This award supports cooperative research in earth crust deformation. The work will be performed by Steven N. Ward of the University of California, Santa Cruz and Sergio Barrientos of the University of Chile in Santiago. They propose to study the coseismic displacement field of the 1960 earthquake in southern Chile and the postseismic crustal deformation of that event and the 1985 earthquake in Central Chile. Geodetic elevation changes, triangulation measurements and tide gauge observations will be used to indicate the location and intensity of coseismic slip and interseismic creep in great detail. There is important geodetic and seismic data available for Chile. The U.S. training and Chilean contacts of Barrientos will facilitate the utilization of these datasets and the collection of new measurements. This is an excellent opportunity for mutually beneficial scientific cooperation between U.S. and Chilean scientists. The Chileans will be able to use the advanced techniques of the U.S. scientists to handle this data and the U.S. scientists will learn the details of stress accumulation during the earthquake cycle. This award will help maintain a useful and productive international scientific relationship and thus further the goals of the Science in Developing Countries program.
