Marin Clark
University of Michigan, MI·Earth & Environmental Science
Landslides, debris flows, river erosion and flash floods move large amounts of rock and soil. They damage homes and workplaces in every U.S.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Engineering
- Topics
landslides
debris flows
flash flooding
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2030
What they work on
- Develop a scientific framework that characterizes cascading land surface hazards, such as landslides that dam rivers and sediment buildup that promotes flooding, and anticipates how they will change.
- Build an observational network and modeling collaboratory with partner centers and agencies to capture the chain of hazard interactions from landslide initiation to far-reaching downstream effects.
- Combine national lidar terrain data with process-based and data-driven models to support nationwide assessment and forecasting of cascading land surface hazards.
- Train a future workforce in hazards and disaster response through hands-on education programs, and broaden participation in the geosciences.
More about the research
state and territory and rank among the costliest natural hazards in the country. Scientists expect such events to become more frequent, possibly three times as often, over the next 50 years. These hazards often trigger one another, for example when a landslide dams a river or when sediment piling up in a channel promotes flooding. Such cascading hazards can be more severe and can last years or decades. Yet it is not yet possible to reliably forecast when cascades will start, how far they will reach, or how long they will last.
Why it matters
Better forecasts of cascading landslides, debris flows, erosion and flooding could help communities, emergency responders and government agencies prepare for disasters, recover faster and reduce economic losses. Shared datasets and tools from the center may support nationwide hazard assessment as these events are expected to become more frequent.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Katharine Huntington
University of Washington, WA·Earth & Environmental Science
Determine the source, depositional age and grain-size distribution of megaflood deposits along the Yarlung-Siang-Brahmaputra river system in the eastern Himalaya, using field observations and laboratory analytical tools.
Joseph Wartman
University of Washington, WA·Engineering
Establish a physics-based framework for measuring earthquake-induced hillslope damage, adding geomechanics to New Zealand data gathered after the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.
Marianne Karplus
University of Texas at El Paso, TX·Earth & Environmental Science
Measure ice thickness, subglacial sediments, and hydrologic processes in the Lunana glaciers of Bhutan using radar and seismic surveys.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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