Darrel Cowan
Research areas
Interests: Structural Geology, Tectonics
Current Research:
In 1996, my post-doctoral associates and graduate students began a comprehensive field and theoretical study of the kinematics and mechanisms of deformation in fault rocks formed along low-angle normal faults or detachment faults in Death Valley, California. My NSF-supported current project, with research professor Paul Bodin, is testing our hypothesis that the detachment faults are active and capable of generating microearthquakes. We placed a temporary network of ten short-period seismometers in Death Valley National Park and adjacent lands and we successfully recorded hundreds of microqarthquakes.