Gail Christeson Personal page Research Scientist Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1994) B.S., Texas A&M University (1988) Telephone 512-471-0463 Fax 512-471-0348 Email: gail Gail's CV

I am interested in crustal structure of various geological environments. My early work focused on the formation of oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges, and I am continuing this work with a pro-ject to correlate the geologic structure observed at Hess Deep and the Blanco Fracture Zone with the seismic structure observed at the adjacent plateaus. Since my employment at UTIG I have expanded my interests to the structure of subducting crust near Costa Rica and Barbados, the size and morphology of the Chicxulub impact crater, the nature of the crust within Bransfield Strait, the oblique arc-continent collision zone in the SE Caribbean, and the interplay between tectonics and erosions near the Gulf of Alaska. In order to characterize the structure in these various envi-ronments I collect wide-angle seismic data using a large air-gun source and ocean bottom seis-mograph receivers; this is often done in conjunction with the acquisition of multi-channel seis-mic reflection profiles. I then use various techniques, including 1D reflectivity modeling, 2D ray-tracing, and 2D and 3D tomography to constrain crustal structure.

Currently Funded Research Projects
Correlation of Seismic Structure with Observed Outcrop Geology: MCS/OBS Investigation of Hess Deep and Blanco Transform

Crust mantle Interactions During Continental Growth and High Pressure Rock Exhumation at an Oblique Arc Continent Collision Zone: SE Caribbean Margin

St. Elias Erosion/tectonics Project (STEEP)

Student Involvement

Gail's UTIG contributions over last 5 years (Publications)