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School of Earth Sciences

Eric M. Dunham

Title:Assistant Professor
Primary Affiliation:Department of Geophysics
Office Location:Mitchell Bldg 325
Alternative Website:https://pangea.stanford.edu/~edunham/
Phone:(650) 725-6989
Fax:(650) 725-7344
E-mail:edunham@stanford.edu

Research

I study the mechanics and physics of earthquakes. Our group has been developing numerical models of rupture propagation that incorporate sophisticated descriptions of the processes within and around the fault zone that are thought to control how fault strength evolves during rapid slip. The models include transport of heat and pore fluid within fault zones, microscopic weakening processes that have been observed in laboratory experiments, and inelastic deformation of the off-fault material. We are using these models to explore how earthquake ruptures excite seismic waves, with a particular focus on strong ground motion and seismic hazard. Recently, my group and I have been working to understand the origin of incoherent high frequency ground motion by directly modeling rupture propagation on fractally rough fault surfaces. This effort involves high-performance computing, using resources at the Stanford Center for Computational Earth and Environmental Science as well as the national TeraGrid supercomputer centers. A second recent project focuses on seismic waves from volcanic eruptions. We have developed a code that solves for the fully coupled flow of a compressible, viscous magma through cracks and conduits in deformable solids. We hope to learn about the dynamics of eruptions from seismic signals recorded at Earth's surface.

Teaching

As part of our new geophysics undergraduate curriculum I teach a course (Geophysics 120: Ice, Water, Fire) in which we apply the principles of continuum mechanics to explain readily observed properties of tsunamis and ocean waves, volcanic eruptions, and ice sheets and glaciers. At the graduate level, I teach earthquake seismology (Geophysics 287: Earthquake Seismology) and have lead seminars on several topics including strong ground motion modeling for seismic hazard analysis and fluid dynamics of volcanic eruptions.

Professional Activities

Co-organizer for SIAM Geosciences Minisymposium on Computational Challenges in Earthquake Simulation, 2011; Delegate for U.S.-Japan Natural Resources (UJNR) Panel on Earthquake Research, 2010; Co-convener for International Workshop on Multiscale and Multiphysics Processes in Geomechanics, 2010; USGS-NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program) External Program review panel, 2010; Co-organizer for Southern California Earthquake Center earthquake rupture code validation project, 2007-present; Co-convener for Southern California Earthquake Center Workshop on Dynamic Weakening Mechanisms, 2009; Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, 2005-08; Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, 2008; Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters, 2007

Education

  • 2005 | Ph.D. Physics Unversity of California, Santa Barbara
  • 2000 | B.S. Physics with Highest Distinction University of Virginia

Professional Experience

  • 2009 - Present | Assistant Professor of Geophysics Stanford University
  • 2008 | Lecturer on Applied Mathematics School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
  • 2007 - 2009 | Research Associate in Geophysics Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University
  • 2005 - 2007 | Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

Honors & Awards

  • 2011 | Best Poster Award, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Geosciences
  • 2009 - Present | Terman Fellow
  • 2008 | Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University
  • 2007 | Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters
  • 2004 | Outstanding Student Paper, American Geophysical Union
  • 2004 | UCSB Affiliates Graduate Dissertation Fellowship
  • 2004 | Student Presentation Award, Seismological Society of America
  • 2002 | Outstanding Student Paper, American Geophysical Union
  • 2001 | John Cardy Award, UCSB Physics
  • 2001 - 2005 | National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
  • 2000 | James W. Elkins Award, UVA Physics
  • 2000 | Parsons Fellowship in computational science, UCSB Physics
  • 1999 | Phi Beta Kappa
  • 1996 - 2000 | Jefferson Scholar, UVA

University Service

  • 2010 - Present | Undergraduate Premajor Advisor
  • 2009 - 2010 | Geophysics Undergraduate Curriculum Committee 

Professional Activities

  • 2007 - present | Co-organizer for Southern California Earthquake Center earthquake rupture code validation project
  • 2011 | Co-organizer for Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Geosciences Minisymposium on Computational Challenges in Earthquake Simulation
  • 2011 | Invited speaker, University of California, Santa Cruz
  • 2010 | Delegate for U.S.-Japan Natural Resources (UJNR) Panel on Earthquake Research
  • 2010 | Invited speaker, University of California, Berkeley, Seismological Laboratory
  • 2010 | Invited speaker, University of Oregon
  • 2010 | Invited speaker, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • 2010 | USGS-NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program) External Program review panel
  • 2010 | Co-convener for International Workshop on Multiscale and Multiphysics Processes in Geomechanics
  • 2010 | Invited speaker, University of California, Berkeley, Applied Mathematics
  • 2009 | Co-convener for Southern California Earthquake Center Workshop on Dynamic Weakening Mechanisms
  • 2005 - 2008 | Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth

Courses Taught

  • Spring 2010-2011 | Geophysics 287: Earthquake Seismology [Enrolled 10]
  • Winter 2010-2011 | Geophysics 120: Ice, Water, Fire [Enrolled 3]

Publications

  • 2011 | Dunham, E. M. and D. E. Ogden (2011) Guided waves along fluid-filled cracks in elastic solids and instability at high flow rates, Journal of Applied Mechanics, submitted.
  • 2011 | Denolle, M., E. M. Dunham, and G. C. Beroza (2011) Solving the surface-wave eigenproblem with Chebyshev spectral collocation, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, submitted.
  • 2011 | Dunham, E. M., D. Belanger, L. Cong, and J. E. Kozdon (2011), Earthquake ruptures with strongly rate-weakening friction and off-fault plasticity: 1. Planar faults, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, in press.
  • 2011 | Dunham, E. M., D. Belanger, L. Cong, and J. E. Kozdon (2011), Earthquake ruptures with strongly rate-weakening friction and off-fault plasticity: 2. Nonplanar faults, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, in press.
  • 2011 | Harris, R. A., M. Barall, D. J. Andrews, B. Duan, S. Ma, E. M. Dunham, A.-A. Gabriel, Y. Kaneko, Y. Kase, B. Aagaard, D. D. Oglesby, J.-P. Ampuero, T. C. Hanks, and N. Abrahamson (2011) Verifying a computational method for predicting extreme ground motion, Seismological Research Letters, 82(5), 638-644, doi:10.1785/gssrl.82.5.638.
  • 2011 | Kozdon, J. E., E. M. Dunham, and J. Nordstrom (2011), Interaction of waves with frictional interfaces using summation-by-parts difference operators: Weak enforcement of nonlinear boundary conditions, Journal of Scientific Computing, doi:10.1007/s10915-011-845-3.
  • 2011 | Dunham, E. M., D. Belanger, L. Cong, and J. E. Kozdon, Earthquake ruptures on rough faults, in Multiscale and Multiphysics Processes in Geomechanics (results of workshop at Stanford Univ., June, 2010), Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering, edited by Ronaldo I. Borja, ISBN 978-3-642-19629-4, pp. 145-148.
  • 2010 | Rice, J. R., E. M. Dunham, and H. Noda (2010), Thermo- and hydro-mechanical processes along faults during rapid slip, in Meso-Scale Shear Physics in Earthquake and Landslide Mechanics, edited by Y. Hatzor, J. Sulem, and I. Vardoulakis, CRC Press, 3-16.
  • 2010 | Bizzarri, A., E. M. Dunham, and P. Spudich (2010), Coherence of Mach fronts during heterogeneous supershear earthquake rupture propagation: simulations and comparison with observations, Journal of Geophysical Research, 115, B08301, doi:10.1029/2009JB006819.
  • 2010 | Hetland, E. A., M. Simons, and E. M. Dunham (2010), Postseismic and interseismic fault creep I: Model description, Geophysical Journal International, 181(1), 81-98, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04522.x.
  • 2009 | Noda, H., E. M. Dunham, and J. R. Rice (2009), Earthquake ruptures with thermal weakening and the operation of major faults at low overall stress levels, Journal of Geophysical Research, 114, B07302, doi:10.1029/2008JB006143
  • 2009 | Rojas, O., E. M. Dunham, S. M. Day, L. A. Dalguer, and J. E. Castillo (2009), Finite difference modeling of rupture propagation with strong velocity-weakening friction, Geophysical Journal International, 179(3), 1831-1858, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04387.x.
  • 2009 | Harris, R. A., M. Barall, R. Archuleta, E. M. Dunham, B. Aagaard, J. P. Ampuero, H. Bhat, V. Cruz-Atienza, L. Dalguer, P. Dawson, S. Day, B. Duan, G. Ely, Y. Kaneko, Y. Kase, N. Lapusta, Y. Liu, S. Ma, D. Oglesby, K. Olsen, A. Pitarka, S. Song, and E. Templeton (2009), The SCEC/USGS dynamic earthquake-rupture code verification exercise, Seismological Research Letters, 80(1), 119-126, doi:10.1785/gssrl.80.1.119.
  • 2008 | Dunham, E. M. and J. R. Rice (2008), Earthquake slip between dissimilar poroelastic materials, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, B09304, doi:10.1029/2007JB005405.
  • 2008 | Dunham, E. M. and H. S. Bhat (2008), Attenuation of radiated ground motion and stresses from three-dimensional supershear ruptures, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, B08319, doi:10.1029/2007JB005182.
  • 2007 | Dunham, E. M. (2007), Conditions governing the occurrence of supershear ruptures under slip-weakening friction, Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, B07302, doi:10.1029/2006JB004717.
  • 2005 | Page, M. T., E. M. Dunham, and J. M. Carlson (2005), Distinguishing barriers and asperities in near-source ground motion, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, B11302, doi:10.1029/2005JB00373.
  • 2005 | Dunham, E. M. and R. J. Archuleta (2005), Near-source ground motion from steady state dynamic rupture pulses, Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L03302, doi:10.1029/2004GL021793.
  • 2005 | Dunham, E. M. (2005), Dissipative interface waves and the transient response of a three dimensional sliding interface with Coulomb friction, Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 53(2), 327-357, doi:10.1016/j.jmps.2004.07.003.
  • 2004 | Dunham, E. M. and R. J. Archuleta (2004), Evidence for a supershear transient during the 2002 Denali Fault earthquake, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 94(6B), S256-S268, doi:10.1785/0120040616.
  • 2003 | Dunham, E. M., P. Favreau, and J. M. Carlson (2003), A supershear transition mechanism for cracks, Science, 299(5612), 1557-1559, doi:10.1126/science.1080650.

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