Publications

During the eruption of Redoubt Volcano from December 1989 through April 1990, the Alaska Volcano Observatory issued advance warnings of several tephra eruptions based on changes in seismic activity related to the occurrence of precursory swarms of long-period (LP) seismic events (dominant period of about 0.5 s). The initial eruption on December 14 occurred after 23 years of quiescence and was hera

Aftershocks of large earthquakes tend to occur close to the main rupture zone, and can be used to constrain its dimensions. But following the 1992 Landers earthquake (magnitude M(w) = 7.3) in southern California, many aftershocks were reported in areas remote from the mainshock. Intriguingly, this remote seismicity occurred in small clusters near active volcanic and geothermal systems. For one of

As part of a hazards-assessment study, we examined the nature and rate of geomorphic change caused by outburst floods and debris flows along Tahoma Creek. Mount Rainier, since 1967. Archival aerial photographs of the area proved to be a rich source of qualitative geomorphic information. On the basis of limited direct evidence and considerations of stream hydrology, we conclude that nearly all of t

Time-series measurements of current velocity, optical attenuation and surface wave intensity obtained during the Sediment Transport Events on Shelves and Slopes (STRESS) experiments, combined with shipboard measurements of conductivity, temperature and optical attenuation obtained during the Shelf Mixed Layer Experiment (SMILE), provide a description of the sediment concentration field over the ce

Pleistocene basalt of the Mount Edgecumbe volcanic field (MEF) is subdivided into a plagioclase type and an olivine type. Olivine basalt crops out farther inboard from the nearby Fairweather transform than plagioclase basalt. Th/La ratios of plagioclase basalt are similar to those of mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB), whereas those of olivine basalt are of continental affinity. The olivine basalt has

The failure potential of the debris-avalanche dam at Castle Lake near Mount St. Helens, Washington, by three processes of seepage erosion (1) Heave; (2) piping; and (3) internal erosion, is examined. Results indicated that the dam is stable against piping but potentially locally unstable against heave. -from Authors

A large landslide failed catastrophically along steep, 90-m (300-ft) high bluffs overlooking the waters of Puget Sound at Tacoma, Washington, in April of 1949, three days after the region was struck by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. The area of failure was investigated to estimate the static and seismic stability of the pre-earthquake slope and to identify factors that contributed to the failure. Res

The results from two different types of gas measurement, telemetered in situ monitoring of reducing gases on the dome and airborne measurements of sulfur dioxide emission rates in the plume by correlation spectrometry, suggest that the combination of these two methods is particularly effective in detecting periods of enhanced degassing that intermittently punctuate the normal background leakage of

High-precision K-Ar dating and detailed mapping have established an eruptive chronology for a Cascade stratovolcano and its surrounding array of coeval basaltic centers. The time-volume-composition data bear upon several fundamental questions concerning the long-term behavior of arc volcanoes. -from Authors

The catastrophic release of gas from Lake Nyos, Cameroon, in 1986 caused substantial but incomplete mixing of the stratified water column. The post-release evolution of water-column structure has been monitored through April 1992. Changes began immediately after the event as rainfall and inflow brought dilute fluid into the surface layer. Inflow and surface mixing have gradually deepened the chemo

A generally unrecognized type of pyroclastic deposit was produced by rapid avalanches of intimately mixed snow and hot pyroclastic debris during eruptions at Mount St. Helens, Nevado del Ruiz, and Redoubt Volcano between 1982 and 1989. These "mixed avalanches" traveled as far as 14 km at velocities up to ∼27 m/s, involved as much as 107 m3 of rock and ice, and left unmelted deposits of single flow

A coral-basalt breccia-conglomerate is exposed >60m above present sea level and nearly 2km inland from the present shoreline on the southwest side of East Molokai Volcano. This deposits was apparently laid down by a giant wave that broke over an outer reef, similar to the present fringing reef, and advanced as a turbulent bore over the back-reef flat, picking up a slurry of carbonate-rich debris a