Demian Saffer

Saffer is an alumnus (geology) of Williams College in Massachusetts. He earned a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.{{cite web |last1=Saffer |first1=Demian |title=Profile |url=https://www.ig.utexas.edu/staff/demian-saffer/ |website=University of Texas Institute for Geophysics |access-date=13 December 2022}}

After finishing grad school, Saffer was briefly at USGS before joining the University of Wyoming in 2001 followed by Pennsylvania State University in 2005.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} At Penn State, he was appointed Professor in 2012, head of graduate programs in 2016, then head of the department of geosciences in 2018. He left Penn State in 2020 to become director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

Saffer is heavily involved in the scientific ocean drilling community and has been co-chief scientist of five{{cite web |last1=Saffer |first1=Demian |title=Scientist page |url=https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/researcher/demian_saffer/ |website=Jackson School of Geosciences |access-date=13 December 2022}} major scientific ocean drilling expeditions to investigate large earthquake faults at the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, including the deepest scientific drilling of a subduction zone.{{cite news |title=Deepest scientific ocean drilling sheds light on Japan's next great earthquake |url=https://beta.nsf.gov/news/deepest-scientific-ocean-drilling-sheds-light |access-date=13 December 2022 |agency=National Science Foundation |date=October 26, 2022}} His discoveries include previously undetected shallow slow-slip events{{cite news |last1=Becker |first1=Rachel |title=Slow Earthquakes Are a Thing |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/slow-earthquakes-are-thing-180960248/ |access-date=13 December 2022 |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine |date=August 30, 2016}} at Japan's Nankai fault, lower than expected stresses at Nankai,{{cite news |last1=Henricson |first1=Eric |title=University of Texas led team drills into area producing 'the largest earthquakes on the planet' |url=https://www.kxan.com/weather-traffic-qas/university-of-texas-led-team-drills-into-area-producing-the-largest-earthquakes-on-the-planet/ |access-date=13 December 2022 |agency=KXAN |publisher=NBC |date=Oct 18, 2022}} and that clay minerals in fault gouge play a much smaller role{{cite journal |last1=Saffer |first1=Demian M. |last2=Lockner |first2=David A. |last3=McKiernan |first3=Alex |title=Effects of smectite to illite transformation on the frictional strength and sliding stability of intact marine mudstones: FRICTION AND SMECTITE TRANSFORMATION |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |date=June 2012 |volume=39 |issue=11 |pages=n/a |doi=10.1029/2012GL051761|s2cid=129037136 |doi-access=free }} in fault slip behavior than previously thought. He is also an executive steering committee member of Subduction Zones in Four Dimensions (SZ4D),{{cite web |title=SZ4D Committees |url=https://www.sz4d.org/committees |website=SZ4D |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=13 December 2022}} a multinational initiative to investigate the processes that underlie subduction zone hazards and was one of the architects of its latest report.{{cite news |title=Scientists Plan Major Research Program to Understand Earth's Most Dangerous Hazards |url=https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2022/11/scientists-plan-major-research-program-to-understand-earths-most-dangerous-hazards/ |access-date=13 December 2022 |publisher=Jackson School of Geosciences |date=Nov 7, 2022}} From 2016 until 2020, when it wound up, he chaired the GeoPRISMS program — an international, cross-disciplinary effort to bring terrestrial and marine scientists together to investigate continental margins.{{cite news |last1=Férot |first1=A. |title=A Successful Model for Interdisciplinary Research |url=https://eos.org/opinions/geoprisms-a-successful-model-for-interdisciplinary-research |access-date=13 December 2022 |agency=Eos |publisher=American Geophysical Union |date=24 March 2021}}

• In 2005, Saffer was awarded the Donath Medal, an early career scientist award offered by the Geological Society of America.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
• In 2009, he was one of twenty Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Awardees, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
• In 2011, his research on clay minerals at Japan's Nankai fault earned him The Island Arc Award, a best paper award from Wiley Blackwell{{cite journal |title=2011 Island Arc Award |journal=Island Arc |date=June 2011 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=149 |doi=10.1111/j.1440-1738.2011.00765.x|s2cid=247669863 }}
• In 2022, Saffer was selected to give American Geophysical Union's Francis Birch Lecture, its highest honor in the field of tectonophysics.{{cite web |title=Named Lectures |url=https://www.agu.org/Fall-Meeting/Pages/Schedule-Events/Named-Lectures#:~:text=MORE-,Demian%20M.%20Saffer,-UNIVERSITY%20OF%20TEXAS/ |website=AGU Fall Meeting 2022 |publisher=American Geophysical Union |access-date=13 December 2022 |archive-date=28 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228044711/https://www.agu.org/Fall-Meeting/Pages/Schedule-Events/Named-Lectures#:~:text=MORE-,Demian%20M.%20Saffer,-UNIVERSITY%20OF%20TEXAS/ |url-status=dead }}

A list of most cited works.

• Moore, J.C., Saffer, D.M., 2001. Updip limit of the seismogenic zone beneath the accretionary prism of southwest Japan: An effect of diagenetic to low-grade metamorphic processes and increasing effective stress. Geology 29 (2), 183-186.{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=J Casey |title=Updip limit of the seismogenic zone beneath the accretionary prism of southwest Japan: An effect of diagenetic to low-grade metamorphic processes and increasing effective stress |journal=Geology |date=2001 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=183–186 |doi=10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0183:ULOTSZ>2.0.CO;2|bibcode=2001Geo....29..183M }}
• Saffer, D.M., Marone, C., 2003. Comparison of smectite-and illite-rich gouge frictional properties: application to the updip limit of the seismogenic zone along subduction megathrusts. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 215 (1-2), 219-235.{{cite journal |last1=Saffer |first1=Demian M |last2=Marone |first2=Chris |title=Comparison of smectite- and illite-rich gouge frictional properties: application to the updip limit of the seismogenic zone along subduction megathrusts |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=October 2003 |volume=215 |issue=1–2 |pages=219–235 |doi=10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00424-2|bibcode=2003E&PSL.215..219S }}
• Saffer, D.M., Tobin, H.J., 2011. Hydrogeology and mechanics of subduction zone forearcs: Fluid flow and pore pressure. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 39, 157-186.{{cite journal |last1=Saffer |first1=Demian M. |last2=Tobin |first2=Harold J. |title=Hydrogeology and Mechanics of Subduction Zone Forearcs: Fluid Flow and Pore Pressure |journal=Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences |date=30 May 2011 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=157–186 |doi=10.1146/annurev-earth-040610-133408|bibcode=2011AREPS..39..157S }}
• Ikari, M.J., Saffer, D.M., Marone, C., 2009. Frictional and hydrologic properties of clay‐rich fault gouge. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 114 (B5).{{cite journal |last1=Ikari |first1=Matt J. |last2=Saffer |first2=Demian M. |last3=Marone |first3=Chris |title=Frictional and hydrologic properties of clay-rich fault gouge |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |date=19 May 2009 |volume=114 |issue=B5 |pages=B05409 |doi=10.1029/2008JB006089|bibcode=2009JGRB..114.5409I |doi-access=free }}
• Ikari, M.J., Marone, C., Saffer, D.M., 2011. On the relation between fault strength and frictional stability. Geology 39 (1), 83-86.{{cite journal |last1=Ikari |first1=Matt J. |last2=Marone |first2=Chris |last3=Saffer |first3=Demian M. |title=On the relation between fault strength and frictional stability |journal=Geology |date=January 2011 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=83–86 |doi=10.1130/G31416.1|bibcode=2011Geo....39...83I }}
• Leeman, J.R., Saffer, D.M., Scuderi, M.M., Marone, C., 2016. Laboratory observations of slow earthquakes and the spectrum of tectonic fault slip modes. Nature communications 7 (1), 1-6.{{cite journal |last1=Leeman |first1=J. R. |last2=Saffer |first2=D. M. |last3=Scuderi |first3=M. M. |last4=Marone |first4=C. |title=Laboratory observations of slow earthquakes and the spectrum of tectonic fault slip modes |journal=Nature Communications |date=September 2016 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=11104 |doi=10.1038/ncomms11104|pmid=27029996 |pmc=4821871 |bibcode=2016NatCo...711104L |s2cid=14788979 }}
• Carpenter, B.M., Marone, C., Saffer, D.M., 2011. Weakness of the San Andreas Fault revealed by samples from the active fault zone. Nature Geoscience 4 (4), 251-254.{{cite journal |last1=Carpenter |first1=B. M. |last2=Marone |first2=C. |last3=Saffer |first3=D. M. |title=Weakness of the San Andreas Fault revealed by samples from the active fault zone |journal=Nature Geoscience |date=April 2011 |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=251–254 |doi=10.1038/ngeo1089|bibcode=2011NatGe...4..251C }}
• Saffer, D.M., Wallace, L.M., 2015. The frictional, hydrologic, metamorphic and thermal habitat of shallow slow earthquakes. Nature Geoscience 8 (8), 594-600.{{cite journal |last1=Saffer |first1=Demian M. |last2=Wallace |first2=Laura M. |title=The frictional, hydrologic, metamorphic and thermal habitat of shallow slow earthquakes |journal=Nature Geoscience |date=August 2015 |volume=8 |issue=8 |pages=594–600 |doi=10.1038/ngeo2490|bibcode=2015NatGe...8..594S }}
• Araki, E., Saffer, D.M., Kopf, A.J., Wallace, et al., 2017. Recurring and triggered slow-slip events near the trench at the Nankai Trough subduction megathrust. Science 356 (6343), 1157-1160.{{cite journal |last1=Araki |first1=Eiichiro |last2=Saffer |first2=Demian M. |last3=Kopf |first3=Achim J. |last4=Wallace |first4=Laura M. |last5=Kimura |first5=Toshinori |last6=Machida |first6=Yuya |last7=Ide |first7=Satoshi |last8=Davis |first8=Earl |last9=Toczko |first9=Sean |last10=Carr |first10=Stephanie |last11=Kinoshita |first11=Chihiro |last12=Kobayashi |first12=Reiji |last13=Rösner |first13=Alexander |title=Recurring and triggered slow-slip events near the trench at the Nankai Trough subduction megathrust |journal=Science |date=16 June 2017 |volume=356 |issue=6343 |pages=1157–1160 |doi=10.1126/science.aan3120|pmid=28619941 |s2cid=206659506 |doi-access=free }}

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• {{Scopus|id=7004528709|title=Demian M. Saffer}}

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