Deborah Sue Kelley (born 1958) is a marine geologist who studies

hydrothermal vent Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hot ...

s, active

submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...

es, and life in these regions of the deep ocean.

Early life and education

Kelley was born in 1958 and grew up in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

. Her father died right when she finished high school, which required her to work full-time to put herself through college. Her sister, brother, and Kelley were all first-generation college students. Kelley earned her Bachelors degree in 1983 and Masters of Science degree in 1987 in geology from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. She completed her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

in 1990. Her dissertation is titled ''Fluid Circulation in a Submarine Paleohydrothermal System, Troodos Ophiolite, Cyprus: Fluid Inclusion Evidence for Deep-Seated Circulation of Brines in the Oceanic Crust'' and was completed under the supervision of Paul Robinson. Kelley did postdoctoral research at the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

starting in 1990 before moving back to Seattle in 1992, where she finished her postdoctoral research at the

through 1995.

Research career

Kelley joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 1995 and is currently a professor in the UW School of Oceanography. Kelley has been a co-chief and chief scientist on numerous oceanographic excursions, participating in over forty

blue water Maritime geography is a collection of terms used by naval military units to loosely define three maritime regions: brown water, green water, and blue water. Definitions The elements of maritime geography are loosely defined and their meanings hav ...

research expeditions. She has been on more than fifty dives in the submersible ''

Alvin ''Alvin'' (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The original vehicle was built by General Mills' Electro ...

''. In 2000, Kelley was part of the discovery of the

Lost City Hydrothermal Field The Lost City Hydrothermal Field, often referred to simply as Lost City, is an area of marine alkaline hydrothermal vents located on the Atlantis Massif at the intersection between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Atlantis Transform Fault, in the ...

on the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a Divergent boundary, divergent or constructive Plate tectonics, plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest mountai ...

, an area of limestone chimneys that were further away from ocean ridges than expected. In 2005, Kelley was co-chief scientist for the shore-based participants of another

research cruise, while the NOAA ship ''Ronald H. Brown'' was on site in the Atlantic Ocean at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. For the first time in ocean exploration, this expedition allowed the participation of an entire science party located not at sea but instead in a Science Command Center on land. Kelley has served on several national and international professional committees, including the Committee on an Ocean Infrastructure Strategy for U.S. Ocean Research in 2030, resulting in a consensus report published by the National Academies Press in 2011. Kelley is co-author of the book ''Discovering the Deep, A Photographic Atlas of the Seafloor and Oceanic Crust'', published by Cambridge University Press in 2015, exploring the geologic features of the seafloor and the life that exists at depth through more than 500 high-resolution photos. Currently, Kelley is the director for the underwater cabled component of the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

Ocean Observatories Initiative The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF)]Major Research Facilitycomposed of a network of science-driven Ocean observations, ocean observing platforms and sensors (ocean observato ...

(OOI) Regional Cabled Array.

Awards and honors

* 2016 - Named a Fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

for major contributions to the discovery and innovative investigation of seafloor hydrothermal phenomena and their chemo-synthetic ecosystems. * 2016 -

PROSE Award The PROSE Awards (where ''PROSE'' is an abbreviation for "professional and scholarly excellence") are presented by the Association of American Publishers' (AAP) Professional and Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division. Presented since 1976, the award ...

for Publishing, Earth Science - ''Discovering the Deep, A Photographic Atlas of the Seafloor and Oceanic Crust'', presented by the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercial ...

’ Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division. *1997-1998 - Named one of six JOI/USSAC Distinguished Lecturers, visited five higher education institutions to present a talk titled, ''Volatile-fluid evolution in submarine magma-hydrothermal systems''.

References

External links

Lost City ResearchOcean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Regional Cabled Array
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Deborah American women scientists American oceanographers Women oceanographers University of Washington faculty Dalhousie University alumni University of Washington alumni Fellows of the American Geophysical Union 1958 births Living people American women academics People from Bellevue, Washington 21st-century American women