|
Richard T. BufflerSenior Research Scientist; also Professor, Dept. of Geological SciencesPh.D., University of California, Berkeley (1967) Telephone 512-471-0448 Dick will be retiring at the end of 2002. The Jackson School of Geoscience held a celebration to commemorate his life-long devotion to the study and teaching of geology. Some photos from the celebration are on-line. |
|
|
Dick studies ocean basins and their margins using marine geological and geophysical tools. He is especially expert in the application of principles of seismic sequence stratigraphy to the study of marine depositional systems and their adjacent margins. With UTIG/DGS colleague William Galloway, Buffler currently supervises the industry-sponsored UT Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project (GBDS). He is also involved with other UTIG scientists in the study of the structure of the Chicxulub impact crater, which lies buried beneath 1000 meters of sediment straddling the northern boundary of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico. The impact is associated with the catastrophe that marked the abrupt end of the Cretaceous period and the start of the Tertiary period (K/T). Most recently, Buffler and Canadian and African colleagues have initiated a major field investigation in the southern Red Sea/northern Danakil region of Eritrea, Africa, in order to address scientific problems related to active geological rift processes in the northern part of the Afar triple junction. A major secondary objective of this project is to establish a geological framework for further paleontological and archaeology studies, including early hominid evolution. Currently Funded Research ProjectsGulf Basin Depositional Systems (GBDS) Sequence Stratigraphy of the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico: An Integrated Seismic, Well Log and Biostratigraphic Approach Late Cenozoic Rift Sedimentation, Volcanism, and Tectonism in the Northern Afar: Geological Setting for Potential Early Hominid Sites in the Danakil Region, Eritrea Dick's UTIG Contributions (Publications) | ||