December 14, 1998

Earth scientists present new findings at American Geophysical Union meeting

By Tim Stephens

UCSC researchers made a strong showing at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held December 6-10 in San Francisco. Many of the faculty and graduate students in the Department of Earth Sciences presented new findings from their research at the meeting. Among the highlights were presentations on the following topics:

• Major changes in ocean circulation may have accompanied past global warming

  During warm climate intervals in Earth's past, changes in ocean circulation may have contributed to unusually warm temperatures at high latitudes. (Matthew Huber and Lisa Sloan)

• Earthquake rupture processes vary with depth in subduction zones

  New results from subduction zones around the world show a consistent trend in earthquake rupture processes, varying with depth from shallow, slow events (including the kind that trigger tsunamis) to faster, more typical ruptures at greater depths. (Susan Bilek and Thorne Lay)

• Fascinated seismologists analyze the great Antarctic earthquake of 1998

  A large (magnitude 8.2) and unusual earthquake occurred within the Antarctic plate on March 25, 1998, stimulating a flurry of investigations by seismologists worldwide, including this detailed analysis of the rupture process. (Susan Schwartz)

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