RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Dr. Miller's research focuses primarily on applications of active-source seismology to understanding continental evolution and earthquake hazards.  Dr. Miller and her students have been studying aspects of the tectonic evolution of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains through analysis of a variety of data sets including refraction and reflection data acquired as part of the CD-ROM project, and reflection data acqured from industry.  Most recently, she and her students of begun analysis of a new seismic refraction profile acquired to study the structure of the southernRio Grande Rift.  An upcoming project is BATHOLITHS a multi-disciplinary study of the Coast Range Plutonic Complex directed at understanding the magmatic evolution of continental arcs.


Dr. Miller's earthquake hazards studies center on a long-standing collaboration with U. S. Geological Survey scientists.  Through these efforts, she and her students have participated in collecting and interpreting the seismic data necessary for developing velocity models for the basins that underlie Seattle, Tacoma, and Los Angeles.  The velocity models are crucial for estimating how basin geometry influences ground shaking during earthquakes.  More recently, she and her students have begun to work with Japanese colleagues at the University Tokyo, who are studying the crustal structure of Japan in the vicinity of the Nankai Trough, a region that is tectonically analogous to western Washington State.  Dr. Miller is also leading an effort to study seismic hazards in the country of Bhutan in the Himalayas, a region with which UTEP has a close cultural  connection.

Another focus her research applications of active source seismology to environmental studies.  This work focuses on using and advancing seismic  technologies to study the shallow subsurface in order to better understand local hydrologic problems and geologic hazards.




SELECTED CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS


• BATHOLITHS:  Generation and Evolution of Crust in Continental Magmatic Arcs (NSF)
  
• CD-ROM:  Lithospheric Structure and Evolution of the Rocky Mountains (NSF)
• Geophysical and Petrological View of Magmatic Contribution to Intracontinental Growth:  Rio Grande Rift (THECB-ARP)
• Earthquake Studies in Bhutan (DOE, NSF)
  
• Seismic Refraction Studies in Central Europe (NSF)
  
• Seismic Hazards Investigations of Puget Sound (SHIPS)
• Los Angeles Area Regional Seismic Experiment (LARSE)
• More information . . .
  

• Averill,Matthew
  
• Dena,Oscar, Fast approximate migrationof ground penetrating radar using  Kalman Estimators, and the determination of the lithospheric structure ofLake  Baikal, Russia  (w/ D. I. Doser)
  

• Eshete, Tefera Gashu, 2001, The deep structure of northeastern New Mexico from deep seismic reflection profiles: Implications for Proterozoic tectonic evolution of southwestern North America
  
• Snelson, Catherine M., 2001 (w/ G. R. Keller), Investigating seismic hazards in the western Washington and crustal growth in the Rocky Mountains
  
• Kilbride, Fiona, 2000 (w/ D.I. Doser), Receiver Function Studies in the Southwestern United States, and Correlation between Stratigraphy and Poisson's Ratio in Southwest Washington State
• Whitelaw, Julia, 1996 (w/ D.I. Doser), Geophysical constraints on thrust belt structure in eastern Tennessee and a seismic tomographic study of the Mojave region.
• Adams, Donald C., 1995(w/ G.R. Keller), Integrated geophysical studies of continental rifts
• Gridley, James M., 1993 (w/ G.R. Keller), Crustal structure of western Washington state

• Elebiju, Bunmi, Geophysical investigation of the Precambrian basement beneath the Estancia Basin, central New Mexico
  

• Schramm, Kimberly, 2004, Three dimensional velocity model of the Los Angeles region from active source seismic data
  
• Popovich, Drew, 2002, Crustral structure of the Great Valley Basin of central California.
• Smith, Diana E., 2002, (w/ G.R. Keller), Integrated geophysical study of the Precambrian Basement, Eastern New Mexico and Texas Panhandle
• Hiett, Brett, 2000, 3-D geometry and velocity structure of the Tacoma Basin, western Washington.
  
• Belzer, Wayne, 1999, Seismic and Gravity Studies for Water Resources, Tularosa Basin, New Mexico.
• O'Donnell, Terry, Jr., 1998, Integrated Gravity and Seismic Reflection/Refraction Study of the McGregor Geothermal System, southern New Mexico (Best Geophysics Thesis Award, Dept. Geol. Sci.)
• Snelson, Catherine M., 1998, (w/ G.R. Keller) An integrated lithospheric study of the Rocky Mountain Region along the Deep Probe Seismic Profile (Best Geophysics Thesis Award, Dept. Geol. Sci.)
• Maciejewski, Tim, 1996, Interpretation of Seismic Data for NASA Johnson Space Center, White Sands Test Facility (NASA-WSTF) (Best Geophysics Thesis Award, College of Sciences)
• Chang, Jer-Yuan, 1993, Interpretation of geophysical data in southwesternmost New Mexico and adjacent areas.

• Snelson, C. M., G. R. Keller, K. C. Miller, H.-M. Rumpel, and C. Prodehl, 2005, Regional crustal structure derived from the CD-ROM 99 seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection profile: The lower crust and upper mantle, in Lithospheric Structure and Evolution of the Rocky Mountain Region, K. E. Karlstrom, and G. R. Keller, eds., Am. Geop. Un. Monograph 154.
  
• Magnani, M. B., A. Levander, K. C. Miller, T. Eshete, and K. E. Karlstrom, 2005, Seismic investigation of the Yavapai-Mazatzal transition zone and the Jemez Lineament, northeastern New Mexico, in Lithospheric Structure and Evolution of the Rocky Mountain Region, K. E. Karlstrom, and G. R. Keller, eds., Am. Geop. Un. Monograph 154.
  
• Amarante, J. F. A., S. A. Kelley, M. T.  Heizler, M. Barnes, K. C. Miller, and E. Y. Anthony, 2005, Characterization and age of the Mesoproterozoic Debaca sequence in the Tucumcari basin, New Mexico, in Lithospheric Structure and Evolution of the Rocky Mountain Region, K. E. Karlstrom, and G. R. Keller, eds., Am. Geop. Un. Monograph 154.
  
• Keller, G. R., K. E. Karlstrom, M. L. Williams, K. C. Miller, C, L. Andronicos, A, Levander, C. M. Snelson, and C. Prodehl, 2005, The dynamic nature of the continental crust-mantle boundary: Crustal evolution in the Southern Rocky Mountain region as an example, in Lithospheric Structure and Evolution of the Rocky Mountain Region, K. E. Karlstrom, and G. R. Keller, eds., Am. Geop. Un. Monograph 154.
  
• Magnani, M. B., K. C. Miller, A. Levander, and K. E. Karlstrom, 2004, The Yavapai-Mazatzal boundary: a long-lived assembly structure in the lithosphere of southwestern North America, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., v. 116, pp. 1137-1142.
• Pratt, T. L., T. M. Brocher, C. S. Weaver, K. C. Miller, A. M. Trehu, K. C. Creager, R. S. Crosson, and C. M. Snelson, 2003, Amplification of seismic waves by the Seattle basin, northwestern U. S., Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v. 93, pp. 533-545.
• Miller, K. C., 2002, Geophysical Evidence for Miocene Extension and Mafic Magmatic Addition in the California Continental Borderland, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 114, pp. 497-512.
• Grad, M., G. R. Keller, H. Thybo, A. Guterch, W. Czuba, T. Janik, P. Sroda, K. C. Miller, S. Jensen, U. Luosto, T. Tiira, J. Yliniemi, and C. E. Lund, Lower lithospheric structure beneath the Trans-European suture zone from POLONAISE'97 seismic profiles, 2002, Tectonophysics, v. 360, pp.153-168.
• Belzer, W. L., K. C. Miller, and S. Harder, 2002, Shallow Geophysical Study of the Grapevine Canyon Area, Eastern Tularosa Basin:  Implications For Groundwater Resources, New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook 52, pp. 79-84.
• O'Donnell, T. M. Jr., K. C. Miller, and J. C. Witcher, 2001, A Seismic and Gravity Study of the McGregor Geothermal System, Southern New Mexico, Geophysics, v. 66, pp.1002-1014.
• Brocher, T. M., T. E. Parsons, R. J. Blakely, N. I. Christensen, M. A. R. E. Fisher, Wells, U. S. ten Brink, T. L. Pratt, R. S. Crosson, K. C. Creager, N. P. Symons, L. A. Preston, Van T. Wagoner, K. C. Miller, C. M. Snelson, A. M. Trehu, V. E. Langenheim, G. D. Spence, K. Ramachandran, R. D. Hyndman, D. C. Mosher, B. C. Zelt, C. S. Weaver, 2001, Upper crustal structure in Puget Lowland, Washington; results from the 1998 seismic hazards investigation in Puget Sound, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 106, pp. 13,541-13,564.
• Chang, J.-Y., K. C. Miller, and G. R. Keller, 1999, Seismic expression of late Cretaceous to Recent structure in southwestern New Mexico, Rocky Mountain Geology, v. 34, pp. 131-148.
• C. M. Snelson, T. J. Henstock,  G. R. Keller, K. C. Miller, and A. Levander, 1998, Crust and uppermost mantle structure along the Deep Probe profile, Rocky Mountain Geology, v. 2, pp. 181-198.
• Henstock, T. J., A. Levander, G. R. Keller, C. M. Snelson, K. C. Miller, S. H. Harder, A. R. Gorman, R. M. Clowes, M. J. A. Burianyk, E. D. Humphreys, 1998, Probing the Archean and Proterozoic lithosphere of western North America, GSA Today, v. 8, no. 7, pp. 1-5.
  

TEACHING:

Dr. Miller teaches introductory geosciences courses and upper division undergraduate and graduate courses in seismology and tectonics.  Visit her class web pages for more information.