Hazards

The same optical fibers that deliver high-speed internet and HD video to our homes could one day double as seismic sensors for monitoring and studying earthquakes.

Stanford researchers show that lake sediments preserved within ancient supervolcanoes can host large deposits of lithium, which is critical for modern technology.

New research shows manmade and naturally occurring earthquakes in the central U.S. share the same characteristics, information that will help scientists predict and mitigate damage from future earthquakes.

Stanford Earth’s Dustin Schroeder researches new ways of observing, understanding, and predicting the configuration of ice sheets using ice-penetrating radar data.

Studying how and why bridges have collapsed in the past identifies the limitation of current risk assessment approach and demonstrates the value of new perspectives on climate change impact.

A new four-step framework aims to test the contribution of climate change to record-setting extreme weather events.

Stanford climatologist Noah Diffenbaugh explains why heavy rains during a drought are to be expected for a state in the throes of climate change.

A new software tool can help reduce the risk of triggering manmade earthquakes by calculating the probability that oil and gas production activities will trigger slip in nearby faults.

Stanford Earth professor Jon Payne puts modern extinction in context by comparing them with Earth's five previous mass extinctions.

Jenny Suckale shows us how the behavior of a melting glacier in the Antarctic doesn’t act like a melting ice cube, and why that matters.

Research by Tiziana Vanorio finds that fiber-reinforced rocks beneath Italy’s dormant Campi Flegrei supervolcano are similar to a wonder-material used by the ancients to construct enduring structures such as the Pantheon, and may lead to improved building materials.

The best way to learn science is to actually do it. Students in Stanford Earth's Wrigley Field Program in Hawaii spend the quarter measuring vegetation, coral reefs and volcanoes to understand the dynamics of one of the planet's most interesting ecosystems.