Landslides are a perennial threat in California, where the geology and steep topography mean the land is more prone to slipping than in other places. Now, researchers at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics and UC Santa Cruz studying two large Northern California landslides think they’ve found the key to predicting landslide motion hidden… Continue Reading ‘Giant Lab Experiment’ Leads to New Model for Predicting Landslides
Scientists Isolate Early-Warning Tremor Pattern in Lab-Made Earthquakes
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have successfully isolated a pattern of lab-made ‘foreshock’ tremors. The finding offers hope that future earthquakes could be forecast by the swarm of smaller tremors that come before them. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. The next step is to replicate the results in… Continue Reading Scientists Isolate Early-Warning Tremor Pattern in Lab-Made Earthquakes
UT Austin’s Demian Saffer Named AGU Fellow
Demian Saffer, the director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), has been named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The distinction recognizes exceptional scientific contribution and eminence in the field of Earth sciences. Being named a fellow is AGU’s highest honor. Only a tiny fraction (0.1%) of its 40,000 members… Continue Reading UT Austin’s Demian Saffer Named AGU Fellow
Earthquake Scientists Have a New Tool in the Race to Find the Next Big One
An everyday quirk of physics could be an important missing piece in scientists’ efforts to predict the world’s most powerful earthquakes. In a study published in the journal Science, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin discovered that a frictional phenomenon could be key to understanding when and how violently faults move. That’s because… Continue Reading Earthquake Scientists Have a New Tool in the Race to Find the Next Big One
In Search of the Next Big One
Subduction zones are the source of the world’s most dangerous earthquakes and tsunamis. UTIG’s researchers are on a mission to understand them By Constantino Panagopulos On Jan. 26, 1700, a barrage of tsunamis ripped across the Pacific Ocean at the speed of a jet liner. The 100-foot waves slammed into the northwest coast of America… Continue Reading In Search of the Next Big One