Research Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
B.Sc., 1976, Engineering Geology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Ph.D., Geophysics, 1983, University of Utah

RESEARCH AREAS

Electromagnetic theory and practice, numerical modeling, inverse theory, relation of resistivity structure to physicochemical conditions of the Earth, global tectonism.

Dr. Philip E. Wannamaker was employed as a summer field geological and geophysical assistant by Cominco (Canada) Ltd. from 1974 to 1976. He was the recipient of the ASARCO Fellowship in Geophysics (1977-1978), the Outstanding Ph. D. Research Award, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah in 1982, and a Green Foundation Scholarship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1990. Dr. Wannamaker has been active as a consultant to petroleum, geothermal, and mining companies, and to the United Nations. He is a frequent reviewer for several funding agencies and scientific journals, and has been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research (1990-1995), Geophysics (1993-1995), and Pure and Applied Geophysics (1998-present). He has been advisor to 17 graduate students in EM methods in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, and other institutions.
Dr. Wannamaker's primary research responsibilities have been with the development of 2-D and 3-D forward and inverse modeling algorithms, interpretation of MT data from volcanic, geothermal, overthrust and deep orogenic environments, and developing a new generation remote-reference magnetotelluric (MT) data acquisition system,. Dr. Wannamaker has been the lead scientist for numerous solid-earth and prospect-scale studies including the EMSLAB-Juan de Fuca subduction zone, Long Valley and Coso magmatic systems, the Southern Appalachians orogenic belt, the Ruby Mountains metamorphic core complex, South Pole Antarctica, and the New Zealand Southern Alps. Dr. Wannamaker is the author of numerous technical papers dealing with quantitative MT interpretation, electromagnetic algorithm development, and properties of the Earth's crust. He is Scientist-in-Charge for the National Science Foundation Instrument Facility for Electromagnetic Study of the Continents (EMSOC) and serves on the scientific review panel for the NSF/EAR/Continental Dynamics program. He was General Co-Chair of the Second Quadrennial Symposium on Three-Dimensional Electromagnetics (3DEM-II) at the University of Utah, and serves as Trustee/Treasurer for the Gerald W. Hohmann Memorial Trust.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Wannamaker, P. E., 2005, Anisotropy versus heterogeneity in continental solid earth electromagnetic studies: fundamental response characteristics and implications for physicochemical state, invited review paper, Geophys. Surveys, in press.
Pellerin, L., and P. E. Wannamaker, 2005, Multi-dimensional electromagnetic modeling and inversion with application to near-surface earth investigations, Spec. Issue, J. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 46, 71-102.
Wannamaker, P. E., T. G. Caldwell, W. M. Doerner, and G. R. Jiracek, 2005, Fault zone fluids and seismicity in compressional and extensional environments inferred from electrical conductivity: the New Zealand Southern Alps and U. S. Great Basin, Spec. Issue, Slip and flow processes in and below the seismogenic region, Earth Planets Space, 56, 1171-1176.
Wannamaker, P. E., J. A. Stodt, L. Pellerin, S. L. Olsen, and D. B. Hall, Structure and thermal regime beneath South Pole region, East Antarctica, from magnetotelluric measurements, Geophys. J. Internat., 157, 36-54, 2004.
Wannamaker, P. E., and Y. Sasaki, Three-dimensional electromagnetic inversion combining a finite difference forward solver with integral equations jacobians, Proc. 3rd Quad. Symp. 3DEM, ed. by J. Macnae and G. Liu, ASEG, Adelaide, 2003, 5 pp.
Wannamaker, P. E., and W. M. Doerner, 2002, Crustal structure of the Ruby Mountains and southern Carlin trend region, northeastern Nevada, from magnetotelluric data, Ore Geology Reviews, 21, 185-210.
Zhdanov, M. S., and P. E. Wannamaker, eds., 2002, Three-dimensional electromagnetics, Proc. 2nd Quad. Int. Symp., Methods in geochemistry and geophysics, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 290 pp.
Wannamaker, P. E., G. R. Jiracek, J. A. Stodt, T. G. Caldwell, A. D. Porter, V. M. Gonzalez, and J. D. McKnight, 2002, Fluid generation and movement beneath an active compressional orogen, the New Zealand Southern Alps, inferred from magnetotelluric (MT) data, J. Geophys. Res., 107(B6), ETG 6 1-22.
Wannamaker, P. E. , J. M. Bartley, A. F. Sheehan, C. H. Jones, A. R. Lowry, Trevor A. Dumitru, Todd A. Ehlers, W. S. Holbrook, G. L. Farmer, M. J. Unsworth, D. B. Hall, D. S. Chapman, D. A. Okaya, B. E. John, and J. A. Wolfe, Great Basin-Colorado Plateau transition in central Utah: An interface between active extension and stable interior, in The Geological Transition: Colorado Plateau to Basin and Range, Proc. J. Hoover Mackin Symposium, ed. by M. C. Erskine, J. E. Faulds, J. M. Bartley and P. Rowley, UGA/AAPG Guideb. 30/GB78, Cedar City, Utah, September 20-23, 1-38, 2001.
Wannamaker, P. E., 2000, Comment on "The petrologic case for a dry lower crust", by B. D. Yardley and J. W. Valley, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 6057-6064.
Wannamaker, P. E., J. B. Hulen, and M. T. Heizler, 2000, Early Miocene lamproite from the Colorado Plateau tectonic province,Utah, J. Volc. Geotherm. Res., 96, 176-191.
Wannamaker, P. E., 1999, Affordable magnetotellurics: interpretation in natural environments, in Three-dimensional electromagnetics, ed. by M. Oristaglio and B. Spies, Geophys. Devel. Ser., no. 7, Soc. Explor. Geophys., Tulsa, 724 pp.
Wannamaker, P. E., J. M. Johnston, J. R. Booker and J. A. Stodt, 1997a, Anatomy of the Southern Cordilleran Hingeline, Utah and Nevada, from deep resistivity profiling: Geophysics, 62, 1069-1086.
Wannamaker, P. E., W. M. Doerner, J. A. Stodt, and J. M. Johnston, 1997b, Subdued state of tectonism of the Great Basin interior relative to its eastern margin based on deep resistivity structure: Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 150, 41-53.
Wannamaker, P. E., 1997, Tensor CSAMT survey of the Sulphur Springs thermal area, Valles Caldera, New Mexico, Parts I & II: implications for structure of the western caldera and for CSAMT methodology: Geophysics, 62, 451-476.
de Lugao, P. P., and Wannamaker, P. E., 1996, Calculating the two-dimensional magnetotelluric Jacobian in finite elements using reciprocity: Geophys. J. Int., 127, 806-810.