I
feel a profound delight in, love for, reverence for the
natural world. My parents gave me this gift of passion and
my goal is to pass it on to as many minds as I possibly can.
I believe that caring involves deep familiarity and
understanding. Thus, my job as a geoscience educator is to
help as many students as possible to know and understand and
respect our planet, i.e., to help them really care about it
and act on their caring. In lecture, I used to think I
wasn't a good scientist if I admitted my passion. No more.
In the last few years I have adopted a style of expressing
my delight along with sharing why I'm delighted - the
intricate order and sense (and, sometimes, irony) of how
things work - wonderful!
Research
I
work in geophysics and geology, driven by a passion for maps
and landforms, exploring many aspects of the theory of plate
tectonics. At sea, I work with various groups on ships and
in the submersible Alvin, characterizing the details of sea
floor spreading centers (the lines along which all the ocean
floors were created). I also contribute to the global
oceanic data set and, using it, quantitatively describe the
past motions of the world's plates.
On the land, I have concentrated on the
tectonic evolution of western North America. During the last
100 million years this continental edge was first a major
subduction zone and then changed, gradually, to the
plate-shear boundary of the San Andreas fault. I study this
geometric evolution, integrating and comparing the global
plate motion record with the regional continental geologic
records. The emerging relationships reveal the origins of
many major geologic features (e.g., Rocky Mountains,
Yellowstone, Death Valley, Cascade volcanoes, California
Coast Ranges).
A vital part of my research effort
concerns communication and education at all levels. I am
embarked upon several projects experimenting with ways to
use the power of electronic multi-media to enhance geologic
visualization, understanding, and caring.
I
feel a profound delight in, love for, reverence for the
natural world. My parents gave me this gift of passion and
my goal is to pass it on to as many minds as I possibly can.
I believe that caring involves deep familiarity and
understanding. Thus, my job as a geoscience educator is to
help as many students as possible to know and understand and
respect our planet, i.e., to help them really care about it
and act on their caring. In lecture, I used to think I
wasn't a good scientist if I admitted my passion. No more.
In the last few years I have adopted a style of expressing
my delight along with sharing why I'm delighted - the
intricate order and sense (and, sometimes, irony) of how
things work - wonderful!
I
work in geophysics and geology, driven by a passion for maps
and landforms, exploring many aspects of the theory of plate
tectonics. At sea, I work with various groups on ships and
in the submersible Alvin, characterizing the details of sea
floor spreading centers (the lines along which all the ocean
floors were created). I also contribute to the global
oceanic data set and, using it, quantitatively describe the
past motions of the world's plates.