- Hydrogeologist David Boutt
When the world’s first ocean research vessel equipped with super-deep core-drilling equipment cruised the Pacific this summer, scientists from seven nations were aboard, including hydrogeologist David Boutt. The project, led by the Japanese government, aims to install sensors in deep boreholes to monitor the Earth’s crust for earthquake and tsunami activity 1.25 miles below the sea floor at a premier earthquake-spawning ground off the coast of Japan. Boutt is an expert in the flow paths of subsurface fluids that are often altered by sediment and tectonic loading containing dissolved chemicals. “These fluids are an integral part of the earthquake cycle and their role can’t be ignored when studying these tectonic events,” he says.
