Results for GEOPHYS

Sustainability lessons from the geological past Life on Earth has partially perished in sudden mass extinctions several time over the Earth's history. Threats include actions of our own volition, including fossil fuel burning as well as natural events, including the impact of large asteroids. The end Permian 250 million years ago and end Paleocene 55 million years ago extinctions involved natural burning of fossil fuels. The 65 million year ago end Cretaceous extinction involved the impact of and asteroid and possibly fossil fuel burning. Related sustainability topics in the popular press will be discussed as they arise. Student pairs lead discussions on topics on how humanity might avert these catastrophes. Offered occasionally.

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The pathway that water takes from rainfall to the tap using student home towns as an example. How the geological environment controls the quantity and quality of water; taste tests of water from around the world. Current U.S. and world water supply issues.

Introduction to the foundations of contemporary geophysics. Topics drawn from four broad themes in: whole Earth geodynamics, geohazards, natural resources, and environment/sustainability. In each case the focus is on how the interpretation of a variety of geophysical measurements (e.g., gravity, seismology, heat flow, magnetism, electromagnetics, and geodesy) can be used to provide fundamental insight into the behavior of the Earth's complex geosystems. Prerequisite: CME 100 or MA TH 51, or co-registration in either.

Introductory application of continuum mechanics to ice sheets and glaciers, water waves and tsunamis, and volcanoes. Emphasis on physical processes and mathematical description using balance of mass and momentum, combined with constitutive equations for fluids and solids. Designed for undergraduates with no prior geophysics background; also appropriate for beginning graduate students. Prerequisites: CME 100 or MATH 52 and PHYSICS 41 (or equivalent). Offered every year, winter quarter.

How to observe and interpret physical and biological changes in the oceans using satellite technologies. Topics: principles of satellite remote sensing, classes of satellite remote sensors, converting radiometric data into biological and physical quantities, sensor calibration and validation, interpreting large-scale oceanographic features.

Introduction to the physics governing the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean and their control on climate with emphasis on the atmospheric circulation. Topics include the global energy balance, the greenhouse effect, the vertical and meridional structure of the atmosphere, dry and moist convection, the equations of motion for the atmosphere and ocean, including the effects of rotation, and the poleward transport of heat by the large-scale atmospheric circulation and storm systems. Prerequisites: MATH 51 or CME100 and PHYSICS 41.

Interdisciplinary problems involving the state and movement of fluids in crustal systems, and computational methods to model these processes. Examples of processes include: nonlinear, time-dependent flow in porous rocks; coupling in porous rocks between fluid flow, stress, deformation, and heat and chemical transport; percolation of partial melt; diagenetic processes; pressure solution and the formation of stylolites; and transient pore pressure in fault zones. MATLAB, Lattice-Boltzmann, and COMSOL Multiphysics. Term project. No experience with COMSOL Multiphysics required. Offered every other year, winter quarter.

The physics of faulting and plate tectonics. Topics: plate driving forces, lithospheric rheology, crustal faulting, and the state of stress in the lithosphere. Exercises: lithospheric temperature and strength profiles, calculation of seismic strain from summation of earthquake moment tensors, slip on faults in 3D, and stress triggering and inversion of stress from earthquake focal mechanisms. Offered every other year, winter quarter. This course is offered in 2014-15 instead of Geophys 170/220.

Imaging principles exemplified by means of imaging geophysical data of various uncomplicated types (bathymetry, altimetry, velocity, reflectivity). Adjoints, back projection, conjugate-gradient inversion, preconditioning, multidimensional autoregression and spectral factorization, the helical coordinate, and object-based programming. Common recurring issues such as limited aperture, missing data, signal/noise segregation, and nonstationary spectra. See http://sep.stanford.edu/sep/prof/.

Field-, lab-, or computer-based. Faculty supervision. Written reports.

For seniors writing a thesis based on Geophysics research in 196 or as a summer research fellow. Seniors defend the results of their research at a public oral presentation.

Experimental, observational, or theoretical honors project and thesis in geophysics under supervision of a faculty member. Students who elect to do an honors thesis should begin planning it no later than Winter Quarter of the junior year. Prerequisites: department approval. Seniors defend the results of their research at a public oral presentation.

Interdisciplinary problems involving the state and movement of fluids in crustal systems, and computational methods to model these processes. Examples of processes include: nonlinear, time-dependent flow in porous rocks; coupling in porous rocks between fluid flow, stress, deformation, and heat and chemical transport; percolation of partial melt; diagenetic processes; pressure solution and the formation of stylolites; and transient pore pressure in fault zones. MATLAB, Lattice-Boltzmann, and COMSOL Multiphysics. Term project. No experience with COMSOL Multiphysics required. Offered every other year, winter quarter.

Imaging principles exemplified by means of imaging geophysical data of various uncomplicated types (bathymetry, altimetry, velocity, reflectivity). Adjoints, back projection, conjugate-gradient inversion, preconditioning, multidimensional autoregression and spectral factorization, the helical coordinate, and object-based programming. Common recurring issues such as limited aperture, missing data, signal/noise segregation, and nonstationary spectra. See http://sep.stanford.edu/sep/prof/.

Introductory application of continuum mechanics to ice sheets and glaciers, water waves and tsunamis, and volcanoes. Emphasis on physical processes and mathematical description using balance of mass and momentum, combined with constitutive equations for fluids and solids. Designed for undergraduates with no prior geophysics background; also appropriate for beginning graduate students. Prerequisites: CME 100 or MATH 52 and PHYSICS 41 (or equivalent). Offered every year, winter quarter.

Introduction to the physics governing the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean and their control on climate with emphasis on the atmospheric circulation. Topics include the global energy balance, the greenhouse effect, the vertical and meridional structure of the atmosphere, dry and moist convection, the equations of motion for the atmosphere and ocean, including the effects of rotation, and the poleward transport of heat by the large-scale atmospheric circulation and storm systems. Prerequisites: MATH 51 or CME100 and PHYSICS 41.

On-the-job-training for master's and doctoral degree students under the guidance of on-site supervisors. Students submit a report detailing work activities, problems, assignment, and key results. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: written consent of adviser.

Techniques for mapping numerically intensive algorithms to modern high performance computers such as the Center for Computational Earth and Environmental Science's (CEES) . Topics include computer architecture performance analysis, and parallel programming. Topics covered include pthreads OpenMP; MPI, Cilk++, and CUDA.. Exercises using SMP and cluster computers. May be repeated for credit. Offered every other year, winter quarter.

This course investigates how waves propagate through the whole Earth. This course examines the questions "How do body waves and surface waves behave within the Earth?" and "What does that tell us about the Earth?" The course delves into both theory and how we apply that theory to understand seismic observations. Requirements: Math 52 or CME 102, GP130 or permission from instructor.

The physics of faulting and plate tectonics. Topics: plate driving forces, lithospheric rheology, crustal faulting, and the state of stress in the lithosphere. Exercises: lithospheric temperature and strength profiles, calculation of seismic strain from summation of earthquake moment tensors, slip on faults in 3D, and stress triggering and inversion of stress from earthquake focal mechanisms. Offered every other year, winter quarter. This course is offered in 2014-15 instead of Geophys 170/220.

Research in reflection seismology and petroleum prospecting. May be repeated for credit.

Research on the use of geophysical methods for near-surface environmental problems. May be repeated for credit.

Research on physics and mechanics of earthquakes, volcanoes, ice sheets, and nglaciers. Emphasis is on developing theoretical understanding of processes governing natural phenomena.

Research on the origin, major structures, and tectonic processes of the Earth's crust. Emphasis is on use of deep seismic reflection and refraction data. May be repeated for credit.

Research in areas of petrophysics, seismology, in situ stress, and subjects related to characterization of the physical properties of rock in situ. May be repeated for credit.

Research on seismic source processes, crustal stress, and deformation associated with faulting and volcanism. May be repeated for credit.

Research on the use of laboratory geophysical methods for the characterization of the physical properties of rocks and their response to earth stresses, temperature, and rock-fluid interactions. May be repeated for credit.

Theory, numerical simulation, and experiments on seismic and electromagnetic waves in complex porous media. Applications from Earth imaging and in situ characterization of Earth properties, including subsurface monitoring. Presentations by faculty, research staff, students, and visitors. May be repeated for credit.

Research on the mechanical properties of porous rocks: dynamic problems of seismic velocity, dispersion, and attentuation; and quasi-static problems of faulting, fluid transport, crustal deformation, and loss of porosity. Participants define, investigate, and present an original problem of their own. May be repeated for credit.

Research on the dynamics of multi-phase systems that are fundamental to many geophysical problems such as ice sheets and volcanoes.

Research applications, especially crustal deformation measurements. Recent instrumentation and system advancements. May be repeated for credit.

Topics chosen from surface wave dispersion measurement, 1D inversion techniques, regional tomographic inversion, receiver functions, ray theory in spherical geometry, seismic attenuation, seismic anisotropy, seismic focusing, reflected phases, stacking, and interpretations of seismic results in light of other geophysical constraints. May be repeated for credit.