PMEL Earth-Ocean Interactions Program logo National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Earth-Ocean Interactions Program

Robert W. EmbleyBob Embley

Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies
EOI Program
Hatfield Marine Science Center
2115 S.E. OSU Dr.
Newport, OR 97365
Phone:(541)867-0275
FAX:(541)867-3907
Email me

 

1975 Ph.D. Columbia University and Lamont-Doherty Geological Obs.,Marine Geology
1966 B.A. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Geology (Henry Rutgers Scholar)


Professional History:
Positions
1966-1967 Research Assistant, Lamont-Doherty Geological Obs.
1967-1975 Grad. Res. Assistant, Lamont-Doherty Geological Obs.
1975-1978 Research Associate, Lamont-Doherty Geologica Obs.
1970-1978 Instructor (part-time) in Geology and Oceanography at
Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey.
1979-1984 Research Associate - (Geophysicist) - Office of the Chief Scientist -
National Ocean Survey (NOAA).
1984(May) - Present, Senior Research Scientist, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab,
Ocean Environment Research Division, OSU Hatfield Marine Science
Center, Newport, OR, 97365. Principal Investigator for Geological
Studies, NOAA EOI Program.

1984(Fall)- Present Courtesy (Adjunct Professor, Oregon State University, College of Oceanography)

 

Field Experience:

Between 1966 and 1996, spent 45 months at sea on research vessels VEMA, CONRAD, ELTANIN, MELVILLE, MT. MITCHELL, KELEZ, ALVIN-LULU/AII, ATLANTIS II/ALVIN, JOHNSON, SURVEYOR, DISCOVERER, LANEY CHOUEST, SONNE, WECOMA, SONNE,and YOKOSUKA.
Have served as Chief Scientist or Co-Chief Scientist on thirty-seven expeditions, including eight submersible and five ROV campaigns.

Participated in ALVIN-LULU/AII expeditions in 1977 and 1978 off the East Coast of the U.S., in 1980, 1981, and 1985 on the Cocos-Nazca plate boundary, in 1984, 1987 and 1988, 1990 and 1991, 1993, and 1994 on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, Northeast Pacific. Observer on fifty-nine ALVIN dives and more than twenty dives on other submersibles.


Recent Professional Activities:

Co-Guest Editor, Special Section of Journal of Geophysical Research on "Volcanic and Hydrothermal Processes at the Southern Juan de Fuca Ridge", in March, 1994 issue.

Member of NSF RIDGE Steering Committee- 1995 to present

Member of working group for NSF RIDGE Observatory Experiment

Member of working group for NSF RIDGE Event Detection and Response

Member of American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union


Current Research Interests:

(1) Relationships between tectonics, volcanic and hydrothermal processes on seafloor
spreading centers, concentrating on the Juan de Fuca Ridge off Oregon/Washington.

(2) Structure and tectonics of transform fault zones.


Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications:

Embley, R.W. (1976), New evidence for occurrence of debris flow deposits in the deep sea, Geology, 4, 371-374.

Embley, R.W. (1982) The role of mass-wasting in the distribution and character of deep- ocean sediments with special reference to the North Atlantic, Mar. Geol., 38, 23-50.

Embley, R.W. (1982), Anatomy of some Atlantic Margin sediment slides and some comment on ages and mechanics, in Marine Slides and Other Mass Movements, edited by S. Saxov, and J.V. Nieuwenhuis, p. 189-213, Plenum Publ. Corp..

Embley, R.W. (1988), A deep-ocean canyon system along the Blanco Transform-Northeast Pacific, Geo-Marine Letters, 5, 99-104.

Embley, R.W., I.R. Jonasson, M.R. Perfit, J.M. Franklin, M.A. Tivey, A. Malahoff, M.F. Smith, and T.J.G. Francis (1988). Submersible investigations of an extinct hydrothermal system on the Galapagos Ridge: Sulfide mounds, stockwork zone, and differentiated lavas, Canadian Mineralogist (Special Issue on Hydrothermal Mineralization at Mid-Ocean Ridges), V. 26, p. 517-540.

Embley, R.W. (1990), S.L. Eittreim, C. McHugh, W.R. Normark, G.H. Rau, B. Hecker, A.E. DeBevoise, H.G. Greene, W.B.F. Ryan, C. Harrold, and C. Baxter, Geological setting of chemosynthetic communities in the Monterey Fan Valley system, Deep-Sea Res., 37, 1651-1657.

Embley, R.W., K.M. Murphy, and C.G. Fox (1990). High resolution studies of the summit of Axial Volcano, J. Geophys. Res, v. 95, p. 12,785-12,812.

Embley, R.W., W.W. Chadwick, M.R. Perfit and E.T. Baker (1991). Geology of the northern Cleft Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge: Recent eruptions, seafloor spreading, and the formation of megaplumes, Geology, v. 19, p. 771-775, 1991.

Chadwick, W.W., R.W. Embley and C.G. Fox (1991), Evidence for volcanic eruption on the southern Juan de Fuca Ridge between1981 and 1987, Nature, v. 350, p. 416-418.

Embley, R.W., and D.S. Wilson (1992), Morphology of the Blanco Transform Fault Zone-NE Pacific: Implications for its tectonic evolution, Mar. Geophys. Res., 14, 25-44.

Appelgate, B.T., and R.W. Embley (1992), Submarine tumuli and inflated tube-fed lava flows on Axial Volcano, Juan de Fuca Ridge, Bull. Volcan, 54, p. 447-458.

Embley, R.W. (1993), and J.M. Franklin, ROV samples vents on Juan de Fuca Ridge, Eos Trans. Am. Geophys. Un., 74, 177, 181-182.

Embley, R.W., and W.W. Chadwick Jr. (1994), Volcanic and hydrothermal processes associated with a recent phase of seafloor spreading at the northern Cleft Segment: Juan de Fuca Ridge, J. Geophys. Res., v. 99, 4741-4760.

Chadwick, W.W. Jr. and R.W. Embley (1994), Lava flows from a mid-1980s submarine eruption on the Cleft Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 4761-4776.

Embley, R.W., W.W. Chadwick, I.R. Jonasson, D.A. Butterfield, and E.T. Baker (1995), Initial results of the rapid response to the 1993 CoAxial event: Relationships between volcanic and hydrothermal processes, Geophys. Res. Letts., 22,143-146.

Fornari, D., and R.W. Embley, (1995) Tectonic and volcanic controls on hydrothermal processes at the mid-ocean ridges: An overview based on near-bottom and submersible studies, in Humprhis, S., J. Lupton, R. Zierenberg, L. Mullineaux, and R. Thomson (eds.), Seafloor Hydrothermal Systems, Am. Geophys. Mon. 91, 1-46.

Embley, R.W., and C. G. Fox (1995), Detection and response to volcanic/hydrothermal events on the mid-ocean ridge, Rev. Geophys. (Supplement), U.S. National Rept. Int. Un. Geod. Geophys. 1991-1994, 1307- 1310.

Holden, J. F., B. C. Crump, S. K. Juniper, M.D. Lilley, D. A. Butterfield, R. W. Embley, J. R. Delaney, and J. A. Baross, Deep-sea Microbial Blooms on the Co-Axial Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge Hydrothermal Vent Site Following a Magma Intrusion, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, In press.