Welcome! If you are a curious SJSU undergraduate student and/or interested in pursuing a Master of Science degree in Geology at SJSU, please be in touch! Graduate students can qualify for Teaching Assistantships that cover the cost of tuition and fees.
Please contact me at: elizabeth.madden@sjsu.edu.
My research focuses on tectonic plate boundary deformation over geologic time, measured in millions of years, as well as earthquake time, measured in seconds. I work with students and colleagues to find new, creative ways to combine field data with computational techniques in order to understand the fault failure leading to megathrust earthquakes and the propagation of millimeter scale fractures.
Motivation for my current work is a combination of my passion for puzzling out the processes behind Earth's geologic structures, developed during my undergraduate studies, with my desire to contribute to community resiliency, developed during my master's in international development and work with the American Red Cross in disaster preparedness and relief.
Some of my current projects focus on:
(1) the spatial and temporal variations in stress, the driver of earthquake activity, in subduction zones and at transform plate boundaries;
(2) how local micro- and macro-scale geologic structures influence tectonics and earthquake activity here in the Bay Area;
(3) how basic science research on tectonic faults and earthquakes can be used to mitigate seismic hazard.
Education
Ph.D., Stanford University, Geological and Environmental Sciences (2013)
M.S., University of California, Davis, International Agricultural Development (2003)
B.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Geological Sciences (2001)
Academic Positions
Assistant Professor, San José State University (San José, CA), 7/2023-present
Physics Teacher & Advisor, The Nueva School (San Mateo, CA), 2020-2023
Visiting Foreign Professor, University of Brasília (Brasília, Brazil), 2018-2020
Postdoctoral Researcher, Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich, Germany), 2015-2018
Seismic Research Consultant, Temblor, Inc (Redwood City, CA), 2015-2015
Visiting Researcher, Earthquake Research Institute (Tokyo, Japan), 2013
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2013-2015
Teaching @ San José State University
Fall/Spring 2023-2024
GEOL 9 - Earth Disasters 4 unit(s)
GEOL 129A - Spring Field Geology 2 unit(s)
Fall/Spring 2024-2025
GEOL 125 - Structural Geology 4 unit(s)
Peer-reviewed Publications
Ferreira, L.*, G. S. Marotta, E. H. Madden (2022). Hydrological influence on the variation of terrestrial gravity field in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, Journal of Applied Geophysics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jappgeo.2022.104780.
Madden, E. H., Ulrich, T., A.-A. Gabriel (2022). The state of pore fluid pressure and 3D megathrust earthquake dynamics, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 127, 4, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB023382.
Ulrich, T., A.-A. Gabriel, E. H. Madden (2022). Stress, rigidity and sediment strength control megathrust earthquake and tsunami dynamics, Nature Geoscience, vol. 15, pp. 67–73, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00863-5.
Wirp, S.*, A.-A. Gabriel, E.H. Madden, M. Schmeller, I. van Zelst, L. Krenz, Y. van Dinther, and L. Rannabauer (2021), 3D linked subduction, dynamic rupture, tsunami and inundation modeling: dynamic effects of supershear and tsunami earthquakes, hypocenter location and shallow fault slip, Frontiers of Earth Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.626844.
Ferreira, L.*, G. S. Marotta, E. H. Madden, A. M. C. Horbe, R. V. Santos, J. M. N. Costa (2020). Vertical displacement caused by hydrological influence in the Amazon Basin, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB020691.
Madden, E. H., M. Bader, J. Behrens, Y. van Dinther, A.-A. Gabriel, L. Rannabauer, T. Ulrich, C. Uphoff, S. Vater, S. Wollherr, I. van Zelst (2020). Methods and Test Cases for Linking Physics-Based Earthquake and Tsunami Models, Geophysical Journal International, 224, 1, pp. 487–516, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggaa484.
van Zelst, I., S. Wollherr, A.-A. Gabriel, E. H. Madden, Y. van Dinther (2019), Modeling Megathrust Earthquakes Across Scales: One‐way Coupling From Geodynamics and Seismic Cycles to Dynamic Rupture, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 124, pp. 11,414-11,446, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB017539.
Ulrich, T., S. Vater, E. H. Madden, J. Behrens, Y. van Dinther, I. van Zelst, E. J. Fielding, C. Liang, A.-A. Gabriel (2019), Coupled, Physics-based Modeling Reveals Earthquake Displacements are Critical to the 2018 Palu, Sulawesi Tsunami, Pure and Applied Geophysics, 176, 10, pp. 4069–4109, doi:10.1007/s00024-019-02290-5.
Dorsett, J. H.*, E. H. Madden, S. T. Marshall, M. L. Cooke (2019), Mechanical Models Suggest Fault Linkage through the Imperial Valley, California, U.S.A. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 109(4), 1217–1234. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120180303.
Resor, P. G., M. L. Cooke, S. T. Marshall, E. H. Madden (2018), Influence of Fault Geometry on the Spatial Distribution of Long‐Term Slip with Implications for Determining Representative Fault‐Slip Rates. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 108(4), 1837–1852, https://doi.org/10.1785/0120170332.
Madden, E. H., M. L. Cooke, and J. McBeck* (2017), Energy budget and propagation of faults via shearing and opening using work optimization, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 122, 6757–6772, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014237.
McBeck, J.,* M. L. Cooke, and E. H. Madden (2017). Work optimization predicts the evolution of extensional step overs within anisotropic host rock: Implications for the San Pablo Bay, CA., Tectonics, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017TC004782.
Uphoff, C., S. Rettenberger, M. Bader, E. H. Madden, T. Ulrich, S. Wollherr, and A-A. Gabriel (2017). Extreme Scale Multi-Physics Simulations of the Tsunamigenic 2004 Sumatra Megathrust Earthquake, In: Proceedings of SC17, Denver, CO, USA, November 12–17, 2017, 16 pp, https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3126908.3126948.
McBeck, J.*, M. L. Cooke, and E. H. Madden (2016). Growth by the Optimization of Work (GROW): A new modeling tool that predicts fault growth through work minimization, Computers & Geosciences, 88, 142-151, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2015.12.019.
Maerten, F., E. H. Madden, D. D. Pollard and L. Maerten (2016). Incorporating fault mechanics into inversions of aftershock data for the regional remote stress, with application to the 1992 Landers, California earthquake, Tectonophysics, 674, 52-64, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.01.032.
Herbert, J. W.*, M. L. Cooke, P. Souloumiac, E. H. Madden, B. C. L. Mary, and B. Maillot (2015). The work of fault growth in laboratory sandbox experiments, Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 432, 95-102, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.09.046.
Hatem, A. E.*, M. L. Cooke and E. H. Madden (2014). Evolving efficiency of restraining bends within wet kaolin analog experiments, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 120: 1975–1992, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2013.01.010.
Cooke, M. L. and E. H. Madden (2014). Is the Earth Lazy? A review of work minimization in fault evolution, Journal of Structural Geology. 66: 334-346, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2014.05.004.
Madden, E. H., F. Maerten and D. D. Pollard (2013). Mechanics of stress transfer of non-planar faults with application to an extensional step along the 1992 M 7.3 Landers, California earthquake, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 118: 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrb.50237.
Madden, E. H. and D. D. Pollard (2012). Integration of surface slip and aftershocks to constrain the 3D structure of faults involved in the M 7.3 Landers earthquake, Southern California, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 102, no.1, 321-342, https://doi.org/10.1785/0120110073.