Assistant Professor
Department of Geology
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
828-262-6739
scharerkm@appstate.edu
Link to my CV.
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Kate Scharer Assistant Professor Department of Geology Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 828-262-6739 scharerkm@appstate.edu Link to my CV. |
| At Appalachian State, I teach Structural Geology and Tectoncis (GLY 3150), Environmental Geology (GLY 1103), Senior Seminar (GLY 4210) and various intro labs. Students can access material for these classes through the Appalachian WebCT page. |
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How do mountains grow? Using neotectonics, paleoseismology and geomorphology, I am interested in how the crust accommodates and sheds tectonic stresses.
To explore these areas, I have focused my field efforts in two topics: |
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PALEOSEISMOLOGY OF THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT Working with Ray Weldon (UO), Tom Fumal (USGS) and Glenn Biasi (UNR), we have trenched, documented, and dated at least 28 earthquakes that occurred between ~3000 and 1500 BC and AD 1500 to present near Wrightwood, CA. These results are published in BSSA and implications for these results are examined in other journals (see below); In 2006 we began new searches for great paleoseismic sites in the relatively unexplored Northern Big Bend stretch of the fault near Tejon Pass. |  |
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NEOTECTONICS OF THE TIAN SHAN (MOUNTAINS) Using structural mapping, geomorphic surveys, and paleomagnetic dating, I have worked to understand the last ~1.5 My of folding exhibited on the southwest margin of the Tian Shan. My colleagues Doug Burbank (UCSB), Chen Jie (CSB), and Dick Heermance and I are working on a refined understanding of the development of the Kashi fold (in review); previous papers can be accessed on from the publication list below. That's me in the photo at right, walking into a slot canyon cut through the ~1Ma Xiyu conglomerate. Fortunately, no rain that day! |  |
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Evolving out of my move to an ancient range, the Appalachians, I am starting a local project to research debris flows. I plan to investigate the
time span and dimensions of colluvial hollows in the Blue Ridge. With luck and lots of digging, I hope to tie the hollows to the depositional areas
through dating and detailed mapping in order to assess magnitude/frequency relationships for this rapidly developing region. |
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Scharer, K.M., Weldon, R. J. II, Fumal, T. E., Biasi, G. P., in press.
Paleoearthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault, Wrightwood, CA 3000 to 1500 B.C.: a new method for evaluating paleoseismic evidence and earthquake horizons,
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 97, 1054-1093.
[pdf: ScharerWW2007]
Biasi, G., Weldon R. J., Scharer, K.M.. in press. Rupture length and paleo-magnitude estimates from point measurements of displacement - A model-based approach, Geological Society of America Special Volume on Paleoseismology. Chen, J., Heermance, R., Burbank, D., Scharer, K., Wang, C., 2007. Quantification of growth and lateral propagation of the Kashi anticline, southwest Chinese Tian Shan, Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, B03S16. [pdf: ChenJie2007] Scharer, K.M., Burbank, D. W., Chen, J., Weldon, R. J., 2006. Kinematic models of fluvial terraces over active detachment folds: Constraints on the growth mechanism of the Kashi-Atushi fold system, Chinese Tian Shan, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 118, 1006-1021. [pdf: Scharer2006] [pdf: Scharer2006supp] Weldon, R. J, Fumal, T. E., Biasi, G. P., Scharer, K.M., 2005. Past and future earthquakes on the San Andreas fault , Science, 308, 966-967. Scharer, K.M., Burbank, D. W., Chen, J., Weldon, R. J., Rubin, C., Zhao, R., Shen, J., 2004. Detachment folding in the Southwestern Tian Shan - Tarim foreland, China; Shortening estimates and rates, Journal of Structural Geology, 26, 2119-2137. [pdf: Scharer2004] Weldon, R. J, Scharer, K.M., Fumal, T. E., Biasi, G. P., 2004. Wrightwood and the earthquake cycle: what a long recurrence record tells us about how faults work, GSA Today, 14(9), 4-10. [pdf:GSA Today] Weldon, R. J., Fletcher, D. K., Weldon, E. M., Scharer, K.M., McCrory, P. A., 2003. An update of Quaternary faults of central and eastern Oregon, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-301, 26 map sheets, scale 1:100,000, 1 CD-ROM. Weldon, R. J. II, Fumal, T. E., Powers, T. J., Pezzopane, S. K., Scharer, K.M., Hamilton, J. C., 2002. Structure and earthquake offsets on the San Andreas fault at the Wrightwood, California paleoseismic site, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 92, 2704-2725. Chen, J., Burbank, D. W., Scharer, K.M., Sobel, E., Jinhui, Y., Rubin, C., Ruibin, Z., 2002. Magnetochronology of the upper Cenozoic strata in the southwestern Chinese Tian Shan; rates of Pleistocene folding and thrusting, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 195(1-2), 113-130. Jayko, A., Green, N., Scharer, K.M., 1996. Plio-Pleistocene strain rates associated with regional folding, Sonoma California, Toward Assessing the Seismic Risk Associated with Blind Thrust Faults, San Francisco Bay Region, California, USGS Open File Report, # 096-0267. |
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Young Scientist Travel Grant, Hokudan International Symposium on Active Faulting 2005, Japan. Review of 2004 AGU presentation in Science Magazine (An Ill Mannered San Andreas? by Richard Kerr, v. 303, p. 307, 2004). Graduate Student Representative, University of Oregon, 2002-2003. Geological Society of America Outstanding Student Research Award, Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, 2001. Purty Teeth Award, University of Oregon, 2005 |