Awards

Birch Lecture

The Francis Birch Lecture is named in recognition of the seminal work of Francis Birch on elasticity, phase relations, thermal properties, heat flow, and the composition of the Earth’s interior.  These contributions have helped establish the field of tectonophysics. 
 
The lecture is presented annually by a recipient whose work has advanced the understanding of tectonophysics through observations, experiments, the development of analytical methods or modelling.
 
The Birch Lecture is also part of the Bowie Lecture Series, established in 1989 to commemorate the 50th presentation of the William Bowie medal, AGU’s highest honor, and named for its first president. Birch is a past recipient of the William Bowie medal.

The Birch Lecture is by invitation only – nominations are not accepted.

Birch Lecturers

2024

The variability of stress and what to do about it, presented by Emily Brodsky, UC Santa Cruz

2023

Unzipping the subduction plate boundary: a journey through rocks and rheologies, presented by Philippe Agard, Sorbonne Université

2022

2021

2020

2019

Shaping the Mediterranean from the inside out presented by Claudia Faccenna, University Roma TRE/ University of Texas at Austin

2018

The inevitable control of Earth’s deep interior on the surface presented by Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni, UCLA

2017

Lithospheric Strength and Stress State: Persistent Challenges and New Directions in Geodynamics presented by Greg Hirth, Brown University

2016

Presented by Maya Tolstoy, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

2015

Subduction Faults as We See Them in the 21st Century presented by Kelin Wang, Pacific Geoscience Center, Geological Survey of Canada

2014

On the Origin of Plate Tectonics presented by David Bercovici, Yale University

2013

M9 Megathrust Earthquake Cycles presented by Roland Burgmann, University of California, Berkeley

2012

Inside a Crustal Earthquake — Signals from Field Geology presented by Rick Sibson of Otago University, New Zealand

2011

Hydrological Response to Earthquakes (and was the LUSI Mud Volcano Eruption in Indonesia Caused by an Earthquake?) presented by Michael Manga, University of California, Berkeley

2010

Global Tectonics Ties Quakes, Rocks, and Volatiles in the Mantle Transition Zone presented by Wang-Ping Chen, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2009

A Eulogy for Eustasy presented by Jerry X. Mitrovica, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

2008

Focusing in on Mid-Ocean Ridge Segmentation presented by Suzanne M. Carbotte, Columbia University

2007 

Mountain Ranges and the Deformation of Continents presented by Jean-Philippe Avouac, California Institute of Technology

2006

The Deep Roots of Continents presented by Claude Jaupart, Institut de Physique du Globe, Paris

2005

Uplift and Evolution of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau presented by Leigh H. Royden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2004

Where on Earth is the Ocean? presented by Shun-Ichiro Karato, Yale University

2003

Splitting, Stretching and Spreading of Lithosphere presented by W. Roger Buck, LDEO

2002

A Geophysicist’s Journey to the Center of the Earth presented by Gerald Schubert, UCLA

2001

Structure and Dynamics An Earth Odyssey presented by Louise Kellogg, University of California, Davis

1999

Localisation and Propagation of Lithospheric Shear Zones Behaviour of the Continental Mantle During Collision, and Growth of the Tibet Plateau presented by Paul Tapponnier, Institut de Physique du Globe, Paris

1998

The Plate Tectonic Approximation: Plate Nonrigidity and Diffuse Plate Boundaries presented by Richard Gordan, Northwestern University

1997

Melting and Mantle Flow Beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges: Constraints from the Seismological Component of the MELT Experiment presented by Donald Forsyth, Brown University

1996

Stress Triggering of Earthquakes, or Playing Prediction with Less than Half a Deck presented by Ross Stein, USGS, Menlo Park

1995

The mechanisms of Deep Earthquakes presented by Harry W. Green II, University of California, Davis

1994 

(lecture switched from Fall to Spring meeting)

1993

Problems in Earthquake Source Mechanics presented by Jim Rice, Harvard

1992

Space Geodetic Studies of the Earth’s Interior presented by Thomas Herring, Massachusetts Institute of Technology