Earthquakes
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Joe Kruger, Assistant Professor, Idaho State University, Biography I
am a geophysicist, which is a geologist that studies the physics of
the earth, or uses physical processes to study the earth. I am currently
an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Idaho State
University. I teach classes in geology and geophysics, conduct geological
research with students using geophysics, and help out with other jobs
in the department and the university. I have worked at ISU for over
6 years, and worked at the Petroleum Research Section of the Kansas
Geological Survey in Lawrence, Kansas before that. I also worked as
a researcher at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles,
and was employed as an exploration geophysicist by Marathon Oil Company
in Casper, Wyoming, and Arco Oil and Gas Company in Midland, Texas.
I received my Ph.D. in Geophysics in 1991 from the University of Arizona
in Tucson, my Master of Science in Geophysics in 1983 from the University
of Texas at El Paso, and my Bachelor of Science in Geology and Ph My specialty is reflection seismology, which uses man-made seismic waves created by explosions and other methods to study the crust of the earth. These waves bounce off the layers in the earth like echoes and are recorded by many seismometers stuck into the earth. The final result looks like a picture of the side of a slice of the earth. Kind of like the side of a slice of layer cake. I also look at the natural changes in the gravity and magnetic field of the earth to determine what the rocks are below. Although I am not an earthquake seismologist, which is a geophysicist that specifically studies earthquakes, I have learned about earthquakes from other specialists and from reading articles and books about earthquakes. Sometimes though, my research helps to find faults and explain where earthquakes may have occurred, and might occur in the future. I have actually been in three earthquakes that I felt: a minor one centered around Douglas Wyoming in 1985 that I felt in Casper, one minor one around Afton a few years ago that I felt in Pocatello, and the Northridge earthquake, a major earthquake in 1994 that occurred near Los Angeles and caused a lot of damage and some deaths. |
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