Alan Levander Carey Croneis Professor of Geology and Geophysics Chairman, Department of Geology & Geophysics Research Interests: Lithospheric Seismology and Wave Propagation   More Information About Alan Levander  Tel (713) 527-6064 Fax (713) 285-5214 Email alan@rice.edu

RESEARCH:
My students and I study the processes of orogensis at plate margins and in mountain belts using seismic reflection and refraction data as the basis for structural studies. In the past 10 years, we have conducted reflection/refraction investigations in the San Andreas transform fault system in southeastern, central, and northern California (1986, 1992, 1993, 1994), in the Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska (1988, 1990), and through the southern Rocky Mountains /Colorado Plateau and Alberta plains region (Deep Probe, 1995). We also investigate the shallow crust using high resolution seismology for tectonic and environmental studies (New Mexico, 1996, CDROM Wyoming, 1998, Utah, 1998).

I currently have a reflection seismology project to investigate the Proterozoic construction of southwestern North America by terrane accretion to the Archean craton, and subsequent controls of the Proterozoic sutures on modern tectonics. This project, known as CDROM (Continental Dynamics of the Rocky Mountains), is part of a 12 institution structural, geochemical, geochronologic, and active and passive seismic study funded by the NSF Continental Dynamics Program. CDROM is a follow on to the Lithoprobe/NSF Continental Dynamics Deep Probe continental scale refraction project along the western cordillera.

With two other researchers from the Center for Computational Geophysics (Colin Zelt in G&G and Bill Symes in CAAM) I have project to develop imaging methods for high resolution seismic data for environmental studies funded by DOE.

A large part of our research is devoted to developing innovative seismic data processing methods for deep data, including depth migration algorithms for vertical-incidence and wide-angle seismic data, and synthetic seismogram algorithms for 2 and 3-dimensionally heterogeneous media. To characterize the highly heterogeneous rocks found in the crystalline crust we have developed stochastic models of igneous and metamorphic rocks, providing a statistical description of rock fabrics and seismic velocities.

I'm also currently engaged in work for IRIS, the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, and for the USArray initiative:

USArray: An Earth Sciences initiative to investigate the North American continent

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

• "Seismic imaging of crustal duplexing and continental subduction in the Brooks Range," Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, (1997) 20,847-20,872, with E.S. Wissinger and N.I. Christensen.
• "Is the Moho flat? Seismic evidence for a rough crust-mantle interface beneath the northern Basin and Range," Geology, 25, (1997) 451-454, with S.P. Larkin, A. Levander, T. Henstock, and S. Pullammanappallil.
• "Estimation of stochastic crustal parameters from seismic exploration data," Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, (1997) 15,269-15,286, with S. Pullammanappallil, and S.P. Larkin.
• "Deformation in the Lower Crust of the San Andreas Fault System in Northern California," Science, 278 (1997) 650-653, with T.J. Henstock and J.A. Hole
• "Fluids in the lower crust following Mendocino triple junction migration: Active basaltic intrusion?" Geology, 26, 171-174, 1998, with T. J. Henstock, A. S. Meltzer, A. Trehu, B. C. Beaudoin, S. Klemperer.
• "Probing the Archean and Proterozoic lithosphere of western North American", GSA Today, 8, 1-5 & 16-17, with T.J. Henstock and the Deep Probe Working Group.
• "Crust and uppermost mantle structure along the Deep Probe seismic profile", Rocky Mountain Geology, 33, 181-198. with C.M. Snelson and the Deep Probe Working group.

FORMER GRADUATE STUDENTS:

• Than Putzig, M.A., 1988 - Wide-angle seismic data in the central California margin. [Now in the petroleum industry in Houston,TX]
• Anne S. Meltzer, Ph.D., 1988 - Crustal structure and tectonic evolution: central California. [Now Associate Professor of Geophysics at Lehigh University]
• Bruce Gibson, Ph.D., 1988 - Seismic imaging of random heterogeneous zones. [Now an avocado grower in central California]
• R-C. Shih, Ph.D., 1990 - Layer-stripping reverse-time migration. [now a Professor at Taiwan Memorial University]
• Claude F. Lafond, Ph.D. 1991 - A unified approach to complex seismic imaging problems. [Now at Elf-Aquitaine, France]
• Nizar Chemingui, M.A., 1995 - Three-Dimensional Finite-Difference Methods for seafloor Scattering. [Now a Ph.D candidate in the SEP, Stanford University]
• Johan O.A. Robertsson, Ph.D., 1995 - Scattering of acoustic energy from rough deep ocean seafloor: A numerical modeling approach. [Now at Schlumberger Research, Cambridge, U.K.]
• E.S. Wissinger, 1995, Ph.D., Seismic profiling constraints on the evolution of the Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska, from an integrated reflection/refraction survey, Rice University. [Now at Landmark Graphics, Houston]
• S.P. Larkin, 1996, Ph.D., Combining Deterministic and Stochastic Velocity Fields in the Analysis of Deep Crustal Seismic Data, Rice University. [Now at Chevron, New Orleans]
• Peeter Akerberg, 1999, Ph.D. - Estimation of stochastic parameters from crustal seismic data.
• Lisa LaFlame, 1999, M.A. - Modeling Crustal and Moho Heterogeneity in the Northern Basin and Range from COCORP and PASSCAL Seismic Data.

• Diana Dana, M.A. candidate - High Resolution Seismic investigations for mining and environmental studies.
• Sara Cowles, M.A. candidate - CDROM
• Aron Azaria, M.A. candidate - Seismology

Rice University,
Department of Geology and Geophysics, MS-126,
6100 Main St,
Houston,
TX 77005-1892.

Tel. (713) 527-4880, Fax (713) 285-5214.