MAGNET GPS Station - Photo by Geoff Blewitt

Bill Hammond, Professor

Nevada Geodetic Laboratory
Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
College of Science
University of Nevada, Reno

Reno, Nevada 89557, USA

Office location: Scrugham Engineering Mines, Room 315

ORC ID#: 0000-0001-7367-9489
Office Phone: 1 (775) 784-6436
Fax: 1 (775) 784-1709
Email Bill

Some of Bill's Interests:

  • Tectonic geodesy
  • GPS and InSAR measurement of crustal deformation
  • Seismic cycle and hazard
  • Dynamics of the lithosphere
  • Vertical land motion
  • Active uplift of mountain belts
  • Loading of Earth's surface
  • Fault mechanics
  • Mantle flow
  • Seismic anisotropy and tomography
Bill Hammond and Mt. McGee

Courses

  • GPH 411/611/701(i) Geophysical Geodesy
  • GPH 455/655 Global Geophysics and Geodynamics
  • GEOL 701(i) GPS and InSAR data processing
  • GEOL 701(i) Western US Tectonic Framework

Also Cool

  • Research Splotlight on Global Vertical Land Motion.
  • 1-hour research talk at the Basin and Range Earthquake Hazard Summit (BRES)
  • Research Splotlight on our work on the uplift of the Western Transverse Ranges in Eos.
  • Walker Lane articles in: Nevada Today and Wired Magazine
  • Notes from the field: Antelope Vally Earthquake Response
  • NSF 2016-2017 EarthScope Speaker Series.
  • Spotlight on P085 and Bill: Basin and Range Geodesy
  • Photos from July 8, 2021 Antelope Valley M 6.0 earthquake repspone
  • Bill Hammond at Smoke Creek Desert

    Research Profiles and Publication Lists

    Bill Hammond's face

    Research Statement

    The mountains of the Basin and Range were created in response to slow distributed province-wide tectonic extension that broke the Earth's crust along fault lines. Cumulative displacement along these faults over long periods of time built, and is still building, topographic relief, i.e. the valleys and ranges of the Province. Earthquakes associated with the infrequent slip on these faults generate the seismicity felt by people who live in the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada.

    In my research I precisely measure this active crustal deformation using geodetic techniques such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). From these measurements I infer the style and distribution of Earth surface deformation that is a direct consequence of continent-scale tectonic processes. My main interest is in relating these motions to the organization of seismogenic faulting, and inferring the source of stresses in the lithosphere. With geodesy we can better understand the processes that control gradual deformation of the western U.S. continental interior, and hence better understand the physics of Earth deformation and the source of potentially damaging earthquakes.

    Photos from MAGNET GPS fieldwork and other adventures (loads a little slow).

    photo of mountains with clouds

    photo of mountains with clouds

    photo of mountains with clouds

    photo of mountains with clouds

    photo of mountains with clouds

    photo of mountains with clouds

    photo of mountains with clouds

    photo of basin with clouds

    photo of snowy mountain with clouds

    photo of sun on mountainside

    photo of valley with ranch
    University of Nevada, Reno
    Last edited 08 September 2023.