Resources

• Stereo-derived topography for Venus. All of the left-left Magellan images processed to generate topography with 1-2 km spatial resolution, including intermediate data sets.  Final data set is now available through the PDS, and is in JMARS for Venus and Venus Quickmap 

• Globa database of Venus impact craters.  Now available on JMARS for Venus

• Global database of craters on Mercury (spreadsheets are supplementary material for the JGRP article being linked to).  Now available on JMARS for Mercury

• Stereo Matching Tool (SMT) is an interactive, IDL-based program which provides basic functions for displaying stereo image pairs and measuring the parallax between features on those images.  This now quite old and I no longer have an active IDL license, but the code might still be useful to someone.

• A Venus slide set is available that I produced with Maribeth Price (now available digitally). The full resolution images are available at the link.

Professional background

Education

• Ph.D. Geophysics, Southern Methodist University, 1993

• M.S. Geophysics, University of Houston, 1988

• B.S. Geophysics, Texas A & M, 1985

• B.S. Physics, Texas A & M, 1985

Employment

• July, 2004 - present: Research Professor, Institute of Northern Engineering (at the Geophysical Institute until 2023), University of Alaska Fairbanks

• 1993 - 2004: Staff Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), Houston

• 1989 - 1992: Teaching and research assistant at SMU, Dallas

• 1985 - 1988: Senior Geophysicist at Exxon, Houston

Primary Research Interests

Relationship of interior processes to surface geology

Most of my work in this area has focused on the planet Venus. I like to combine imagery, topography, and geoid data to try and understand the big picture of how interior processes shape the surface now and over time. Past projects in this topic area have included examining the global relationships on Venus between the patterns of the geoid, rift systems, large shield volcanoes, coronae, and tesserae; exploring the "life cycle" of large shield volcanoes on Venus; and examining the global pattern of impact craters on Venus and how they are resurfaced by subsequent volcanism.

Impact cratering

Impact craters occur throughout the solar system; for most solid bodies cratering is the dominant geologic process. Many aspects of the mechanics of the crateringprocess are poorly understood, in part because a large impact on a solid body has never been observed. One of my research areas is to compare and contrast impact craters on the various planets and moons, essentially using them to study the effects of different surface gravities, target properties, and the presence or absence of an atmosphere. I also have an interest in impact structures on Earth. These structures provide unique insights about the cratering process that cannot be gained by observing planetary craters from orbit. I enjoy opportunities to see these structures in person and on a few occasions have conducted geologic and geophysical field studies of them.

Affiliations

• Institute of Northern Engineering, UAF

• Geology & Geophysics Department, UAF

Curriculum vitae

Click here for current vita

Selected Publications

• Herrick, R.R. and Hensley, S. (2023) ‘Surface changes observed on a Venusian volcano during the Magellan mission’, Science, 379(6638), pp. 1205–1208. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm7735.

• Herrick, R. R., Bateman, E. M., Crumpacker, W. G., & Bates, D. (2018). Observations from a global database of impact craters on mercury with diameters greater than 5 km. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 123, 2089-2109. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JE005516

• Herrick, R. R., and B. M. Hynek, Investigating target versus impactor influences on Martian crater morphology at the simple-complex transition, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 52, 1722-1743, 2017.  https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.12884

• Herrick, R. R., D. L. Stahlke, and V. L. Sharpton, Fine-scale Venusian topography from Magellan stereo data, EOS, 93, 125-126, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012EO120002

• Herrick, R. R., and M. E. Rumpf, Postimpact modification by volcanic or tectonic processes as the rule, not the exception, for Venusian craters, J. Geophys. Res 116, E02004, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JE003722

• Herrick, R. R., and K. K. Hessen, The planforms of low-angle impact craters in the northern hemisphere of Mars , Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 41, 1483-1495, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2006.tb00431.x

• Herrick, R. R., J. Dufek, and P. J. McGovern, Evolution of large shield volcanoes on Venus, J. Geophys. Res., 110 , E01002, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JE002283

Click here for my Google Scholar Page

Outreach & Education

I strongly feel that every scientist should spend some effort communicating their work to the general public and working to improve general science literacy (the citizenry does pay our salaries, after all). I personally find outreach to be a challenging and rewarding task. Over the years I was heavily involved in the planning and development of LPI's outreach program, and I was manager of the E/PO department for a year. I have guest-lectured about the planets to a wide variety of groups and age ranges, and sometimes the youngest people ask the most insightful questions.  I oversaw a number of major outreach efforts during my time at the Geophysical Institute, including development of a statewide traveling digital portable planetarium program and live broadcasting of the launches at Poker Flat Research Range.

I have taught courses on the solar system at the graduate and undergraduate level at UAF and as adjunct faculty at University of Houston - Clear Lake, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), and Rice.  I once got to be one of the instructors for a 2-week course on impact cratering in Finland.

In 2024 I appeared on an episode of The UnXplained:  Mysteries of the Universe, which is hosted by William Shatner (Captain Kirk from Star Trek) on the History Channel.  I was on the episode titled "Venus:  Earth's Evil Twin".  The IMDb page for the show is here and provides the information on how to stream it; I appear about 13 minutes into the show.  I did not get to meet William Shatner, but he does say my name, which my family thought was pretty cool.

I also appeared in the 2024 NOVA series on the Solar System in the episode titled "Volcano Worlds".  You can see the episode here.  I am on at the 42:40 mark.

Personal

Family

I married my wife Keiko, in 2009, and we had a son, Griffin, in 2013.  

Houston to Fairbanks bike ride

To make the move from Houston to Alaska in 2004 a little more interesting I decided to ride up by bicycle.  The trip took 79 days.  I took a laptop with me and posted a journal on the web while I was riding up.  If you'd like to check that out, go here.

Hobbies

Sports are my primary hobby.  I was a swimmer in high school and swam at Masters (old people) meets for several years.  Swimming is the only sport I'm really good at, but I'll play almost anything and get into a new sport every few years or so.  Over the years I have participated competitively at some level in triathlons (I've done one Ironman), running (three marathons), cycling, swimming, softball, tennis, volleyball, soccer, sculling, kayaking, bowling, and racquetball.  I also like hiking, alpine and nordic skiing, snowboarding, and anything that can be done in or on the water.  

last updated September, 2024.