Kieran O'Hara's research interests are in the areas of structural geology and geochemistry. Over the past several years research has focused on frictional heating processes during earthquakes and the effects it has on the rock record. This work centers on the geochemical and structural study of pseudotachylytes (frictional melts), and also on the effect of frictional heating on coal. A novel technique (O'Hara, 2004) has been developed using vitrinite reflectance in coal to estimate the paleo-stress on ancient seismogenic faults. A second area of interest is in ductile shear zones, especially the geochemical and finite strain changes in continental mylonite zones in the northern and southern Appalachians. Fluid inclusion research in tectonically deformed terranes is also a topic of current research (O'Hara and Becker, 2004).