Sawyer and DeVore published in Geophysical Research Letters a new article “Elevated Shear Strength of Sediments on Active Margins: Evidence for Seismic Strengthening”

Levent Akinci presented his poster “Salt Diapirism and Slope Failure in the Carolina Trough, Eastern North American Margin” at the annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists held in Denver (June 1-3, 2015).

Zac Moore successfully defended his masters thesis on April 10th “Assessing the relative mobility of submarine landslides from deposit morphology and physical properties: an example from Kumano Basin, Nankai Trough, offshore Japan.”

Congratulations to graduate students Joshua DeVore and Levent Akinci who each received a 2015 GSA graduate student research grant!

Josh’s research proposal is titled “Mudrock Consolidation in the Presence of Seismicity”

Levent’s research proposal is titled: “Salt Diapirism and Slope Failure in the Carolina Trough, Eastern North American Margin.”

Thanks to Julia Reece and the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Texas A&M for hosting a visit on April 17-18. Derek presented a seminar on “Dynamics of Retrogressive Submarine Landslides.”

We welcome Dr. Jess Hillman to the School of Earth Sciences! Dr. Hillman is working with Drs. Cook and Sawyer on methane hydrates. Dr. Hillman earned her PhD from the University of Otago in Dunedin, NZ where she worked on seafloor depressions off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island to explore potential links to methane transport processes between the seafloor and ocean. Dr. Hillman brings key experience in a wide range of geophysical techniques including multibeam bathymetry and backscatter, 2D and 3D seismic, boomer seismic and water column imaging to understand geomorphology and sediment transport processes at a range of scales.

Thanks to Dr. Jenna Hill for hosting my visit to the School of Coastal and Marine Systems Science at Coastal Carolina on Thursday, April 2nd. I presented a talk “The Role of Slope Failures in Geohazards and Continental Margin Morphology.”

The Basin Research group will be well represented at the upcoming 7th International Conference on Mass Movements and Their Consequences in Wellington, New Zealand in November, 2015.

Derek Sawyer will present ” Tiny fossils, big impact: the role of foraminifera-enriched condensed section in arresting the movement of a large retrogressive submarine landslide in the Gulf of Mexico”

Joshua DeVore will present “Shear Strength of Siliciclastic Sediments from Passive and Active Margins (0-100 meters below seafloor): Insights into Seismic Strengthening”

Levent Akinci will present “Salt Diapirism and Slope Failure in the Carolina Trough, Eastern North American Margin”

Sawyer visited Rice University on March 12-13 to present a talk at the Industry-Rice Earth Science Symposium and collaborate with Prof. Jeff Nittrouer’s research group. Sawyer presented an overview talk on the initial results of the NSF-funded Geo-PRISMS Community Seismic Experiment “New Seismic Imaging of the Eastern North Atlantic Margin Offshore North Carolina and Virginia.”

Ohio State assistant professors Ann Cook and Derek Sawyer have been awarded funding to study methane hydrates as part of collaborative effort with the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University.

More details in the story feature: