Undergraduate research opportunity/Main Ethiopian Rift/Crustal seismology
Stanford University Department of Geophysics

The Crustal Research Group in the Department of Geophysics at Stanford University is seeking two undergraduates to participate in a geophysical experiment and to conduct research as part of a NSF-funded seismic investigation of the Main Ethiopian Rift under the direction of Simon Klemperer. Our experiment is intended to elucidate the structure and composition of a continental rift at the point where the archetypal narrow  rift - the East African Rift - is becoming dominated by magmatism as it progresses towards ocean rifting in the Afar Triangle and southern Red Sea. The students will be involved in all steps from data acquisition at sea to data interpretation and if possible an eventual scientific publication. The student will help acquire the data during fieldwork in Ethiopia in January-February 2003.

*Summary:
Please apply to be one of two Stanford undergraduates who will come to Ethiopia with me, approximately 1/5/03-2/5/03, for training in exploration geophysics, specifically controlled-source seismology. All expenses will be paid, to and from Stanford, including travel, food and lodging, vaccinations and visas.

*What is our scientific objective?
Our aim is to understand the geological structure of the crust as it is being rifted apart to form a new ocean basin.
We know that classic continental rifts are controlled by the geometry of their boundary faults, whereas oceanic rifts - mid-ocean ridges - are controlled by the supply of magma from the mantle into the crust.  But what happens as a continental rift propagates into the ocean, and becomes highly magmatic?  In Ethiopia major volcanoes form along and within the rift valley, and our task is to study the relationship between the magmatism and the faulting, and to image these features all the way through the crust, into the upper mantle, to depths of about 50 km.
For more geological and geophysical background, click here.

*What will we do?
The US National Science Foundation has funded my project: "US-EAGLE (Ethiopia-Afar Geoscientific Lithospheric Experiment): Modification of lithospheric structure during continental break-up" involving Stanford, three other US universities (Penn State, UTEP, SWMSU), and four UK universities (Leicester, Leeds, RHUL London and Edinburgh) and four Ethiopian earth-science institutions (Addis Ababa University, Ethiopian Geological Survey, Petroleum Operations Department,  Ministry of Mines and Energy)  Japanese institutions.  I will lead the U.S. field team in Ethiopia in January-February 2003.  Our team will carry out controlled-source seismic experiments: sound sources (seismic waves) produced by exploding 1-ton dynamite charges in deep boreholes produce signals that can travel 50 km deep within the earth, and can be recorded both close to and > 300 km distant from the shot. We will record these sound waves on over 1000 seismographs, and the recorded signals will then be processed to create a structural image of the earth.  We will also use the travel-time information (the time taken for the sound waves to travel from the source to each receiver) to measure the velocity with which sound waves travel through the earth, which is an important diagnostic of the rock types present.

*Logistic details:
Both students will participate in all aspects of land seismic acquisition, including equipment preparation in Ethiopia, seismograph deployment, shot-hole preparation, seismograph recovery, and preliminary data reduction in the field. During the field experiment we typically work 12 hour days, 7 days a week, with only occasional rest days. I will direct your work.  Several of my graduate students, and faculty, staff and students of the other particpating Ethiopian, UK and US universities will also take part.
Prior to the field-work, both students will be encouraged to enroll in my 3 unit lecture class taught Fall '02, Geophysics 182, "Reflection Seismology", and/or to carry out Directed Reading with me to learn about the Ethiopian Rift.
In Winter Quarter '02-'03, academic credit is available for participation in the field experiment.  Students will be expected to register for Winter Quarter at Stanford.  On prior occasions, students carrying out field-work with me during the first part of a teaching quarter have been able to take a reduced load of classes, which they fall behind with during the field work, but catch up with on their return to Stanford.  (This requires motivated and organized individuals, but of course I am not planning to recruit anyone who does not fit in this category!)
Following the field-work, the students will be encouraged to continue work under my direction on aspects of the data processing and interpretation
Academic credit, and probably financial support, is available for continuing participation in the research beyond the fieldwork.

*Your intellectual involvement in the research project:
You will take part in all aspects of land seismic acquisition, including equipment preparation in Ethiopia, seismograph deployment, shot-hole preparation, seismograph recovery, and preliminary data reduction in the field. You will learn about the way the physics of seismic-wave propagation and the geology of the Ethiopian Rift constrain the practical experiment we do on the ground.
Following the fieldwork, I hope that you will wish to carry out research based on the data we collected.  Perhaps the most accessible part of my research is the processing of the reflection data to form a seismic section, from which we can then interpret the structure of the crust below the rift. Prior experience is not required, but interested students will have to be willing to learn the methodologies involved. Equally acceptable is any other independent research project (compatible with the planned field activities) designed by an interested student.
I intend that one or both students will be offered paid full-time employment for a three-month summer session, culminating (I hope) in your preparation of a scientific abstract for submission to the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), to be held in San Francisco in December 2003. The student(s) would be funded to participate in this meeting to present their work.

*Process and criteria for selection of the student(s):
The opportunity is hereby advertised to all enrolled Stanford undergraduates. Priority will be given to those students who are Juniors or Seniors in academic 02/03 (though sophomores have successfully participated in the past) with majors (or academic preparation) in the School of Earth Sciences or Physics. Additional preference will be given to those who expect to be available to continue work on data from the experiment (e.g. as a senior research project) during the summer 2003, and/or fall quarter 2003/04, culminating in participation in the AGU meeting in December 2003. Applications are particularly solicited from women or minority groups.

*Method of application:
Interested students should email me (sklemp@stanford.edu) a package consisting of: a statement of interest and preparation, Stanford transcript, and a resume; a
statement that your health permits your participation in a month of arduous field-work in Ethiopia, at elevations up to 3000 m and temperatures up to 40 C and that your program of study at Stanford enables you to be absent from Stanford for the first part of Winter Quarter (through early February, exact date to be determined prior to start of Fall Quarter). At least one brief letter of reference is also required, and should if possible be emailed directly to me by your referee.
I am available to answer any questions.  You may also wish to contact Stanford undergraduates who have worked with me in the field and are continuing to carry out research with me, Tawni Tidwell and Roland Gunther.

Early application is encouraged.  I will begin to review applications on the first day of finals (Friday 7th June).  Short-listed candidates will be briefly interviewed.  Successful candidates will be notified if possible at the end of Spring Quarter, and certainly no later than the start of classes in Fall Quarter, Wednesday 25 September.

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Last updated 05/02