Austin J. Elliott

 
 
Dynamics of Fault Interaction

    Altyn Tagh Fault, western China

Paleoseismologic and slip-rate studies coupled with numerical modeling of dynamic earthquake ruptures along parallel strands of the Altyn Tagh fault at the Aksay restraining bend. I seek to understand how this major bend in the Altyn Tagh fault impedes or promotes earthquake ruptures, and how ruptures are distributed between the two subparallel fault strands.

Elliott et al., 2010 (AGU abstract)


Terrestrial Lidar Scanning of Earthquake Rupture

    El Mayor-Cucapah Range, BAja MExico

Ultra-high resolution 3-dimensional surveys of the effects of a major earthquake (M7.2) on the desert landscape. In the weeks following the 4 April, 2010 earthquake in northern Baja, we collected ground-based LiDAR scans of surface rupture and shaking effects to preserve fine-scale topography. We collected additional scans 1 year later, and I am now using software developed for the UC Davis KeckCAVES virtual 3-D environment to quantify erosion, burial, and other modification of the scarp in the time since the earthquake.

Elliott et al., 2011 (AGU abstract)


Geothermal resource 3D visualization

    Valles Caldera, Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico

A student team from UC Davis participated in and won the 2011 Department of Energy Student Geothermal Competition. We used the immersive 3D KeckCAVES facility in the UCD geology department to combine and display a wide array of geophysical, geological, and hydrological data from the geothermal fields around the Valles Caldera. Our synthesis and 3D visualization of observational volumetric data allows smooth, seamless, and intuitive assessment of geothermal features as documented through a multitude of survey methods.

Nat’l Renewable Energy Lab 2011 Student Geothermal Competition

 

Education:

Anticipated Ph.D., University of California Davis (2013) - Geology


B.S., University of Southern California (2008) - Geological Sciences


Research Interests:

The behavior of active faults as recorded in the landscape. The extent to which individual earthquake ruptures accommodate strain across a fault zone. How is slip transferred among neighboring faults, and how does this affect the manifestation of earthquakes at regional and local scales?

Current Projects

Past Projects

earthquake Rupture through fault stepovers

    Observational tests of dynamic rupture models, with J. Dolan at USC

Analysis of coseismic slip distributions from historic strike-slip earthquakes to test numerical models of rupture dynamics at stepovers. Theoretically, ruptures may jump stepovers if they terminate rapidly at the tip of one fault, radiating strong enough seismic energy to dynamically nucleate rupture on the fault strand opposite the stepover. My calculations of slip rate gradients in historically documented earthquakes generally supports the theory that slowly dying ruptures are inhibited by stepovers whereas ruptures with rapidly diminishing slip jump across them.

Elliott et al., 2009


Paleoseismology of the Calico Fault

    Newberry Springs, CA, 2007, with P. Ganev and J. Dolan at USC

Paleoseismologic investigation of two trenches on a desert playa along the Calico fault, the longest, fastest-moving fault of the Eastern California Shear Zone. I logged and photographed trench walls in a project led by P. Ganev and J. Dolan, as part of a Southern California Earthquake Center SURE internship.

Elliott et al., 2007 (abstract)

Ganev et al., 2007 (abstract)


Reinterpreting the magnitude of the 1892 Laguna Salada earthquake

    from historic reports in California, Arizona, and northern Baja, Mexico

    With S. Hough at the USGS

Assignment of Mercali shaking intensities to pre-instrumental earthquakes relies on some subjective criteria which may be non-unique among shaking levels. We conservatively re-evaluated historic accounts of shaking from the Feb. 23, 1892 Laguna Salada earthquake using only objective accounts of earthquake effects recorded in eye-witness reports and news stories from the region. Our analysis reduced the calculated magnitude from MW 7.8 to MW7.2.

Hough and Elliot, 2004