Active Tectonic & Dynamic Geomorphology

Our faculty offer unique opportunities to students who are interested in tectonics related to active deformation and plate motions. Active tectonics projects are being conducted in the United States, South America, Australia, Caribbean islands, and China. A long standing area of focused research has been the New Madrid seismic zone of the central United States where students and faculty have conducted seismologic, seismic reflection, paleoseismological, structural, and stratigraphic studies.

The geomorphic research focus centers around four general themes: tectonic, fluvial, arid, and hill slope processes and forms. Building from a foundation of these general areas, the research is international in scope and includes studies in China, Australia, the Caribbean, the Mississippi River Valley, and numerous locations in the northeastern, southeastern, and western United States.

Faculty members and their graduate students who study tectonics and geomorphology within the Department of Earth Sciences take advantage of interdisciplinary research with other academic departments at the University of Memphis. Students can also participate in tectonic studies in classic orogenic belts such as the Appalachians, Cordilleran, Ouachitas, or Grenville or within the cratonic interior of North America. Basin studies may be pursued using state-of-the-art software. This software is suited for petroleum-related research and is also being applied to earthquake and groundwater studies.