Joan S. Gomberg

Joan S. Gomberg (born 1957) is a research geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey. She serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington. She is interested in subduction zone science, and studies how earthquakes trigger each other and how faults can slip. Gomberg is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. She was the first person to demonstrate how dynamic stress associated with seismic waves can trigger other earthquakes.

Early life and education Gomberg studied geophysics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1979. She moved to California for her graduate studies, earning a PhD in 1989. She specialises in earthquake seismology for the Earthquake Hazards Program in the Pacific Northwest. She uses 1-hertz Global Positioning System to monitor seismic waves, as well as high frequency GPS to study ground motion. Gomberg demonstrated that earthquake aftershock are triggered by dynamic stress. She showed that dynamic stresses do not permanently change the applied load, but trigger earthquakes by changing the mechanical state of a fault zone. It is well known that fast fault slips can trigger earthquakes, but Gomberg identified that slow, aseismic fault motion can also cause earthquakes. Gomberg studies the geological action beneath subduction zones, including submarine landslides.

Gomberg used state-of-the art characterisation methods to contribute to the first seismic hazard maps for Memphis, Tennessee, incorporating the effect of local geology, including soils.

Gomberg is a member of the faculty at the University of Washington, and a member of the Southern California Earthquake Center.

Awards and honors 2013 American Geophysical Union Fellow 2015 Association for Women Geoscientists Excellence Award

Gomberg has won several United States Geological Survey Awards, including leadership awards (1998, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2016), liaison awards (1999) and participation awards (2016).