Landslide disparities, flume discoveries, and Oso despair
Basal stress equations for granular debris masses on smooth or discretized slopes
Discussion of “Case study: Oso, Washington, landslide of March 22, 2014-Material properties and failure mechanism” by Timothy D. Stark, Ahmed K. Baghdady, Oldrich Hungr, and Jordan Aaron
Discussion of “Shallow water hydro-sediment-morphodynamic equations for fluvial processes” by Zhixian Cao, Chunchen Xia, Gareth Pender, and Qingquan Liu
Discussion of “Oso, Washington, landslide of March 22, 2014: Dynamic analysis” by Jordan Aaron, Oldrich Hungr, Timothy D. Stark, and Ahmed K. Baghdady
New methodology for computing tsunami generation by subaerial landslides: Application to the 2015 Tyndall Glacier landslide, Alaska
Debris flow runup on vertical barriers and adverse slopes
Discussion of “The relation between dilatancy, effective stress and dispersive pressure in granular avalanches” by P. Bartelt and O. Buser (DOI: 10.1007/s11440-016-0463-7)
Modelling landslide liquefaction, mobility bifurcation and the dynamics of the 2014 Oso disaster
Comment on “The reduction of friction in long-runout landslides as an emergent phenomenon” by Brandon C. Johnson et al.
Clawpack: Building an open source ecosystem for solving hyperbolic PDEs
Lahars and their deposits
Scaling and design of landslide and debris-flow experiments
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.