All the scientists who work on this question seek to understand the earthquake cycle: why they occur when and where they occur, what controls the size of an earthquake, what is happening to the chemistry and physics of rocks during an earthquake? How might underground fluids cause earthquakes, and how do earthquakes affect the movement of underground fluids?

The structural geology group at (and associated with) UC Santa Cruz, studies the fossil remains of deep faults, faults which generated great earthquakes at the time the dinosaurs went extinct. Over the millenia, these faults have survived erosion and uplift into the seacliffs and mountains of the Kodiak Archipelago.

There are many more questions around this topic, but the basic hope is that by understanding as much as we can about the faults which produce great earthquakes, we will be able to improve the human condition in the process. We are a long way from being able to predict the time, location, or magnitude of earthquakes, but an important step on that road is to understand how earthquakes initiate within the crust. Our group hopes to gain greater understanding of the processes which control faults.