NSF Young Investigator

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Funds are provided for a 5-year Young Investigator award to SARAH KRUSE, a geophysicists whose central interest is in the mechanical properties of the Earth's crust. Her present and future work concentrates upon fracture zones, the large faults in the ocean's crust. She has found that the occurrence of high heat flow from volcanism is associated with weakening of fracture zones and is exploring data on the distribution of stress in order to determine whether the volcanism causes the weakening, or whether pre-existing weak zones permit an increase in the volcanism. Other work includes variations in morphology of some Pacific fracture zones, modeling of continental deformation in the Colorado plateau, and tectonics of the Adriatic Sea. In teaching she makes an active effort to bring more understanding of physics to other sciences, and plans to develop two field courses in geophysics. She also plans to have all senior students participate in research projects as part of a required seminar course.