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Susan Elizabeth Werner Kieffer (born November 17, 1942 in Warren, Pennsylvania) is an American physical geologist and planetary scientist. Kieffer is known for her work on the fluid dynamics of volcanoes, [1] [2] geysers, [3] and rivers, and for her model of the thermodynamic properties of complex minerals. She has also contributed to the scientific understanding of meteorite impacts.
Kieffer received her B.S. in physics/mathematics from Allegheny College in 1964 and is an alumna of the California Institute of Technology receiving both an M.S. (1967) in geological sciences and Ph.D. (1971) in planetary sciences. [4] She received an Honorary Doctor of Science from Allegheny in 1987, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award, equivalent to an honorary Ph.D. from other institutions, from Caltech in 1982.
She is currently an Emeritus Professor of Geology in the Department of Geology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She began her teaching career as a Professor of Geology at the University of California, Los Angeles (1973) before working with the United States Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona (1979–1990). After serving as a Regents Professor of Geology at Arizona State University (1991-1993) she went on to chair the Geological Sciences Department at the University of British Columbia (1993–1995).
She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, [5] a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, [6] and a member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences. From 1995 to 2000 she held a MacArthur Fellow ship. [7] In 2014 She was awarded the Penrose Medal by the Geological Society of America. [8] The American Geosciences Institute recognized Kieffer with the 2017 Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal. [9]
In 2013, Kieffer published a trade science book entitled The Dynamics of Disaster. [10] The book discusses natural disasters from an underlying geological perspective.
A caldera is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is gone. The ground surface then collapses into the emptied or partially emptied magma chamber, leaving a large depression at the surface. Although sometimes described as a crater, the feature is actually a type of sinkhole, as it is formed through subsidence and collapse rather than an explosion or impact. Compared to the thousands of volcanic eruptions that occur each century, the formation of a caldera is a rare event, occurring only a few times per century. Only seven caldera-forming collapses are known to have occurred between 1911 and 2016. More recently, a caldera collapse occurred at Kīlauea, Hawaii in 2018.
Geophysics is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term geophysics classically refers to solid earth applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic fields ; its internal structure and composition; its dynamics and their surface expression in plate tectonics, the generation of magmas, volcanism and rock formation. However, modern geophysics organizations and pure scientists use a broader definition that includes the water cycle including snow and ice; fluid dynamics of the oceans and the atmosphere; electricity and magnetism in the ionosphere and magnetosphere and solar-terrestrial physics; and analogous problems associated with the Moon and other planets.
Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about 37 mi (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 mi (29 km) west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, after the adjacent Cañon Diablo. Because the United States Board on Geographic Names recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the feature acquired the name of "Meteor Crater" from the nearby post office named Meteor.
Shocked quartz is a form of quartz that has a microscopic structure that is different from normal quartz. Under intense pressure, the crystalline structure of quartz is deformed along planes inside the crystal. These planes, which show up as lines under a microscope, are called planar deformation features (PDFs), or shock lamellae.
Jeffrey C. Wynn is a research geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS). He is currently based in the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, WA, one of the five USGS volcano observatories in the United States .
The Canyon Diablo meteorite refers to the many fragments of the asteroid that created Meteor Crater, Arizona, United States. Meteorites have been found around the crater rim, and are named for nearby Canyon Diablo, which lies about three to four miles west of the crater.
Don Lynn Anderson was an American geophysicist who made significant contributions to the understanding of the origin, evolution, structure, and composition of Earth and other planets. An expert in numerous scientific disciplines, Anderson's work combined seismology, solid state physics, geochemistry and petrology to explain how the Earth works. Anderson was best known for his contributions to the understanding of the Earth's deep interior, and more recently, for the plate theory hypothesis that hotspots are the product of plate tectonics rather than narrow plumes emanating from the deep Earth. Anderson was Professor (Emeritus) of Geophysics in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He received numerous awards from geophysical, geological and astronomical societies. In 1998 he was awarded the Crafoord Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences along with Adam Dziewonski. Later that year, Anderson received the National Medal of Science. He held honorary doctorates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Paris (Sorbonne), and served on numerous university advisory committees, including those at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, Stanford, University of Paris, Purdue University, and Rice University. Anderson's wide-ranging research resulted in hundreds of published papers in the fields of planetary science, seismology, mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, tectonics and the philosophy of science.
Coconino Sandstone is a geologic formation named after its exposure in Coconino County, Arizona. This formation spreads across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
The geology of Mars is the scientific study of the surface, crust, and interior of the planet Mars. It emphasizes the composition, structure, history, and physical processes that shape the planet. It is analogous to the field of terrestrial geology. In planetary science, the term geology is used in its broadest sense to mean the study of the solid parts of planets and moons. The term incorporates aspects of geophysics, geochemistry, mineralogy, geodesy, and cartography. A neologism, areology, from the Greek word Arēs (Mars), sometimes appears as a synonym for Mars's geology in the popular media and works of science fiction. The term areology is also used by the Areological Society.
The Uinkaret volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes in northwestern Arizona, United States, located on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
The Iapygia quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Iapygia quadrangle is also referred to as MC-21.
Ganges Mensa is a mesa and an interior layered deposit in Ganges Chasma, one of the peripheral valleys of Valles Marineris on Mars. The mesa rises up to 4 kilometres (13,000 ft) from the floor of Ganges Chasma, nearly to the same elevation as the surrounding plateaux of Lunae Planum. Like Hebes Mensa, the mesa is completely separated from the surrounding canyon walls and has sustained significant erosion that has caused it to retreat in areal extent.
Mineral physics is the science of materials that compose the interior of planets, particularly the Earth. It overlaps with petrophysics, which focuses on whole-rock properties. It provides information that allows interpretation of surface measurements of seismic waves, gravity anomalies, geomagnetic fields and electromagnetic fields in terms of properties in the deep interior of the Earth. This information can be used to provide insights into plate tectonics, mantle convection, the geodynamo and related phenomena.
The Hesperian is a geologic system and time period on the planet Mars characterized by widespread volcanic activity and catastrophic flooding that carved immense outflow channels across the surface. The Hesperian is an intermediate and transitional period of Martian history. During the Hesperian, Mars changed from the wetter and perhaps warmer world of the Noachian to the dry, cold, and dusty planet seen today. The absolute age of the Hesperian Period is uncertain. The beginning of the period followed the end of the Late Heavy Bombardment and probably corresponds to the start of the lunar Late Imbrian period, around 3700 million years ago (Mya). The end of the Hesperian Period is much more uncertain and could range anywhere from 3200 to 2000 Mya, with 3000 Mya being frequently cited. The Hesperian Period is roughly coincident with the Earth's early Archean Eon.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to geophysics:
The Amazonian is a geologic system and time period on the planet Mars characterized by low rates of meteorite and asteroid impacts and by cold, hyperarid conditions broadly similar to those on Mars today. The transition from the preceding Hesperian period is somewhat poorly defined. The Amazonian is thought to have begun around 3 billion years ago, although error bars on this date are extremely large. The period is sometimes subdivided into the Early, Middle, and Late Amazonian. The Amazonian continues to the present day.
Inter-crater plains on Mercury are a land-form consisting of plains between craters on Mercury.
The mapping of Venus refers to the process and results of human description of the geological features of the planet Venus. It involves surface radar images of Venus, construction of geological maps, and the identification of stratigraphic units, volumes of rock with a similar age.
Susan Sharpless Hubbard is an American hydrologist and geophysicist, and Hubbard is the Deputy for Science and Technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2020 for contributions to hydrogeophysics, biogeophysics, and the geophysics of permafrost.
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