The intern will participate in the study of the focal mechanisms of a pocket of deep (~30 km) crustal earthquakes under the western flank of the Sierra Nevada (just west of Yosemite National Park) located during the Sierra Nevada Earthscope Project (SNEP) deployment. These earthquakes are similar to ones associated with a dike intrusion event at the base of the crust beneath Lake Tahoe (Smith et al, Science, 2004) and we believe they maybe related to the delamination of the Sierran batholithic root (Gilbert et al, EOS, 2007). The determination of their focal mechanisms is a critical next step in understanding their origin and tectonic implications.

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