Introduction The Geophysics group consists primarily of Jeffrey Barker, Steven Dickman, and Francis Wu, who are actively involved in research in seismology and global geodesy. Grant-supported research is currently being carried out in measuring and modeling crustal deformation and earthquakes in Taiwan and New Zealand; modeling the effects of shallow sediments and topography on earthquake ground motions; ocean tides and ocean/atmosphere interactions; the ocean's influence on Earth's rotation; tectonic excitation of the Chandler wobble; and high-frequency core-mantle coupling. Graduate students in geophysics are expected to participate in research from their first semester. Nearly all graduate students in geophysics receive assistantships or fellowships, and support for summer research is generally available.

Facilities Modern-day geophysics involves the analysis and modeling of large, nearly real-time data sets available through a number of international facilities. In seismology, the IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions in Seismology) Consortium, with its data management center in Seattle, provides on-line and off-line digital seismic data used in earthquake studies. IRIS also provides modern, broad-band portable digital seismic recorders which are currently being used at Binghamton for field studies in Tibet, Taiwan and New Zealand. In global geodesy, space- based observing techniques -- including VLBI, GPS, satellite laser ranging and satellite altimetry -- have yielded geodetic and supplementary (crustal, oceanographic, and atmospheric) data sets which are widely used in current research.

The seismology group operates its own computer network, which currently consists of 7 Sun Sparc workstations. The network has about 20 gigabytes of disk space, and includes peripherals such as cartridge, 8mm and DAT tape drives, 3 CD-Rom readers and 3 laserprinters (one color). For highly computation-intensive tasks, the massively parallel SP2 supercomputer at Cornell is available, as well as an IBM ES-9000 vector mainframe on campus. High-speed communications with other research centers, remote supercomputers, and the IRIS data management center is performed via NYSERNET (New York State Education and Research Network) and NSFNET. Three-component, long-period and vertical-component short-period seismometers at Binghamton digitally record teleseismic and regional events in real time, and are used in teaching and seismogram interpretation. For research purposes, station BINY (one of the US National Seismic Network), which is located at the Binghamton airport, provides 6 channels of data via satellite to the US Geological Survey and the IRIS data management center. A number of portable, wide dynamic range digital accelerographs have been used for aftershock surveys, but these are being supplanted by IRIS RAMP (Rapid Array Mobilization Program) instruments.

Recently, through an NSF instrumentation grant, we have purchased high-resolution shallow seismic reflection/refraction equipment for use in active geophysical experiments. The primary equipment includes a Geometrics Strataview 24-channel seismograph, 30-Hz and 100-Hz geophones, cables, a roll box, sledge-hammer and Betsy Seisgun sources. Data processing is carried out on PCs or UNIX workstations. We expect that these instruments will provide excellent sub-surface images which will be used in research throughout the department. Other geophysical equipment, including a gravimeter and magnetometer are available for students to carry out a wide range of work.

Other departmental facilities are described elsewhere. An excellent support staff operate the electronics shop, technical drafting and web design studio, photographic studio and thin-section laboratory.

Graduate Courses in Geophysics

GEOL 550 - Geophysics I (Seismology)

Foundations in seismology. Elasticity theory; wave equation; body and surface waves. Inferences concerning the Earth's interior. Seismographs; field seismology; data processing. Earthquake occurrence. (Wu)

GEOL 551 - Geophysics II (General Geophysics)

Fundamental non-seismic aspects of solid earth geophysics: gravity, rotational dynamics, tides; equations of state of the interior; geothermal heat flow, Earth's thermal history; the geomagnetic field. Observations and theory are emphasized. (Dickman)

GEOL 552 - Theoretical Seismology

Theoretical development of computational methods in seismology; the Representation Theorem; body-force equivalents; seismic moment tensor; the Cagniard-deHoop method; the propagator matrix method; anelastic attenuation; scattering; instrumentation. (Barker)

GEOL 553 - Applied Geophysics

Applications of high-resolution shallow seismic refraction and reflection methods, as well as other geophysical techniques, useful in environmental geology, hydrogeology, sedimentology, neotectonics and earthquake engineering. Field experiments, including data collection and processing on PCs and UNIX workstations, will illustrate the principles in the determination of subsurface structure and material properties. (Barker)

GEOL 658 - Seminar in Geophysics

Selected topics in geophysics, such as: mantle rheology; satellite geodesy; earthquake prediction; time-series methods; inverse theory. (Barker, Dickman, Wu)

GEOL 659 - Current Topics in Seismological Research

Topics in seismology, including: seismic source inversion; 3-D wave propagation; seismic tomography; discrimination of underground nuclear explosions from earthquakes.

Other Related Courses

GEOL 516 - Hydrogeology (Dickman and Demicco)

GEOL 541 - Advanced Principles of Tectonics (MacDonald)

GEOL 545 - Neotectonics (Knuepfer)

GEOL 549 - Introduction to Solid Earth Physics (Dickman)

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