Dr. Stephen Holtkamp has been awarded an NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship to implement a research and education program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. This project aims to improve our understanding of the seismic cycle along the Alaskan megathrust subduction zone. While the main hazard from subduction zones comes from large earthquakes (generating extreme ground shaking and tsunamis) and volcanoes, there are a variety of other geophysical phenomena that have a currently unresolved impact on these major geologic hazards. Dr. Holtkamp will be using a newly developed seismic method, multiple station waveform cross correlation, to study Low Frequency Earthquakes (LFE's) and earthquake swarms, both of which are hypothesized to be related to aseismic ("slow") slip. This technique has been shown to detect earthquakes up to one order of magnitude smaller than would be possible using traditional seismic techniques, allowing us to build a more complete catalog of these seismic signals. This technique is insensitive to various forms of seismic background noise, making it the ideal technique to build complete time histories of triggered phenomena. The higher resolution characterization of these seismic signals will provide us the ability to determine their role in the seismic cycle and their relation to large earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
This technique is well suited for addressing a variety of problems in the earth science community, from volcano seismology to induced seismicity from energy technologies (e.g., wastewater injection induced seismicity). One goal of this project is to create a complete tutorial for students and scientists from a broad range of backgrounds and interests to quickly and efficiently begin utilizing this powerful tool. This will ultimately be accomplished through mentoring of undergraduate researchers and implementation in coursework to provide a structured way to improve the tutorial while also fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration and insight.
