Geofluids and Geohazards

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The proposed research program will provide the foundation for a new interdisciplinary research group in “Geofluids” at the University of Calgary, which will initially focus on quantifying the role of fluids and fluid pressures in subduction zone seismicity, and submarine landslides, using crustal scale models of fluid flow. Elevated fluid pressures have been invoked as a mechanism in both of these hazards: by mechanically weakening slope sediments, and “preconditioning” them to fail in an earthquake, and by reducing the effective stress and frictional properties of the plate boundary fault in subduction zones. The model development and parameterization will form the basis for HQP projects, with M.Sc. students primarily focused on constraining model parameters through analysis of geophysical data (i.e. heat flow and seismic reflection data), and laboratory deformation experiments on cores recovered through ocean drilling (i.e. porosity and permeability). Ph.D. students will take responsibility for synthesizing these datasets into the fluid flow model, and conducting the simulations used to predict the pressure distribution in each study area. The first projects in the research program will concentrate on regions that are the focus of existing collaborations: the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand, and the Santa Barbara Basin, California.