Francis S. Birch
Professor of Geophysics
Terrestrial and Marine Geophysics
Ph.D. Princeton University, 1969
email address: fsb@cisunix.unh.edu
My main interests are ground-water geophysics, marine geophysics, and geophysics applied to problems of Quaternary geology.
Throughout my years at UNH I have worked on understanding the geology of the seacoast region and inner continental shelf of New Hampshire. Methods used include seismic refraction and reflection, side-scan sonar, magnetics, resistivity, ground-penetrating radar, borehole radar and self-potential as well as vibracoring and gravity coring. Recently I've been using our new borehole radar instrument to detect fractures deep in bedrock as part of a multidisciplinary "bedrock bioremediation" study at the former Pease Air Force Base.
This year I again taught applied geophysics at the senior/graduate level as well as three geophysics short courses (electromagnetic methods, advanced geophysics and elasticity) and two undergraduate courses (physical geology and earth dynamics).
For many years I taught geophysical short courses in Latin America. In the summer of 1999 I gave a short course on magnetic exploration methods at the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosí, my seventh short course in México. I've also taught a short course in Puerto Rico as well as two regular courses during a semester leave at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez.
My MS advisees have worked on a wide variety of geophysical projects, mainly proposed and planned on their own initiative. Most projects have been field studies in New Hampshire, but others have been in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Campos-Enríquez, J. O., O. Delgado-Rodríguez, R. Chávez-Segura, P. Gómez-Contreras, E. L. Flores-Márquez, and F. S. Birch, 1997, The subsurface structure of the Chalco sub-basin (Mexico City) inferred from geophysical data. Geophysics, vol. 62, pp. 23-35.
Campos-Enríquez, J. O., H. F. Morales-Rodríguez, F. Domínguez-Méndez, and F. S. Birch , 1998, Gauss's theorem, mass deficiency at Chicxulub crater (Yucatan, Mexico), and the extinction of the dinosaurs. Geophysics, vol. 63, pp. 1585-1594.
Birch, F. S., 1998, Imaging the water table by filtering self-potential profiles. Ground Water, vol. 36, pp. 779-782.
Ward, L. G. and F. S. Birch, 1999, Sedimentology of the New Hampshire inner continental shelf. Marine Georesources and Geotechnology, vol. 17, pp. 166-172