Stephen Martel

Biographical Information

Steve Martel is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth Sciences, a unit of SOEST, at the University of Hawaii. He joined the faculty in 1992. Before then he worked at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin. He has relocated to Oregon, but is still conducting research and writing. He is no longer accepting graduate students. Dave Pollard and Steve co-authored the 2020 textbook Structural Geology: A Quantitative Introduction. An accompanying laboratory manual is in preparation.

Research

• Formation of faults and other types of fractures (e.g., sheeting joints)
• Fluid flow along fracture systems
• Initiation of landslides, subaerial and submarine
• Effects of topography on near-surface stresses
• Neotectonics

Detailed fieldwork and development of physically realistic models for fracture in the earth are central components of this research. The support of this research by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Office of Naval Research, and the U.S. National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

Publications List

An errata page is linked to the publications page. The errata page has corrections for errors in the 1997 paper in the Journal of Structural Geology and the 1998 paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Students

Bill Boger (M.S., University of Hawaii, 1997)
Bill developed a boundary element code for investigating fractures in three dimensions.

Chris Okubo (B.S., University of Hawaii, 1997; Ph.D. University of Nevada-Reno 2005)
Chris completed his undergraduate thesis on the formation of pit craters on Kilauea.
Chris is Deputy Center Director and Research Operations Lead of the Astrogeology Science Center at the U.S. Geological Survey.

Stephan Bergbauer (M.S., University of Hawaii, 1998; Ph.D., Stanford, 2002)
Stephan examined how thermal stresses in a cooling pluton contribute to the formation of joints.
Stephan is a senior geologist at BP.

Jordan Muller (M.S., University of Hawaii, 1999; Ph.D. Stanford, 2004)
Jordan investigated deformation during the incipient stages of landsliding and the effects of a volcanic ridge on the propagation of underlying dikes.
Jordan is Division Manager - Integrated Solutions at Boeing Intelligence & Analytics

Jason Langley (M.S., University of Hawaii, 2000)
Jason explored how normal faults break the surface, with the Big Island (i.e., the island of Hawaii) serving as the field site.
Jason is a hydrogeologist at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Vincent Caillaud and Ludovic Talon (B.S., 2001, Ecole Polytechnique)
Vincent and Ludovic worked with Steve on externships, studying normal faults on the Big Island.

Michael Dahilig (B.S., 2003, University of Hawaii)
Michael's senior thesis is on mass wasting hazards and associated statutory guidelines. His thesis is available on-line as a pdf file.
Michael is managing director for the County of Kaua'i.

Matt d'Alessio (Ph.D., 2004, UC Berkeley)
Matt worked with Steve on a faulting project in the Sierra Nevada.
Matt is an associate professor at California State University Northridge.

Ole Kaven (BS, 2001, MS, 2004, University of Hawaii; Ph.D. 2009, Stanford)
Ole examined the three-dimensional growth of normal faults on the Big Island.
Ole is a member of the Earthquake Science Center at the U.S. Geology Survey.

Kelly Mitchell (B.S. 2005, Utah State University, MS, 2010, University of Hawaii)
Kelly investigated sheeting joints in Yosemite National Park.
Kelly is a petrophysicist at Schlumberger.

Numerous other students have worked with Steve as a research advisor. Their areas of interest include civil engineering, planetary geology, land-use, hydrology, and marine geology and geophysics.

Teaching

Service

Professional Recognition

Education

• B.S. Geology, University of California at Davis, 1980

• M.S. Engineering Geology, Stanford, 1984

• Ph.D. Geomechanics, Stanford, 1987

Course Notes and Other Educational Materials