KEITH DAVID KOPER portrait
  • Director of Seismograph Stations, Geology & Geophysics
  • Professor, Geology & Geophysics
801-585-3669

Research Statement

Keith D. Koper is professor of geophysics and director of the seismological observatory at the University of Utah. He received a BA in math, geology, and ISP from Northwestern University in 1993 and a PhD in geophysics from Washington University in 1998. Dr. Koper was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Arizona during 1998–2001 and assistant/associate professor at Saint Louis University from 2001 until his arrival in Utah in 2010. His research interests include array seismology; Earth's ambient seismic noise field; forensic seismology; rupture imaging of giant earthquakes; seismicity and tectonics of the intermountain West; mining induced earthquakes; and the structure and dynamics of Earth's deep interior—especially the core. Prof. Koper has published 98 peer-reviewed journal articles and his research has been funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, the Dept. of Energy, and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Dr. Koper currently serves as the secretary of the U.S. Air Force Seismic Review Panel, as chair of the Utah Seismic Safety Commission, and as editor-in-chief of The Seismic Record.

 

Presentations

  • “ML-MC: A Possible Depth Discriminant for Small Seismic Events Recorded at Local Distances”, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sept. 15, 2016. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 09/15/2016.
  • "Fine-Scale Heterogeneity in Earth's Inner Core", Earth Life Science Institute, Tokyo Tech, Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 10, 2016. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 02/10/2016.

Publications

  • Workman, E., F.-C. Lin, and K. D. Koper (2017), Determination of Rayleigh wave ellipticity across the Earthscope Transportable Array using single-station and array-based processing of ambient seismic noise, Geophys. J. Inter., 208, 234-245, doi:10.1093/gji/ggw381. Published, 01/01/2017.
  • Moore, J. R., K. L. Pankow, S. R. Ford, K. D. Koper, J. M. Hale, J. Aaron, and C. F. Larsen (2017), Dynamics of the Bingham Canyon rock avalanches (Utah, USA) resolved from topographic, seismic, and infrasound data, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 122, doi:10.1002/2016JF004036. Published, 01/01/2017.
  • Gal, M., A. M. Reading, S. P. Ellingsen, K. D. Koper, R. Burlacu, and S. J. Gibbons (2016), Deconvolution enhanced direction of arrival estimation using 1- and 3-component seismic arrays applied to ocean induced microseisms, Geophys. J. Inter., 206, 345-359, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggw150. Published, 01/01/2016.
  • Lay, T., L. Ye, K. D. Koper, and H. Kanamori (2016), Assessment of teleseismically-determined source parameters for the April 25, 2015 Mw 7.9 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake and the May 12, 2015 Mw 7.2 aftershock, Tectonophysics, doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2016.05.023. Published, 01/01/2016.
  • Liu, Q., K. D. Koper, R. Burlacu, S. Ni, F. Wang, C. Zou, Y. Wei, M. Gal, and A. Reading (2016), Source locations of teleseismic P, SV, and SH waves observed in microseisms recorded by a large aperture seismic array in China, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 449, 39-47, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2016.05.035. Published, 01/01/2016.