It is with sadness the Columbia Global Centers | Santiago communicates the passing of Edgar Kausel (SEAS’72), winner of the Gold Medal from the Chilean Institute of Engineers (2004) and the National Prize for Applied and Technological Sciences (2006), who was considered a pillar in the study of seismology in Chile.
Kausel, who obtained his PhD in geophysics from Columbia in 1972, was a prominent academic, former director of the Universidad de Chile’s Geophysics Department (DGF) and former vice-dean of the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
Professor Kausel's contributions to Geophysics include research on the regionalization of the lithosphere and atmosphere of the Pacific Ocean as a function of the distance to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; origin and characteristics of surface waves; seismic hazard and risk; near and far field seismology; seismotectonics and induced seismicity in mines; seismogenic sources and the rupture process of large Chilean earthquakes; regarding the latter, of particular interest is Kausel’s identification of the two main types of telluric movements in Chile: interplate earthquakes, which are produced 20-60 kilometers deep, and intraplate earthquakes, which occur 50-250 kilometers deep.
Edgar Kausel passed away at the age of 87 as a result of a prolonged illness. We express our condolences to Edgar’s family, friends and colleagues in these times.
