River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Hello visitor! I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at California State University, Bakersfield. I got my Ph.D. in 2017 from Penn State, then I did my postdocĀ at Utrecht University ebefore coming to Bakersfield.
Very broadly, I am interested in lithospheric deformation processes (basically, how the upper ~100 km of the Earth bends, breaks, and flows), and particularly how this deformation relates to earthquake cycles and seismic hazards.
If you are interested in these topics, I am looking for motivated master's and undergraduate students to work on research projects with me! Email me at mherman2 (at) csub (dot) edu for more information!
I also enjoy sharing my science as widely as possible (if you ever sit next to me on a plane, you will find that out quickly). Check out my Meet the Expert talks on earthquake magnitudes and earthquake triggering at the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History and Science in Bakersfield, or my talk on historical records of earthquakes at the Ridge Route Museum in Frazier Park!
On July 21, 2020, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in the Aleutian subduction zone. This earthquake was not surprising - it was located within the inferred rupture zone of a great megathrust earthquake that occurred in 1938. The event ruptured across the edge of the rupture zone into the "Shumagin Gap," a section of the plate boundary that is thought to be uncoupled and incapable of hosting a large plate interface earthquake.
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake inside the Shumagin Gap on October 19, 2020, put that interpretation into question. However, this event was a strike-slip earthquake inside the subducting Pacific plate. Our modeling of the stresses in this region suggest that this earthquake paradoxically is more likely to occur when the Shumagin Gap is poorly coupled. The July event and its aftershock sequence helped to trigger the October earthquake.
On July 21, 2020, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in the Aleutian subduction zone. This earthquake was not surprising - it was located within the inferred rupture zone of a great megathrust earthquake that occurred in 1938. The event ruptured across the edge of the rupture zone into the "Shumagin Gap," a section of the plate boundary that is thought to be uncoupled and incapable of hosting a large plate interface earthquake.
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake inside the Shumagin Gap on October 19, 2020, put that interpretation into question. However, this event was a strike-slip earthquake inside the subducting Pacific plate. Our modeling of the stresses in this region suggest that this earthquake paradoxically is more likely to occur when the Shumagin Gap is poorly coupled. The July event and its aftershock sequence helped to trigger the October earthquake.