[CIG-SHORT] USGS Mendenhall Research Fellowships: Earthquake Hazards

[Brad Aagaard]

USGS Mendenhall Research Fellowships: Earthquake Hazards
http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/

2 year appointments with flexible start dates between October 2011 and
March 2012

Application deadline: December 30, 2010

8 fellowship opportunities related to earthquake hazards research are
available within the USGS Mendenhall Research Fellowship program. The
program anticipates offering 22 fellowships across a total of 49
opportunities.

Applicants are strongly urged to contact the research advisors
associated with an opportunity for more information and guidance in
developing a strong research proposal.


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Opportunity 16: 3D Geology of the Coast Ranges–Great Valley Boundary
Region and the Associated Seismic Hazard to the Sacramento–San Joaquin
Delta, California

We are constructing a 3D geologic map of the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta region to support quantitative seismic hazard analyses of that
important region.  We are looking for a postdoc who will combine
surface geologic mapping with additional techniques to contribute to
that effort.  The specific postdoctoral project is flexible, but some
possibilities include: geologic mapping combined with potential-field
geophysics to better constrain the distribution, orientation, and
activity of valley-range boundary structures; or Quaternary surficial
deposits mapping combined with detailed geochemical dating to
constrain uplift associated with blind faults beneath the Delta; or
geologic mapping of Delta-bounding uplifted Cenozoic and Mesozoic
rocks combined with paleobarometry to constrain deformation rates on
Delta-margin structures. The postdoc will be expected to participate
as an active team member in construction of the overall 3D map,
particularly with respect to integrating the findings of their own
research.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp16.html

Duty Station: Menlo Park, CA

Areas of Ph.D: Structural geology, tectonics, seismic stratigraphy,
potential field geophysics

Research Advisors:
  Russell W. Graymer, rgraymer at usgs.gov
  Robert J. McLaughlin, rjmcl at usgs.gov
  Robert C. Jachens, jachens at usgs.gov


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Opportunity 17: Forearc Structure and Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards
of the Southern Alaska–Eastern Aleutian Subduction Zone

Subduction zones pose some of the greatest earthquake and tsunami
hazards to the United States. The structure of subduction zones
largely controls the generation and launching of tsunamis and likely
controls the width, magnitude, and segmentation of megathrust
ruptures. The southern Alaska-eastern Aleutian subduction zone
involves subduction of oceanic crust beneath thick continental and
island-arc crust, similar to the Cascadia subduction zone. However, it
has along-strike variations in subduction obliquity and sediment
thickness that make it well suited to understanding subduction
processes. A reevaluation of existing marine geophysical datasets,
combined with historical seismicity and ongoing paleoseismic studies,
is needed to compare the southern Alaska–eastern Aleutians subduction
zone with other subduction zones to fully understand both near- and
far-field hazards. We seek a postdoctoral fellow to pursue fundamental
and applied research into subduction zone structure, processes, and
tsunami generation, with a focus on the southern Alaska–eastern
Aleutian subduction zone. The study may focus on any research relevant
to better defining potential hazards of subduction-zone systems.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp17.html

Duty Station: Menlo Park, CA or Seattle, WA or Anchorage, AK

Areas of Ph.D.: Geophysics, geology, and oceanography

Research Advisors:
  Peter Haeussler, pheuslr at usgs.gov
  Thomas Pratt, tpratt at usgs.gov;
  Holly Ryan, hryan at usgs.gov
  Dave Scholl, dscholl at usgs.gov
  Steve Kirby, skirby at usgs.gov


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Opportunity 20: Joint US-Japan Program to Develop CoulombExpress: A
Near-Realtime Online Earthquake Forecasting Tool for
Emergency Responders and Scientists

The spatial distribution of Coulomb stress is generally found to be
correlated with the distribution of aftershocks and with the
triggering of subsequent main shocks. The static Coulomb stress can be
rapidly and reliably calculated, and, if it is produced automatically
and made publicly available, it can serve to identify sites or faults
with an increased seismic risk following mainshocks. Under this
Research Opportunity, the Mendenhall Fellow would help to develop a
robust automatic system to calculate Coulomb stress changes using
real-time and near real-time seismic catalog information, such as
magnitude, location, depth, and the two nodal planes. The simplest
module would use earthquake location, depth, and magnitude only, the
information most rapidly available. For cases in which focal mechanism
information is available, we propose to calculate the Coulomb stress
change on both nodal planes, making the assumption that the receiver
(or surrounding) faults have the same strike, rake, and dip as the
source faults.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp20.html

Duty Station: Menlo Park, CA

Areas of Ph.D.: Geology, geophysics, seismology, computer science

Research Advisors:
Ross Stein, rstein at usgs.gov
Shinji Toda (DPRI, Kyoto University), toda at rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp


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Opportunity 21: Research for Building New Holistic Earthquake Monitoring

We seek a postdoctoral fellow to engage in studies that will develop
insights and strategies for the next generation of earthquake
monitoring. The research conducted in this project would test the
hypothesis that geodetic and seismic data are complementary and can be
used simultaneously for more robust monitoring than traditional
seismically-based monitoring, not only of earthquakes but also for
other deformation transients that provide clues about the accumulation
and release of tectonic stresses. Research will focus on the Cascadia
subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest, where both state-of-the-art
seismic and geodetic networks operate, the discovery of episodic
tremor and slow slip has led to the recognition that significant
fractions of stored up strain energy are released aseismically, and
the consequences of a major earthquake necessitates research to
improve our understanding of and ability to monitor and respond to
such events.  The Fellow will be encouraged to explore analog studies
and to demonstrate the transferability of strategies and results from
the Cascadia to other regions and monitoring circumstances.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp21.html

Duty Station: Seattle, WA

Areas of Ph.D.: Geology, geophysics, geodesy, seismology, physics

Research Advisors:
  Joan Gomberg, Gomberg at usgs.gov
  Jessica Murray-Moraleda, jrmurray at usgs.gov
  John Langbein, Langbein at usgs.gov
  Tim Melbourne, tim at geology.cwu.edu
  Paul Bodin, bodin at uw.edu
  John Vidale, john_vidale at mac.com

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Opportunity 22: Dynamic Rupture, Ground Motion and High-Speed Fault
Strength

The focus of this opportunity is on new research in seismology,
computational geophysics or rock mechanics that considers fault
strength, the resulting particle motions and radiated field resulting
from slip at speeds in the range of millimeters to meters per
second. We invite proposals to determine mechanisms and implications
of dynamic weakening at high slip speed for earthquake source
properties and ground motion. The research scope is broad; including,
but not limited to, making testable, predictive models of rupture
propagation and ground motion, exploring seismological observations
for constraints on dynamic fault strength, making direct measurements
of fault strength at dynamic slip speeds, and developing constitutive
relations of dynamic weakening for use in numerical models.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp22.html

Duty Station: Menlo Park, CA

Areas of PhD: Geophysics, geology, seismology, physics, computer
science, applied mathematics

Research Advisors:
  Brad Aagaard, baagaard at usgs.gov
  Nick Beeler, nbeeler at usgs.gov
  William Ellsworth, ellsworth at usgs.gov
  Ruth Harris, harris at usgs.gov
  David Lockner, dlockner at usgs.gov
  Joe Andrews, jandrews at usgs.gov


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Opportunity 23: Mapping the San Andreas Fault System in the Third
Dimension—In the Salton Trough, the San Francisco Bay Area, and
Central California

Understanding the Earth in the third dimension is particularly
important to earthquake hazards research, given that earthquakes
originate in the subsurface. For example, faults in California are
seismogenic in the general depth range 3 to 15 km, and basins, which
enhance shaking, range in depth from less than 1 km to more than 10
km.  A combination of active and passive seismic imaging of the
subsurface is critical to understanding many areas of ongoing
earthquake hazards research at the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS). Specific projects for postdoctoral proposals under this
opportunity include: (1) acquisition, processing, and interpretation
of data from the upcoming (Feb 2011) Salton Seismic Imaging Survey
(SSIP) and seismicity data for structure, earthquake hazards, and
magmatic systems in the Salton Trough; (2) processing and
interpretation of active- and passive-source seismic data for
structure and velocities (a) in the transition region from the
southern Rodgers Creek to the northern Hayward Faults and (b) along
the Peninsular San Andreas Fault; and (3) reprocessing of industry
seismic data, modeling of seismicity data, and evaluation of tectonics
of the central California Coast Ranges and Great Valley.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp23.html

Duty Station: Menlo Park, CA

Areas of Ph.D.: Geology, seismology, geophysics

Research Advisors:
  Rufus Catchings, catching at usgs.gov
  Gary Fuis, fuis at usgs.gov
  Michael Rymer, mrymer at usgs.gov
  John Hole, hole at vt.edu
  Rowena Lohman, rolohman at gmail.com
  Jeff McGuire, jmcguire at whoi.edu
  Joann Stock, jstock at gps.caltech.edu
  Graham Kent, gkent at seismo.unr.edu


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Opportunity 24.  Exploring the Earthquake Cycle in Southern California

The focus of this Opportunity is on research in seismology that will
lead to a deeper understand fault behavior and the nature of the
earthquake cycle through analysis of continuous and triggered
waveforms recorded by the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN)
over the past 3 decades.  Research proposals on non-volcanic tremor
are invited to identify regions where tremor is occurring, to explore
how tremor responds to tidal loading and distant earthquakes, to
develop methods for detecting and quantifying tremor in
near-real-time, and to develop models and theories of the underlying
physical processes that generate tremor. Research proposals on
earthquakes are invited to study the long-term evolution of seismicity
along specific fault structures using waveform-based methods to better
quantify the seismic behavior of faults, to provide evidence for or
against repeating earthquakes on southern California faults, and to
search for temporal changes in the crust related to earthquake
activity.  Proposals that explore the nature and physical processes
associated with large earthquake sequences are also welcome.  The
availability of real-time data on a state-of-the art network provides
a laboratory for prospective testing of hypotheses.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp24.html

Duty Station: Pasadena, CA or Menlo Park, CA

Areas of Ph.D.: Geophysics, geology, seismology, physics, computer science

Research Advisors:
  Susan Hough, hough at usgs.gov
  William Ellsworth, ellsworth at usgs.gov
  David Shelly, dshelly at usgs.gov


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Opportunity 25: Developing Earthquake Damage Detection Methods and An
Early Warning System for Nation’s Infrastructure

We seek a postdoctoral fellow to engage in studies that will develop
insights and strategies for the next generation of structural health
monitoring. The currently available system identification methods that
use data from structural arrays can determine if the structure has
been damaged, but cannot indicate precisely the location of the
damage, and are hence referred to as global. The research conducted in
this project will focus on development of reliable methods and
algorithms for structural system identification, local early warning
and damage detection. Another facet of the research opportunity will
be implementation of these methods into the USGS/NSMP integrated
structural health monitoring system to assess the effect of shaking in
the structure during an earthquake.

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/2012/opps/opp25.html

Duty Station: Menlo Park, CA

Areas of Ph.D.: Engineering, computer science

Research Advisors:
  Erol Kalkan, ekalkan at usgs.gov
  Joe Fletcher, jfletcher at usgs.gov