Gregory P. De Pascale, PhD
Associate Professor of Geology
Dr. Gregory De Pascale is currently an Associate Professor (Docent) of Geology in the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences and member of the Science Institute at the University of Iceland. He was formerly an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Chile. Between academic postings, Dr. De Pascale has extensive experience in the private sector. Although he has worked in the field on all 7 Continents, he is currently focusing on the Patagonian Andes of Chile and Argentina, the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and Iceland.
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He has lived and worked professionally in Iceland, Chile, New Zealand, California, Mozambique, and Canada and has served as expert peer reviewer for research proposals in Chile, NZ, USA, Canada, the UK and for non-government agencies like the National Geographic Society and peer-reviewed >50 journal articles.
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In his free time he enjoys arranging and playing music, climbing up and skiing down mountains in wild places (e.g. Patagonia) and sharing his knowledge of the world (and pop music cover songs) with his students, friends, family, and community.
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For Feb 8 2024 Grindavik Iceland Volcano Eruption photos from Iceland, click below on photos Tag.
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Google Scholar Link:
Research Interests
Dr De Pascale's students, colleagues, and he work in the natural laboratory, in the field, with main focus areas in the Andes of Chile, Peru, and Argentina, the Southern Alps of New Zealand, the East African Rift, Central Asia, and Iceland. They also keep a keen eye on happenings in North America (formerly working for Fugro and William Lettis and Associates, WLA).
They use classic field structural geology techniques mixed with modern and ever-improving tech including lidar and structure from motion (SfM) drone photography in addition to subsurface (seismic and resistivity surveys) and submarine geophysics (e.g. multi beam sonar and sub-bottom profiling), and Quaternary dating (e.g. cosmogenic surface exposure dating, C14, and OSL) to explore, characterise, and model active faults and neotectonics and associated geohazards including earthquakes and seismic hazard, fault rupture, and the interaction between active structures and volcanism, with an affinity (when onshore) for cold humid climates (think rainforests in the fiords of Chile and high mountains of Patagonia or Iceland).
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Current research is focused on active fault systems in Iceland (normal and strike slip faults) and Chilean Patagonia (and the Magallanes Fault in Argentina). Additional focus on tectonic uplift and associated volcanism in Iceland and around the Chile Triple Junction in the Aysen Region of Chile.
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Feel free to contact him for collaborations, student inquiries, media assistance, and high level consulting assistance.
Recent Publications
De Pascale, G. P., Fischer, T. J., Moreland, W. M., Geirsson, H., Hrubcová, P., Drouin, V., et al. 2024. On the move: 2023 observations on real time graben formation, Grindavík, Iceland. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2024GL110150. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110150
Pierce, I., Guliyev, I., Yetirmishli, G., Muradov, R., Kazimova, S., Javanshir, R., De Pascale, G.P., Johnson, B., Marshall, N., Walker, R., and Wordsworth, P. 2024. Surface rupturing earthquakes of the Greater Caucasus frontal thrusts, Azerbaijan. Tectonics, 43, e2023TC007758. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023TC007758
Sigmundsson, F., Parks, M., Geirsson, H., Hooper, A., Drouin, V., Vogfjörd, K.S., Ófeigsson, B.G., Greiner, S.H.M., Yang, Y., Lanzi, C., De Pascale, G.P., Jónsdóttir, K., Hreinsdóttir, S., Tolpekin, V., Friðriksdóttir, H.M., Einarsson, P., Barsotti, S. 2024. Fracturing and tectonic stress drives ultrarapid magma flow into dikes. Science. 2024 Feb eadn2838. doi:10.1126/science.adn2838. PMID: 38330140.
J. Estay, L. Pinto, G. Easton, G.P. De Pascale, M. Troncoso, S. Carretier, S.L. Forman. 2023. Active thrust tectonics along the western slope of the Central Andes southernmost Pampean flat-slab segment (∼33°S, Chile): The Cariño Botado fault system
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108801 ·
Geomorphology, p. 108801
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Araya, J., De Pascale, G.P., and Sepulveda, S., (2021), The Likely Quaternary Active El Arrayan Fault, Santiago, Chile. Andean Geology. http://dx.doi.org/10.5027/andgeoV48n3-3256
De Pascale, G.P., Froude, M., Penna, I. et al. Liquiñe-Ofqui’s fast slipping intra-volcanic arc crustal faulting above the subducted Chile Ridge. Sci Rep 11, 7069 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86413-w
Sandoval, F.B., De Pascale, G.P. 2020. Slip rates along the narrow Magallanes Fault System, Tierra Del Fuego Region, Patagonia. Sci Rep 10, 8180 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64750-6