Global Earthquake Seismology

Seismology is a science that has a great predictive power. The theoretical foundation for seismology is the Hooke's law and the Newton's laws of mechanics.

Seismic imaging of reflectors in subduction zones

Because the uneven distribution of earthquakes and seismic stations, seismic illumination correction for seismic imaging is essential to obtain balanced image amplitude. In the following illumination in Tonga, seismic energy is concentrated to Europe (weaker amplitude) and to North America (strong and brighter illumination). Using illumination information, we can achieve balanced images. See paper "Pervasive Seismic Wave Reflectivity and Metasomatism of the Tonga Mantle Wedge", Zheng et al., Science 2007.

Seismic wave scattering

I study seismic wave scattering to try to understand how heterogeneities are distributed in the Earth. We have established many 1d seismological models for the Earth where seismic wave speeds and density vary only with depth. I want to know whether we can establish a 1D heterogeneity spectral model for the Earth.

Cores

In collaboration with Prof. Vernon Cormier, we are investigating the ICB using computationally intensive modeling.