University of Colorado, Boulder
Seeing Beneath Mount Everest: Probing a Breeding Ground of Destructive Earthquakes
The Himalaya mountains are the product of the largest continental collision in the world today, and are home to large and deadly earthquakes, such as the Pakistan earthquake of October 8, 2005. To understand how the mountains were created and to help quantify the earthquake hazards of this vulnerable region, Dr. Sheehan led a National Science Foundation funded project that included placement of ground motion recorders (seismometers) throughout eastern Nepal and southern Tibet. The seismic stations were installed in areas that are remote and logistically difficult, with challenges including the mountains, weather, scorpions, cobras, and political unrest and guerrilla warfare in Nepal. Much like a medical CT scan, ground motion recordings from earthquakes provide a detailed image of the Earth beneath the seismic stations. The earthquake recordings collected in Nepal and Tibet produce a first-ever glimpse of the earthquake faults beneath the Himalayan mountains, and can be used to determine details of the earthquake faulting processes.
About Dr. Sheehan
Education
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991
B.S., University of Kansas, 1984
Positions Held
Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder 2006-present
Associate Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder 2001-2006
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder 1993- 2000
Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences 1993-Present
Research Assistant Professor, University of Nevada, Reno 1992-1993
Postdoctoral Fellow, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, 1991- 1992
Honors and Awards
NSF CAREER Award, 1995
Dr. Anne Sheehan joined the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1993 and is currently a Professor of Geological Sciences and Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences. Sheehan's research interests include the study of crust and upper mantle structure of the Earth and its relation to tectonic deformation, particularly beneath mountains and plate boundaries. Much of her work includes the deployment of portable seismometers that record both distant and local earthquakes. She has led recent seismic experiments in the Himalaya, New Zealand, and the Rocky Mountains.
Sheehan is an experienced public speaker and has given talks about her research to many school and community groups. Sheehan was the 2005-2006 Science Advisor to CU Science Explorers. This program offers hands-on workshops throughout the state of Colorado on science topics to teams of middle school teachers and students. Sheehan worked with Science Explorers staff to develop a curriculum on Natural Hazards, including earthquakes and tsunamis, avalanches, and forest fires. Sheehan teaches introductory geology at the University of Colorado to a class of 180 students, and consistently receives high marks for her teaching. She also teaches advanced undergraduate level and graduate level courses in geophysics and seismology.
Sheehan is married and has two school-age children. She enjoys coaching youth sports and participating in triathlons and bicycling events. Sheehan is a breast cancer survivor and is active with Rocky Mountain Team Survivor.
Books
Burger, H. R., A. F. Sheehan, and C. H. Jones, Introduction to Applied Geophysics: Exploring the Shallow Subsurface, W. W. Norton Publishers, 2006.
Selected Recent Publications
Schulte-Pelkum, V., G. Monsalve, A. F. Sheehan, M. Pandey, S. Sapkota, R. Bilham, and F. Wu, Imaging the Indian subcontinent beneath the Himalaya, Nature, v. 435, pp. 1222-1225, 30 June 2005|doi:10.1038/nature03678, 2005.
De la Torre, T., and A. F. Sheehan, Broadband seismic noise analysis of Himalayan Nepal Tibet Seismic Experiment, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., v. 95, 1202-1208, doi:10.1785/0120040098, 2005.
Sheehan, A. F., V. Schulte-Pelkum, O. Boyd, and C. Wilson, Passive source seismology of the Rocky Mountain region, in The Rocky Mountain Region: An Evolving Lithosphere, Geophysical Monograph Series 154, 10.1029/154GM23, p. 309-315, 2005.
Boyd, O. S., C. H. Jones, and A. F. Sheehan, Foundering lithosphere imaged beneath the Southern Sierra Nevada, California, Science, v. 305, 660-662, 2004.
Gilbert, H. J., and A. F. Sheehan, Images of crustal variations in the intermountain west, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 109, B03306, doi:10:1029/2003JB002730, 2004.
Blume,
F., and A. F. Sheehan, Quantifying seismic hazard in the Southern Rocky
Mountains through GPS measurements of crustal deformation, in
Engineering Geology in Colorado: Contributions, Trends, and Case
Histories, eds. D. Boyer, P. Santi, and W. Rogers, Association of
Engineering Geologists Special Publication No. 15, Colorado Geological
Survey Special Publication 55, 2003.
Lastowka, L. A., A. F.
Sheehan, and J. M. Schneider, Seismic evidence for partial delamination
model for Colorado Plateau uplift, Geophys. Res. Lett.,v. 28, 1319-1322, 2001.
Sheehan, A. F., Microearthquake study of the Colorado Front Range: Combining research and teaching in seismology, Seismol. Res. Lett., v. 71, 175-179, 2000.
Savage, M. K., and A. F. Sheehan, Seismic anisotropy and mantle flow
from the Great Basin to the Great Plains, western United States, Journal of Geophysical Research, v, 105, 13715-13734, 2000.
Sheehan, A. F., P. M. Shearer, H. Gilbert, and K. G. Dueker, Seismic migration processing of P-SV converted phases for mantle discontinuity structure beneath the Snake River Plain, western United States, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 105, p. 19055-19065, 2000.
Shen, Y., A. Sheehan, K. Dueker, C. de Groot-Hedlin, and H. Gilbert, Mantle discontinuity structure beneath the southern East Pacific Rise (MELT experiment region) from P-to-S converted phases, Science, v. 280, 1232-1235, 1998.
Dueker, K. G., and A. F. Sheehan, Mantle discontinuity structure from mid-point stacks of converted P to S waves across the Yellowstone hotspot track, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 102, 8313-8327,1997.
