Demian Saffer

About

Demian Saffer is a Professor and the Scott Petty Jr. Endowed Chair in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Texas. His research interests include active tectonics, fault and sediment mechanics, and geohydrology. As the Director of the UT Institute for Geophysics, he contributes to understanding the Earth's dynamic processes, particularly focusing on fault systems and sediment behavior in tectonic settings. His work aims to elucidate the mechanics of faulting and sediment deformation, which are critical for understanding earthquake processes and subsurface fluid flow.

Research topics

• Geology
• Seismology
• Petrology
• Materials science
• Thermodynamics
• Physics
• Paleontology
• Biological system
• History
• Mechanics

Selected publications

• Slip-rate-dependent friction as a universal mechanism for slow slip events

  Nature Geoscience · 2020 · 123 citations

  DOI

• Physical Properties and Gas Hydrate at a Near‐Seafloor Thrust Fault, Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand

  Geophysical Research Letters · 2020 · 27 citations

  Abstract The Pāpaku Fault Zone, drilled at International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1518, is an active splay fault in the frontal accretionary wedge of the Hikurangi Margin. In logging‐while‐drilling data, the 33‐m‐thick fault zone exhibits mixed modes of deformation associated with a trend of downward decreasing density, P ‐wave velocity, and resistivity. Methane hydrate is observed from ~30 to 585 m below seafloor (mbsf), including within and surrounding the fault zone. Hydrate accum…

  DOI

• Seasonal slow slip in landslides as a window into the frictional rheology of creeping shear zones

  Science Advances · 2024-10-16 · 20 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Whether Earth materials exhibit frictional creep or catastrophic failure is a crucial but unresolved problem in predicting landslide and earthquake hazards. Here, we show that field-scale observations of sliding velocity and pore water pressure at two creeping landslides are explained by velocity-strengthening friction, in close agreement with laboratory measurements on similar materials. This suggests that the rate-strengthening friction commonly measured in clay-rich materials may govern episo…

  PublisherDOI

• Expedition 358 summary

  Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program. Expedition reports · 2020 · 18 citations

  DOI

• Seafloor overthrusting causes ductile fault deformation and fault sealing along the Northern Hikurangi Margin

  Earth and Planetary Science Letters · 2022 · 14 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Laboratory Study of the Mechanics and Physical Properties of the Active San Andreas Fault Zone From Phase III SAFOD Cores

  NSF · $284k · 2008–2010

• Collaborative Research: Laboratory Investigations of Fault Zone Mechanical Behavior and Fluid Overpressure (EOR for IODP NanTroSEIZE Expeditions 314, 315, and 316)

  NSF · $99k · 2008–2011

• Subseafloor Observatory Science in the Nankai Trough: Analysis of Earthquakes and Hydraulic Transients, and Installation of a Community Borehole Facility

  NSF · $83k · 2013–2015

Frequent coauthors

• Laura Wallace

  132 shared

• Sean Toczko

  122 shared

• Harold Tobin

  Earth and Space Research

  120 shared

• Hiroko Kitajima

  114 shared

• Michael B. Underwood

  102 shared

• Matt J. Ikari

  University of Bremen

  101 shared

• Gregory F. Moore

  99 shared

• Chris Marone

  Sapienza University of Rome

  94 shared

Awards & honors

• AGU Fellow

Similar researchers at University of Texas at Austin

• Thorsten Beckerh-76
• Ian W. D. Dalzielh-69
• Mrinal K. Senh-55