This proposal combines fluid mechanics and seismology to attack two problems: (1) the triggering of distant earthquakes and (2) the dynamics of volcanic blasts. In the process, undergraduate and graduate students will be provided with rigorous, yet accessible, quantitative physics-based education.
The specific tasks proposed are: 1. To teach physics-based geology to undergraduates by: a. Bringing students into an active field research environment b. Bringing modern instrumentation into the classroom c. Designing a new physical volcanology course d. Mentoring undergraduate research assistants 2. To constrain the mechanisms for regional-scale earthquake triggering by a. Measuring seismically-induced permeability and porosity changes with pore pressure data b. Determining conditions for triggering using earthquake catalogs and waveforms c. Linking fluid flow and triggered seismicity using repeated earthquake data 3. To quantify the formation of volcanic directed blasts by: a. Modeling the mechanism of compressible jet collapse b. Measuring the basal friction of a volcanic landslide
