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Washington University in St. Louis News & Information > Faculty Experts at Washington University in St. Louis >
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Expertise: earth's core-mantle boundary, geophysics
Bio:
Michael E. Wysession is an expert on the Earth's inner structure. He has mapped various sections of the Earth and is most noted for his map of the Earth's core-mantle boundary. He has a 20-minute 'movie' of the Earth's core, mantle and surface, showing what happens below us in a earthquake when one seismic wave follows another, wreaking havoc and making the Earth shudder. Wysession, who is the first geologist to map the Earth's core-mantle boundary, some 2,000 miles below our feet, is a great explainer of the Earth's functions and processes. The film was supported financially by the National Science Foundation. His film is available to high school and college teachers nationally and internationally. Wysession also manages a wide array of seismometers in the United States.
WUSTL Contact Information:
| Work: | (314) 935-5625 |
| Fax: | (314) 935-7361 |
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Education:
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Sc.B. in Geophysics at Brown University
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M.S. in Geophysics at Northwestern University
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Ph.D. in Geophysics at Northwestern University
| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing 5 Stories.
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All shook up
Midwest now worries about a different fault
April 24,
2008 -- Two seismologists at Washington University in St. Louis think the New Madrid Fault may have seen its day and the Wabash Fault is the new kid on the block. "I think everyone's interested in the Wabash Valley Fault because a lot of the attention has been on the New Madrid Fault, but the Wabash Valley Fault could be the more dangerous one, at least for St. Louis and Illinois," said Doug Wiens, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences. "The strongest earthquakes in the last few years have come from the Wabash Valley Fault, which needs more investigation."
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Earth's orbit creates more than a leap year
Leap year adjusts calendar for natural forces driving climate change
Feb. 8,
2008 --
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| Image courtesy of NASA |
The Earth's orbital behaviors are responsible for more than just presenting us with a leap year every four years. According to Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, parameters such as planetary gravitational attractions, the Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun and the degree of tilt of our planet's axis with respect to its path around the sun, have implications for climate change and the advent of ice ages.
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People and the planet
Professor's video series explores all of Earth's facets
Jan. 28,
2008 --
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| Image courtesy of NASA |
| "How the Earth Works" is a boxed set of 48 30-minute video lectures developed and delivered by WUSTL's Michael E. Wysession. The lectures explore every aspect of the Earth and are designed to appeal to the curious lay public. |
Videos have been the bailiwick of rock stars at least since the days of Bob Dylan. But now they're spilling over into a new arena — academia. Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has 48 lectures on planet Earth coming out in a video format in February. It's a sort of brainiac's boxed set. Each 30-minute lecture focuses on an aspect of the Earth, from its origins and composition to its climate, orbit, pollution and relationship to human history.
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Big as the Arctic Ocean
Model shows big body of water in Earth's mantle
Feb. 7,
2007 --
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| Eric Chou |
| A slice through the earth, showing the attenuation anomalies within the mantle. |
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A seismologist at Washington University in St. Louis has made the first 3-D model of seismic wave damping — diminishing — deep in the Earth's mantle and has revealed the existence of an underground water reservoir at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean. The research, which analyzed 80,000 shear waves from more than 600,000 seismograms, provides the first evidence for water existing in the Earth's deep mantle.
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Life on the edge
Study finds how heat-loving microbes metabolize
March 1,
2006 --
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| Jan Amend sampling shallow marine vent fluids in 2005 at Ambitle Island, Papua, New Guinea. |
Curiosity about the microbial world drove Jan Amend, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, to Vulcano Island, Italy, a shallow hydrothermal Shangri-la near Sicily. There, Amend and his collaborators managed to examine the environment in depth, design a gene probe, and discover new life-which could have some big implications for the origin and presence of life on Earth. More...
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Wabash Fault holds high earthquake risk
United Press International
April 28,
2008 -- Scientists said the Wabash Valley Fault in Illinois may pose a higher risk to St. Louis than the better-known New Madrid Fault.
The magnitude 5.2 earthquake that originated last week on the Wabash Valley Fault was about 120 miles east of St. Louis.
WUSTL seismologists Douglas Wiens and Michael Wysession comment.
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