I majored in physics at Grinnell College. My graduate studies took place at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/MIT Joint Program, focusing on marine geophysics and seismology. After three years of post-doctoral research at Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, I came to Brown as an assistant professor at the end of 1976 and have been here ever since. My interests are in the processes that create new seafloor at mid-ocean ridges, the properties of the lithosphere and asthenosphere, and the nature of small-scale convection beneath tectonic plates.
| Bell, Samuel, Ruan, Youyi, Forsyth, Donald W. "Ridge asymmetry and deep aqueous alteration at the trench observed from Rayleigh wave tomography of the Juan de Fuca plate." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, vol. 121, no. 10, 2016, pp. 7298-7321. |
| MacDougall, Julia G., Fischer, Karen M., Forsyth, Donald W., Hawman, Robert B., Wagner, Lara S. "Shallow mantle velocities beneath the southern Appalachians from Pn phases." Geophys. Res. Lett., vol. 42, no. 2, 2015, pp. 339-345. |
| Takeo, A., Forsyth, D. W., Weeraratne, D. S., Nishida, K. "Estimation of azimuthal anisotropy in the NW Pacific from seismic ambient noise in seafloor records." Geophys. J. Int., vol. 199, no. 1, 2014, pp. 11-22. |
| Ruan, Youyi, Forsyth, Donald W., Bell, Samuel W. "Marine sediment shear velocity structure from the ratio of displacement to pressure of Rayleigh waves at seafloor." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, vol. 119, no. 8, 2014, pp. 6357-6371. |
| Shintaku, Natsumi, Forsyth, Donald W., Hajewski, Christina J., Weeraratne, Dayanthie S. "Pn anisotropy in Mesozoic western Pacific lithosphere." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, vol. 119, no. 4, 2014, pp. 3050-3063. |
| Bell, S. W., Forsyth, D. W., Ruan, Y. "Removing Noise from the Vertical Component Records of Ocean-Bottom Seismometers: Results from Year One of the Cascadia Initiative." Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, vol. 105, no. 1, 2014, pp. 300-313. |
| Toomey, Douglas, Allen, Richard, Barclay, Andrew, Bell, Samuel, Bromirski, Peter, Carlson, Richard, Chen, Xiaowei, Collins, John, Dziak, Robert, Evers, Brent, Forsyth, Donald, Gerstoft, Peter, Hooft, Emily, Livelybrooks, Dean, Lodewyk, Jessica, Luther, Douglas, McGuire, Jeffrey, Schwartz, Susan, Tolstoy, Maya, Trehu, Anne, Weirathmueller, Michelle, Wilcock, William. "The Cascadia Initiative: A Sea Change In Seismological Studies of Subduction Zones." Oceanography, vol. 27, no. 2, 2014, pp. 138-150. |
| Booth, Catherine M., Forsyth, Donald W., Weeraratne, Dayanthie S. "Upper mantle Q structure beneath old seafloor in the western Pacific." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, vol. 119, no. 4, 2014, pp. 3448-3461. |
| Wang, Y., Forsyth, D. W., Rau, C. J., Carriero, N., Schmandt, B., Gaherty, J. B., Savage, B. "Fossil slabs attached to unsubducted fragments of the Farallon plate." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, no. 14, 2013, pp. 5342-5346. |
| Pikser, Jacob E., Forsyth, Donald W., Hirth, Greg. "Along-strike translation of a fossil slab." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 331-332, 2012, pp. 315-321. |
| Gazel, Esteban, Plank, Terry, Forsyth, Donald W., Bendersky, Claire, Lee, Cin-Ty A., Hauri, Erik H. "Lithosphere versus asthenosphere mantle sources at the Big Pine Volcanic Field, California." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, vol. 13, no. 6, 2012, pp. n/a-n/a. |
| Harmon, Nicholas, Forsyth, Donald W., Weeraratne, Dayanthie S., Yang, Yingjie, Webb, Spahr C. "Mantle heterogeneity and off axis volcanism on young Pacific lithosphere." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 311, no. 3-4, 2011, pp. 306-315. |
| Rau, C. J., Forsyth, D. W. "Melt in the mantle beneath the amagmatic zone, southern Nevada." Geology, vol. 39, no. 10, 2011, pp. 975-978. |
| Wagner, Lara, Forsyth, Donald W., Fouch, Matthew J., James, David E. "Detailed three-dimensional shear wave velocity structure of the northwestern United States from Rayleigh wave tomography." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 299, no. 3-4, 2010, pp. 273-284. |
| Wang, Yun, Forsyth, Donald W., Savage, Brian. "Convective upwelling in the mantle beneath the Gulf of California." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 462, no. 7272, 2009, pp. 499-501. |
| Forsyth, Donald W., Lay, Thorne, Aster, Richard C., Romanowicz, Barbara. "Grand Challenges for Seismology." Eos Trans. AGU, vol. 90, no. 41, 2009, pp. 361-362. |
| Pickle, Robert C., Forsyth, Donald W., Harmon, Nicholas, Nagle, Ashley N., Saal, Alberto. "Thermo-mechanical control of axial topography of intra-transform spreading centers." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 284, no. 3-4, 2009, pp. 343-351. |
| HARMON, N, FORSYTH, D, WEERARATNE, D. "Thickening of young Pacific lithosphere from high-resolution Rayleigh wave tomography: A test of the conductive cooling model." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 278, no. 1-2, 2009, pp. 96-106. |
| Yang, Yingjie, Forsyth, Donald W. "Attenuation in the upper mantle beneath Southern California: Physical state of the lithosphere and asthenosphere." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 113, no. B3, 2008. |
| Yang, Yingjie, Ritzwoller, Michael, Moschetti, Morgan, Forsyth, Donald. "Ambient seismic noise and teleseismic tomography in the western USA: High-resolution 3-D model of the crust and upper mantle from Earthscope/USArray." The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 121, no. 5, 2007, pp. 3101. |
| Holmes, R. Chadwick, Webb, Spahr C., Forsyth, Donald W. "Crustal structure beneath the gravity lineations in the Gravity Lineations, Intraplate Melting, Petrologic and Seismic Expedition (GLIMPSE) study area from seismic refraction data." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 112, no. B7, 2007. |
| Langmuir, Charles, Forsyth, Donald. "Mantle Melting Beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges." Oceanography, vol. 20, no. 1, 2007, pp. 78-89. |
| Harmon, Nicholas, Forsyth, Donald W., Lamm, Rosalee, Webb, Spahr C. "P and S wave delays beneath intraplate volcanic ridges and gravity lineations near the East Pacific Rise." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 112, no. B3, 2007. |
| Weeraratne, Dayanthie S., Forsyth, Donald W., Yang, Yingjie, Webb, Spahr C. "Rayleigh wave tomography beneath intraplate volcanic ridges in the South Pacific." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 112, no. B6, 2007. |
| Yang, Yingjie, Forsyth, Donald W., Weeraratne, Dayanthie S. "Seismic attenuation near the East Pacific Rise and the origin of the low-velocity zone." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 258, no. 1-2, 2007, pp. 260-268. |
| Harmon, N., Forsyth, D., Webb, S. "Using Ambient Seismic Noise to Determine Short-Period Phase Velocities and Shallow Shear Velocities in Young Oceanic Lithosphere." Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, vol. 97, no. 6, 2007, pp. 2009-2023. |
| Tolstoy, M., Cowen, J. P., Baker, E. T., Fornari, D. J., Rubin, K. H., Shank, T. M., Waldhauser, F., Bohnenstiehl, D. R., Forsyth, D. W., Holmes, R. C., Love, B., Perfit, M. R., Weekly, R. T., Soule, S. A., Glazer, B. "A Sea-Floor Spreading Event Captured by Seismometers." Science, vol. 314, no. 5807, 2006, pp. 1920-1922. |
| Harmon, Nicholas, Forsyth, Donald W., Scheirer, Daniel S. "Analysis of gravity and topography in the GLIMPSE study region: Isostatic compensation and uplift of the Sojourn and Hotu Matua Ridge systems." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 111, no. B11, 2006. |
| Forsyth, Donald W., Harmon, Nicholas, Scheirer, Daniel S., Duncan, Robert A. "Distribution of recent volcanism and the morphology of seamounts and ridges in the GLIMPSE study area: Implications for the lithospheric cracking hypothesis for the origin of intraplate, non–hot spot volcanic chains." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 111, no. B11, 2006. |
| Yang, Yingjie, Forsyth, Donald W. "Rayleigh wave phase velocities, small-scale convection, and azimuthal anisotropy beneath southern California." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 111, no. B7, 2006. |
| Yang, Yingjie, Forsyth, Donald W. "Regional tomographic inversion of the amplitude and phase of Rayleigh waves with 2-D sensitivity kernels." Geophys. J. Int., vol. 166, no. 3, 2006, pp. 1148-1160. |
| Evans RL, Hirth G, Baba K, Forsyth D, Chave A, Mackie R. "Geophysical evidence from the MELT area for compositional controls on oceanic plates." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 437, no. 7056, 2005, pp. 249-52. |
| O'Dowd, C.R., Eaton, D., Forsyth, D., Asmis, H.W. "Structural fabric of the Central Metasedimentary Belt of southern Ontario, Canada, from deep seismic profiling." Tectonophysics, vol. 388, no. 1-4, 2004, pp. 145-159. |
| Harmon, Nicholas. "Variations in shear-wave splitting in young Pacific seafloor." Geophys. Res. Lett., vol. 31, no. 15, 2004. |
2009 Harmon, N., D.W. Forsyth, D.S. Weeraratne. Thickening of young Pacific lithosphere from high-resolution Rayleigh wave tomography: A test of the conductive cooling model, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 278, 96-106.
2009 Pickle, R.C., D.W. Forsyth, N. Harmon, A. Nagle, A. Saal, Thermo-mechanical control of axial topography of intra-transform spreading centers, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 284,342-351.
2009 Wang, Y., D.W. Forsyth, and B. Savage, Convective upwelling in the mantle beneath the Gulf of California, Nature, 462, 499-501, doi:10.1038/nature08552.
2009 Forsyth, D.W., T. Lay, R.C. Aster, and B. Romanowicz, Grand Challenges for Seismology, EOS, Trans. AGU, 90. 361-362,.
2008 Pickle, R.C., D.W. Forsyth, N. Harmon, A. Nagle, A. Saal, Thermo-mechanical control of axial topography of intra-transform spreading centers, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., submitted, in revision.
2008 Llenos, A.L., and D.W. Forsyth, Apparent supershear rupture propagation on an oceanic transform fault, Geophys. Res. Lett., submitted, in revision.
2008 Yang, Y., and D.W. Forsyth, Attenuation in the upper mantle beneath Southern California: physical state of the lithosphere and asthenosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 113, B03308, doi:10.1029/2007JB005118.
2008 Harmon, N., D.W. Forsyth, D.S. Weeraratne. Thickening of Young Pacific Lithosphere From High-Resolution Rayleigh Wave Tomography: A Test of the Conductive Cooling Model, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., in press.
2007 Harmon, N., D. W. Forsyth, and S.C. Webb, Using ambient seismic noise to determine short period phase velocities and shallow shear velocities in young oceanic lithosphere, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 97, 2009-2023, doi:10.1785/0120070050.
2007 Langmuir, C.M. and D.W. Forsyth, Mantle melting beneath mid-ocean ridges, Oceanography Magazine, 20, 78-89.
2007 Yang, Y., D.W. Forsyth, and D.S. Weeraratne, Seismic attenuation near the East Pacific Rise and the origin of the low-velocity zone, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 258, 260-268.
2007 Weeraratne, D.S., D.W. Forsyth,, Y. Yang, S.C. Webb, Rayleigh wave tomography of the oceanic mantle beneath intraplate seamount chains in the South Pacific, J. Geophys. Res., B06303, doi:10.1029/2006JB004403.
2007 Harmon, N., D.W. Forsyth, R. Lamm, and S.C. Webb, P and S wave delays beneath Intraplate Volcanic Ridges and Gravity Lineations Near the East Pacific Rise, J. Geophys. Res.., 112, B03309, doi:10.1029/2006JB004392.
2007 Holmes, R. C., S. C. Webb, and D. W. Forsyth, Crustal structure beneath the gravity lineations in the Gravity Lineations, Intraplate Melting, Petrologic and Seismic Expedition (GLIMPSE) study area from seismic refraction data, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B07316, doi:10.1029/2006JB004685.
2006 Forsyth, D. W., N. Harmon, D. S. Scheirer, and R. A. Duncan, Distribution of recent volcanism and the morphology of seamounts and ridges in the GLIMPSE study area: Implications for the lithospheric cracking hypothesis for the origin of intraplate, non–hot spot volcanic chains, J. Geophys. Res, 111, B11406, doi:10.1029/2005JB004071.
2006 Harmon, N., D.W. Forsyth, D.S. Scheirer, and R.C. Holmes, Analysis of gravity and topography in the GLIMPSE study region: Isostatic compensation and uplift of the Sojourn and Hotu Matua ridge systems, J. Geophys. Res., 111, B11407, doi:10.1029/2005JB004075.
2006 Yang, Y. and D.W. Forsyth, Rayleigh wave phase velocities, small-scale convection and azimuthal anisotropy beneath southern California, J. Geophys. Res., 111, B07306, doi:10.1029/2005JB004180.
2006 Yang, Y. and D.W. Forsyth, Regional tomographic inversion of amplitude and phase of Rayleigh waves with 2-D sensitivity kernels, Geophys. J. Int., 166, 1148-1160.
2006 M. Tolstoy1, J. P. Cowen2, E. T. Baker3, D.J. Fornari4, K.H. Rubin5, T.M. Shank4, F. Waldhauser1, D.R. Bohnenstiehl1, D.W. Forsyth6, R.C. Holmes1, R.T. Weekly, A seafloor spreading event captured by seismometers, Science, 314,1920-1922.
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | PhD | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1969 | BA | Grinnell College |
| GEOL 1560 - Global Tectonics |
| GEOL 2630 - Interpretation Theory in Geophysics |
