Geophysics Research Group

Dr. Sandy Steacy, Reader in Geophysics

Sandy grew up near San Francisco, California. She joined the Geophysics Group in 1994 as a post-doc and has remained ever since. She has been acting as Head of the Group while John McCloskey was Head of School and is continuing in this role while he is on sabbatical.

Sandy's main research interests are in earthquake physics and she is active in research on stress interaction and earthquake triggering as well as on developing numerical models to simulate seismicity and help elucidate the physics of the earthquake process.

Education

1992: Ph.D. Geophysics (Earthquake Physics), University of Southern California

Thesis title: The Mechanics of Failure and Fragmentation in Fault Zones

Supervisor: Professor Charles G. Sammis

1985: B.S. Geology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Experience

Reader in Geophysics, University of Ulster, 2005 - present

Lecturer in Geophysics, University of Ulster, 2002 - 2005

Research Lecturer in Geophysics, University of Ulster, 1999 - 2002

Research Officer, University of Ulster, 1994 -1999

Research Associate, University of Southern California, 1992 - 1994

Visiting Lecturer, Calif. State Univ. - Dominguez Hills, 1992 - 1993

Geophysicist, California Office of Emergency Services, 1992

Research Assistant, University of Southern California, 1988 - 1992

Visiting Lecturer, Pomona College, 1990

Summer Geophysicist, Arco Oil and Gas, 1988

Teaching Assistant, University of Southern California, 1985 -1987

Community Service

Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth

Guest editor of special issue of Journal of Geophysical Research on Stress Transfer, Triggered Earthquakes, and Time-dependent Seismic Hazard, May 2005

Reviewer for Natural Environment Research Council, National Science Foundation, Nature, Science, Physical Review Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of Seismology, Geophysical Journal International, Geophysical Research Letters, and Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Awards

Charles Lyell Award Lecturer, British Association, London, 2000

USC Best Graduate Student Paper, Arco Oil and Gas, 1992

Publications

N.B. - for articles published in American Geophysical Union Journals copyright resides with the American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution of .pdf files is not permitted.

Nalbant, S.S., S. Steacy, and J. McCloskey, Stress Transfer Relations Among the Earthquakes that Occurred in Kerman Province, Southern Iran Since 1981, Geophysical Journal International, in press, 2006. ( pdf )

McCloskey, J., S.S. Nalbant, and S. Steacy, Earthquake risk from co-seismic stress, Nature, 434, 291, 2005. (pdf)

Steacy, S., S.S. Nalbant, J. McCloskey, C. Nostro, O. Scotti, and D. Baumont, Onto what planes should Coulomb stress perturbations be resolved?, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, B05S15, doi:10.1029/2004JB003356, 2005. (pdf)

Steacy, S., J. Gomberg, and M. Cocco, Introduction to Special Section: Stress transfer, earthquake triggering, and time-dependent seismic hazard, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, B05S01, doi:10.1029/2005JB003692, 2005. (pdf)

Nalbant, S.S., Steacy, S., Sieh, K., Natawidjaja, D., and J. McCloskey, Updated earthquake hazard in Sumatra, Nature, 435, 756-757, 2005. (pdf)

Nalbant, S.S., J. McCloskey, and S. Steacy, Lessons on the calculation of static stress loading from the 2003 Bingol, Turkey earthquake, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 235, 632-640, 2005. (pdf)

Steacy, S., J. McCloskey, D. Marsan, and S.S. Nalbant, The dependence of static stress calculations on the details of the earthquake slip distribution, Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, B04303, doi:10.1029/2002JB002365, 2004. (pdf)

Utkucu, M., S. Nalbant, J. McCloskey, S. Steacy, and O. Alptchin, Slip Distribution and stress changes associated with the November 12, 1999, Düzce (Turkey) Earthquake (Mw=7.1), Geophysical Journal International, 153, 229-241, 2003. (pdf)

McCloskey, J., S.S. Nalbant, S. Steacy, O. Scotti, C. Nostro, and D. Baumont, Structural constraints on the spatial distribution of aftershocks, Geophysical Research Letters, 30 (12), 1610-1614, 2003. (pdf)

Nalbant, S.S., J. McCloskey, S. Steacy, and A.A. Barka, Stress accumulation and increased seismic risk in Eastern Turkey, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 195, 291-298, 2002. (pdf)

Marsan, D., C. Bean, S. Steacy, and J. McCloskey, Observation of diffusion processes in earthquake populations and implications for the predictability of seismicity systems, Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 28081-28094, 2000. (p df)

Marsan, D., C. Bean, S. Steacy, and J. McCloskey, Spatio-temporal analysis of stress diffusion in a mining-induced seismicity system, Geophysical Research Letters, 26, 24, 3697-3700, 1999. (pdf)

Steacy, S., and J. McCloskey, Heterogeneity and the earthquake magnitude-frequency distribution, Geophysical Research Letters, 26, 7, 899-902, 1999. (pdf)

Steacy, S., and J. McCloskey, What controls an earthquake's size? Results from a heterogeneous cellular automaton, Geophysical Journal International, 133, F11-F14, 1998.

Steacy, S., J. McCloskey, C. Bean, and J. Ren, Simulating seismicity in Creighton Mine: A 3-D self-organized critical model, in Gibowicz, S.J., and S. Lasocki, eds., Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, p. 201-206, 1997.

Steacy, S., J. McCloskey, C. Bean, and J. Ren, Heterogeneity in a self-organized critical earthquake model, Geophysical Research Letters, 23, 4, 383-386, 1996. (pdf)

Sammis, C., and S. Steacy, Fractal fragmentation in crustal shear zones, in Barton, C.C. and P.R. LaPointe eds., Fractals in the Earth Sciences, Plenum Press, p. 179-203, 1995.

Sammis, C., and S. Steacy, The micromechanics of friction in a granular layer, Pure and Applied Geophysics, 142, p. 777-794, 1994.

Steacy, S., and C. Sammis, A damage mechanics model for fault-zone friction, Journal of Geophysical Research, 97, p. 587-594, 1992.

Steacy, S., and C. Sammis, An Automaton for fractal patterns of fragmentation, Nature, 353, p. 250-252, 1991.

Research Grants

U.S. National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program: Investigating Intermediate Term Regional Seismic Precursors in a Heterogeneous Bond-Breaking Model, C. Sammis and S. Steacy, 1993.

Royal Society: Conference Grant, S. Steacy, 1997.

Natural Environment Research Council: An Investigation of the Relation Between Coulomb Stress Perturbations, Large Aftershocks, and Fault Structure, S. Steacy and J. McCloskey, 1999 - 2001.

European Commission Framework V: Towards Practical, Real-Time Estimation of Spatial Aftershock Probabilities: a Feasibility Study in Earthquake Hazard (PRESAP), J. McCloskey and S. Steacy, 2000 - 2003.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council: An Investigation of the Origin and Nature of the Gutenberg-Richter Relation, S. Steacy, J. McCloskey, and P. Morrow, 2002 - 2004.

Natural Environment Research Council: Urgent assessment of the location and orientation of the Bingöl rupture by mapping surface breaks, J. McCloskey, S. Steacy, and S.S. Nalbant, 2003 - 2003.

Invest Northern Ireland RTD Networking: Securing future European funding for natural hazards research, S. Steacy, £1,000, 2004 - 2004.

European Commission Framework VI Marie Curie: Constrained heterogeneous loading of complex fault networks (CONSTRAIN), S. Steacy, J. McCloskey, and A. Antonioli, 2005 - 2007.

Natural Environment Research Council: The influence of viscoelastic relaxation on the effective duration of Coulomb stress perturbations, S. S. Nalbant, J. McClosky, and S. Steacy, 2005 - 2007.

Natural Environment Research Council: Tsunami Risk in the Indian Ocean from Threatened M>8 Event Under Mentawai Islands, J. McCloskey, S. Steacy, and S. S. Nalbant, 2005 - 2006.

Royal Society: Summer Science Exhibition, S. Steacy and J. McCloskey, 2006.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council: Assessing tsunami hazard in Sumatra: A Royal Society summer science exhibit, S. Steacy and J. McCloskey, 2006.