Associate Professor
(907) 474-6445
rherrick [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu

• Personal webpage

Affiliations
Planetary Science Group
UAF Department of Geology & Geophysics       

Dr. Herrick approaches problems in planetary science by utilizing multiple data sets and both geological and geophysical approaches. 

His primary research focus areas are:

• Large scale tectonic and volcanic histories of the terrestrial planets.  Most work in this area has focused on the planet Venus.  Dr. Herrick combines imagery, topography, and geoid data to analyze the big picture of how interior processes shape a planetary surface.
• Impact cratering.  For most solid bodies in the solar system, cratering is the dominant geologic process.  Dr. Herrick compares and contrasts impact craters on the various planets and moons, essentially using them to study the effects of different surface gravities, target properties, and the presence or absence of an atmosphere.

Venus Impact Crater, 90-km diameter (right) and circular domes on edge of Alpha Regio (left).