About

Eric Kiser is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona. His contact information includes a phone number (520-621-6000) and email (ekiser@arizona.edu). The department is located at 1040 E. 4th Street, Tucson, AZ 85721. The webpage indicates his affiliation with the Department of Geosciences and his role as a faculty member within the university. No additional biographical details, research focus, background, or key contributions are provided in the page text.

Research topics

• Seismology
• Geology
• Geomorphology
• Cartography
• Paleontology
• Geophysics
• Geography

Selected publications

• Geometric phase sensing using seismic waves: A new tool for comprehensive volcano monitoring at Kilauea, Hawaii

  Open MIND · 2026-05-15

  otherOpen access

  No description provided.

  PublisherDOI

• Geometric phase sensing using seismic waves: A new tool for comprehensive volcano monitoring at Kilauea, Hawaii

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-05-15

  otherOpen access

  No description provided.

  PublisherDOI

• Magma Migration at Laguna Del Maule, Chile, Using Well Constrained Seismicity and Receiver Function Imaging

  2026-03-14

  articleOpen access

  Continental volcanic arcs are driven by melting in the mantle wedge between a subducting oceanic plate and overriding continental plate. These melts are emplaced within the continental crust where they then fractionate and evolve, producing silicic volcanic rocks. From observations of these systems globally, we understood them to have magmatic plumbing networks organized into transcrustal systems, and while the geometries of these systems are somewhat constrained, the links between magma storage regions, melt migration and surface unrest remains poorly understood. At Laguna Del Maule (LdM) in central Chile, where volcanic unrest is being currently monitored, we use two densely deployed seismic datasets of nodal and broadband seismometers to study these connections in detail. Here, we present interpretations using well constrained earthquake locations and high resolution crustal-scale seismic imaging using Receiver Functions (RFs), to infer the magma plumbing network and interconnectivity within this modern arc volcano setting.Over 4300 events were detected within the periods between 2015-2018 and 2022-2024 and are divided into shallow and deep groups. Shallow seismicity is separated into clusters consistent with prior observations that link fault activity to shallow magma intrusion. Those events occurring within the deep crust (~12-30 km) are a new observation, containing a mixture of high and low frequency earthquakes. Through Frequency Index Analysis, we classify those deep events with low frequencies as Deep Long Period earthquakes (DLP). These have been observed in other volcanic arcs, but this data contains the first evidence of DLP seismicity within the Andes. The deep higher frequency events are provided in a pronounced one-day swarm of activity in 2018, all with similar magnitude and frequency index. The swarm has a vertical extent between ~21-26 km depth, and we interpret this activity to be a Volcano-Tectonic swarm (VT) related to magma migration within the middle-lower crust. In the RF images, the VT swarm is located between the top of a low velocity zone (LVZ) in the lower crust, and the base of an upper crust LVZ. The lower crust LVZ likely represents an area of deep magma storage that intermittently incubates the upper crust system with batches of basic magmas. RF images of the upper crust LVZ are consistent with prior geophysical estimates of the geometry and approximate spatial extent of LdMs shallow magma chamber.Three months following the deep VT swarm, vertical surface uplift in the local GPS record accelerates. We therefore infer that the VT swarm was driven by the delivery of a new batch of magma from lower to upper crustal magma reservoirs. This applied additional pressure to the base of the upper crustal reservoir, leading to a surficial response in a lag-time consistent with the systems hydraulic diffusivity (~20 m2/s). Since this inflation rate has been maintained at least until 2020, the VT swarm may represent the establishment of a new preferred magma ascent path. These results indicate that volcanic unrest is preceded months in advance by seismic activity occurring within the middle-lower crust, applying bottom-up reservoir pressurization in arc volcanoes.

  PublisherDOI

• Detachment-involved deformation in the Santa Bárbara system in NW Argentina revealed by seismicity and receiver functions

  Geology · 2026-03-02

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The central Andes show along-strike variations in crustal shortening that are reflected in foreland deformation styles. In NW Argentina, deformation in the Santa Bárbara system (SBS) likely involves reactivated Salta rift faults, but how these preexisting structures control regional deformation style remains unclear. This study analyzed present-day crustal deformation and the role of Salta rift structures using a new high-resolution earthquake catalog and receiver function images prepared using a new seismic array dataset. Results reveal a midcrustal detachment at ~18 km depth along the brittle-ductile transition in the Salta-Jujuy high area, where Salta rift structures are absent. A shallower (~8 km) detachment is observed to the north and east of this deep detachment, which is interpreted as the reactivated master detachment from the N-S–oriented Salta rift structures in this region. This detachment-involved deformation is not observed to the north of the SBS, likely due to the change in strike of Salta rift faults to a nonoptimal reactivation orientation in the current E-W compressional stress regime. Instead, diffuse midcrustal seismicity suggests low-magnitude distributed deformation, and concentrated shallow seismicity (<5 km depth) in the Eastern Cordillera indicates a westward shift of the primary deformation front north of the SBS.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tectonic controls on magma storage beneath a distributed volcanic field

  Geology · 2026-01-28

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Distributed volcanic fields occur globally, but the processes that control volcanic composition and behavior remain uncertain. To investigate the controls on eruptive style, melt storage, and hazards in a system with voluminous mafic and intermediate and/or silicic lavas, we seismically imaged the subsurface beneath the San Francisco volcanic field in northern Arizona (USA). Results reveal two partial melt zones and regional changes in crustal thickness, related to lower crustal removal. San Francisco Mountain, a felsic stratovolcano, is located atop a boundary between intact and removed crust. This lateral boundary in lithospheric properties concentrates melt into mid- and lower-crustal reservoirs, enabling felsic volcanism in this dominantly basaltic field. This demonstrates how lateral lithospheric gradients focus melt in distributed volcanic fields, with removal playing a key role in creating these gradients.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Anatomy of a Modern Cordillera Style Mountain System: Northern Chile and Argentina

  2026-05-08

  articleOpen access

  Points1. Receiver Functions in the Central Andes (~22S -24 S) show greatly resolved cross-cordillera architecture of the crust and upper mantle 2. The South American continental Moho exhibits complex topography related to piece-meal delamination of the lower crust.3. Discontinuities in the upper crust reveal extensive partial melt storage across the Puna plateau, larger than previously identified

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tracking Transcrustal Magma Ascent Beneath Laguna del Maule, Chile

  Research Square · 2025-11-28

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Persistent Deep Long‐Period Seismicity Near the Lassen Volcanic Center

  Geophysical Research Letters · 2025-12-08

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Deep long‐period (DLP) earthquakes have been observed at many volcanic settings around the world and linked to the magmatic processes that drive volcanic unrest. At the Lassen Volcanic Center (LVC) of the Cascade arc, limited detection of DLP activity hinders classification of anomalous seismic behavior and its relationship to the LVC magmatic system. This study uses a template matching approach with seismic data from temporary nodal and permanent stations to detect and locate DLP earthquakes near the LVC between 2017 and 2024. Within the DLP catalog of 611 events, a transition occurs from scattered (2017–2020) to oscillatory (2021–2024) occurrence rates. During the oscillatory period, regional earthquakes with large amplitude velocity waveforms observed near the LVC are associated with abrupt changes in DLP occurrence rates. Continued monitoring of DLP activity has the potential to better define the processes that drive volcanic unrest at the LVC in the future.

  PublisherDOI

• The influence of ground shaking on the distribution and size of coseismic landslides from the Mw 7.6 2005 Kashmir earthquake

  Seismica · 2024-07-29 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Understanding the conditions that governed the distribution of coseismic landslide frequency and size from past earthquakes is imperative for quantifying the hazard potential of future events. However, it remains a challenge to evaluate the many factors controlling coseismic landsliding including ground shaking, topography, rock strength, and hydrology, among others, for any given earthquake, partly due to the lack of direct seismic observations in high mountain regions. To address the dearth of ground motion observations near triggered landslides, we develop simulated ground motions, including topographic amplification, to investigate these key factors that control the distribution of coseismic landslides from the Mw 7.6 2005 Kashmir earthquake. We show that the combination of strong peak ground motions, steep slopes, proximity to faults and rivers, and lithology control the overall spatial distribution of landslides. We also investigate the role of topographic amplification in triggering the largest landslide induced by this earthquake, the Hattian Bala landslide, finding that it is amplified at the landslide initiation point due to the trapping of energy within the ridge kink as it changes orientation from E to NE. This focusing effect combined with predisposing conditions for hillslope failure may have influenced the location and size of this devastating landslide.

  PublisherDOI

• Moment-dependent rupture properties of deep-focus earthquakes in the Izu-Bonin subduction zone

  Geophysical Journal International · 2024-02-19 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  SUMMARY The physical mechanisms controlling deep-focus earthquakes, or those observed at depths greater than 300 km, remain enigmatic. The leading processes by which deep-focus earthquakes are thought to occur include transformational faulting, thermal runaway and dehydration embrittlement, but distinguishing observations in support of one or more prevailing mechanisms are needed. In this study, we use a modified back-projection method, data recorded by the Hi-net array in Japan and a 3-D velocity model to produce source images of 19 deep-focus earthquakes within the Izu-Bonin subduction zone. We find that the rupture properties and fault plane orientations of imaged events separate according to reported moment magnitude, indicating the distinct operation of two moment-dependent causal mechanisms of deep-focus earthquakes in this region. We discuss these results in the context of previous observational, laboratory and numerical studies and emphasize the importance of continued research to validate the dual-mechanism hypothesis both in and outside Izu-Bonin. Such work may not only improve our understanding of the nucleation and propagation of deep-focus earthquakes, but also help clarify slab structure and subduction zone dynamics.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Exploring the nature of deep-focus earthquakes in the Japan, Kuril, and Izu-Bonin subduction zones

  NSF · $251k · 2018–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Brandon Schmandt

  University of New Mexico

  38 shared

• A. Levander

  Rice University

  32 shared

• K. C. Creager

  Earth and Space Research

  26 shared

• Miaki Ishii

  Planetary Science Institute

  22 shared

• S. M. Hansen

  Public Dental Service Västra Götaland

  21 shared

• G. A. Abers

  Cornell University

  20 shared

• C. W. Ulberg

  University of Washington

  20 shared

• Ruijia Wang

  Southern University of Science and Technology

  12 shared