Curriculum Vitae in PDF
Ph.D. (2021) Geology University of Houston
Thesis: A three-dimensional structural, thermal, and dynamical study of the arcuate Himalaya
Committee: Michael Murphy (advisor)
John Suppe, Peter Copeland, Joel Saylor, David Whipp, Michael Taylor
B.S. & M.S. Geology China University of Geosciences, Beijing
M.S. Thesis: Tectonic evolution of the Xainza area, South Tibet
Advisors: An Yin (University of California, Los Angeles) and Lin Ding (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
09/2024 - Present: Research Assistant Professor in Tectonics, University of Pittsburgh
2022-2024: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Santa Barbara
Advisor: Kristin Morell
Research topics: active tectonics, tectonic geomorphology, and landscape evolution in the Alaska forearc and the Himalaya
Before 2022:
Teaching Assistant & Research Assistant, University of Houston (in Ph.D. program)
Lab Assistant (LA-ICP-MS U-Pb geochronology), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (in M.S. program)
Estwing Award – Outstanding Fieldwork (University of Houston, 2021)
Outstanding Academic Achievement Award in Geology (University of Houston, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Structural Geology and Tectonics Division Student Research Travel Grant Award (Geological Society of America, 2017)
Undergraduate Scholarship Awards in Geology (every semester, China University of Geosciences, Beijing)
Honored International Field Trip to Baikal Rift, Russia (outstanding GPA in B.S. program, China University of Geosciences, Beijing)
Kinematic and Paleoseismic Investigation of an Upper-Plate Fault on Chirikof Island: A Potential Tsunami-Seismic Hazard Source within the Alaska Subduction Zone, 2023-2024, USGS Earthquake Hazards Program Grant (PIs: Kristin Morell and Suoya Fan)
Investigation of the timing of shortening in the Lhasa terrane: testing crustal deformation models for the Tibetan orogen, 2017-2018, GSA Graduate Student Research Grant
Reviewer for Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Tectonics, GSA Bulletin, Geosphere, Tectonophysics, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, Journal of the Geological Society, Geological Field Trips and Maps, and Acta Oceanologica Sinica
Guest Associate Editor for
Frontiers in Earth Science for an article collection (2022-2023)
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences: X for a special issue (2023-2024)
Event Convener
AGU 2023 - Session: “Filling in the Margins: 3D Architecture of Convergent Margins and the Transferability from Subduction to Collision” (conveners: Andrew Hoxey, Elizabeth Curtiss, Suoya Fan, Clay Campbell)
AGU 2023 - Session: “Fold-and-Thrust Belts: Evolution and Dynamics at All Spatiotemporal Scales” (conveners: Lin Li and Suoya Fan)
Supervisory Committee
Kuhn, Brennen M., Master student, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2022-2025
Manuscripts
Fan, S., Murphy, M.A., and Whipp, D.M., Development of strain-partitioning regional structures facilitated by mechanical heterogeneity and arcuate wedge shape in the Himalaya (in revision) link to a talk
Fan, S., Morell, K., Murphy, M.A., Dal Zilio, L., Ding, X., Orographic Climate and Crustal Duplexing in the Formation of High-Elevation, Low-Gradient Orogenic Plateaus: Implications for Dynamic Transient Landscape and Erosion (in preparation) link to a poster
Published Papers
Daniel, M., Murphy, M., Robinson, A. C., Hoxey, A. K. R., Fan, S., Bemis, S., Curtiss, E., Taylor, M., Chamlagain, D., Kafle, M., and Styron, R., 2025, Geometry, kinematics, and slip of the Talphi fault in the Western Nepal Fault System: Implications for strain partitioning during growth of a thrust wedge: Geological Society of America Bulletin, https://doi.org/10.1130/b38150.1.
Hoxey, A. K. R., Taylor, M. H., Murphy, M. A., Bemis, S., Chamlagain, D., Styron, R., Sutley, E., Adhikari, B. R., Fan, S., Daniel, M., Curtiss, E., Kafle, M., Gosse, J., and Rittenour, T. M., 2025, Dextral slip along the Western Nepal Fault System accommodates significant orogen-parallel shear: Geological Society of America Bulletin, https://doi.org/10.1130/b37994.1.
Zhang, S., Wang, S., Fan, S., Zhang, B., and Wu, Z., 2025, Basement Characteristics and Late-Stage Tectonic Evolution of the Qiangtang Terranes: Lithosphere, v. 2025, no. 2, https://doi.org/10.2113/2025/lithosphere_2025_106.
Fan, S., Morell, K. D., Fisher, D. M., Raimbourg, H., Famin, V., and Rajič, K., 2025, Active, long-lived upper-plate splay faulting revealed by thermochronology in the Alaska subduction zone: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 650, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2024.119140.
Bian, S., Tan, X., Liu, Y., Fan, S., Gong, J., Zhou, C., Shi, F., and Murphy, M. A., 2024, Orographic rainfall drives the Himalaya drainage divide to move north: Geomorphology, v. 444, p. 108952, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108952.
Penserini, B. D., Morell, K. D., Codilean, A. T., Fülöp, R. H., Wilcken, K. M., Yanites, B. J., Kumar, A., Fan, S., and Mearce, T., 2023, Magnitude and timing of transient incision resulting from large‐scale drainage capture, Sutlej River, Northwest Himalaya: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5705.
Wang, S., Zhang, S., Fan, S., Liu, Y., Wang, S., Song, L., 2023. Back-arc suture zone along the north margin of the eastern Cimmerian continent: Lithos 456-457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2023.107290.
Fan, S., Murphy, M. A., Whipp, D. M., Saylor, J. E., Copeland, P., Hoxey, A. K., Taylor, M. H., and Stockli, D. F., 2022, Megathrust Heterogeneity, Crustal Accretion, and a Topographic Embayment in the Western Nepal Himalaya: Insights From the Inversion of Thermochronological Data: Tectonics, v. 41, no. 7, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021tc007071. (AGU Research Spotlight)
Wang, S., Liu, Y., Fan, S., Tang, W., and Wu, Z., 2022, Branches of the Karakoram fault in Eastern Pamir: International Geology Review, p. 1-19, https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2022.2053887.
Wang, S., Fu, X., Liu, Y., Fan, S., Wang, J., and Wu, Z., 2021, Bitu ophiolite in eastern Tibet: The last piece of the jigsaw puzzle in the Paleotethyan regime along the eastern Cimmerian continental margin: Lithos, v. 406-407, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2021.106520.
Baltz, T., Murphy, M., Fan, S., and Champlagain, D., 2021, Geometry, kinematics, and magnitude of extension across the Thakkhola graben, central Nepal: Journal of Nepal Geological Society, v. 62, p. 1-17, https://doi.org/10.3126/jngs.v62i0.38691.
Fan, S., and Murphy, M. A., 2021, Three-dimensional strain accumulation and partitioning in an arcuate orogenic wedge: An example from the Himalaya: GSA Bulletin, v. 133, no. 1-2, p. 3-18, https://doi.org/10.1130/b35528.1.
Wu, C., Liu, C., Fan, S., Zuza, A. V., Ding, L., Liu, W., Ye, B., Yang, S., and Zhou, Z., 2019, Structural analysis and tectonic evolution of the western domain of the Eastern Kunlun Range, northwest Tibet: GSA Bulletin, https://doi.org/10.1130/b35388.1.
Fan, S., Ding, L., Murphy, M. A., Yao, W., and Yin, A., 2017, Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic evolution of the Lhasa Terrane in the Xainza area of southern Tibet: Tectonophysics, v. 721, p. 415-434, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2017.10.022.
Technical Report
Fan, S., and Morell, K. D., 2024, Kinematic and Paleoseismic Investigation of an Upper-Plate Fault on Chirikof Island: A Potential Tsunami-Seismic Hazard Source within the Alaska Subduction Zone [Technical Report]: U.S. Geological Survey, G23AP00287.
Abstracts (Selected)
Fan, S., Morell, K. D., and Haeussler, P. J., 2024, Along-Strike Change from Active Shortening to Extension in the Alaska Subduction Zone Forearc, Chirikof Island: AGU Fall Meeting 2024, p. T53C-3227.
Fan, S., Morell, K., Fisher, D., Low-Temperature Thermochronology Reveals Paleogene to Recent Exhumation Related to Upper Plate Thrust Faulting above the Downdip Edge of the Seismogenic Zone, Kodiak Island, Alaska Subduction Zone: AGU Fall Meeting 2023
Fan, S., Morell, K., Murphy, M., Dal Zilio, L., Ding, X., Orographic Climate and Crustal Duplexing in the Formation of High-Elevation, Low-Relief Orogenic Plateaus: Implications for Dynamic Transient Landscape and Erosion: AGU Fall Meeting 2023
Fan, S., Murphy, M.A., and Whipp, D.M., 2022, Geodynamics of strain partitioning facilitated by mechanical heterogeneity and oblique convergence in the arcuate Himalaya, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Denver, Colorado, USA, Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-378494.
Fan, S., Murphy, M. A., Whipp, D. M., Saylor, J. E., Copeland, P., Hoxey, A. K., Taylor, M. H., and Stockli, D. F., 2021, Megathrust Heterogeneity, Crustal Accretion, and a Topographic Embayment in Western Nepal Himalaya: Insights from the Inversion of Thermochronological Data: AGU Fall Meeting 2021, AGU.
Kuhn, B., Fan, S., Murphy, M. A., Daniel, M., and Hoxey, A. K., 2021, Active Faulting, Seismicity and Their Relationship With Megathrust Ramps and Inherited Structures in Western Nepal: Insights From a Three-Dimensional Model: AGU Fall Meeting 2021, AGU.
Fan, S., and Murphy, M. A., 2019, 3D strain partitioning and accumulation in an arcuate orogenic wedge: An example from the Himalaya: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Volume 51, No. 5, p. 292-214, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2019AM-335529.
Fan, S., and Murphy, M. A., 2018, Along-strike strain variations in the western and central Himalayan orogen: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, Volume 50, No.6, p. 197-121, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2018AM-324135.
2019 University of Helsinki 3 weeks
2018-2019 University of California, Los Angeles several 2-3-weeks visits
2023 InSAR Processing and Analysis (ISCE+) Short Course, offered by EarthScope Consortium, online, August 21-25, 2023
Spring 2023 OpenTopography Webinar Series, weekly hour-long webinar series, March 15 - May 3, 2023 (8 weeks/8 hour-long virtual meetings)
Jump-Start SAR Data Analysis in the Cloud with ASF’s OpenSARLab, NASA Earthdata webinar, January 25, 2023
GEOG 137/237 - Quantitative Geomorphology (a 10-week course), offered by Dr. Vamsi Ganti at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Spring 2022
Exploring Surface Processes using Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System Modeling Tools: How to Build Coupled Models, at GSA 2020, online, October 23, 2020
Workshops at the 5th Biennial Structural Geology and Tectonics Forum, Arizona State University, 2018
Structure from Motion: a transformative 3D capability for structural geology and tectonics - Jan 6
Geometric statistics for geologic data - Jan 4
2024
Santa Cruz Island, California, US (4 days): active tectonics and tectonic geomorphology survey
2023
Chirikof Island, Alaska, US (2 weeks): forearc upper-plate neotectonic and paleoseismic investigation (USGS Earthquake Hazards Program Grant).
California, US (1 week): California Geology field camp with the instructors and students from San Diego State University
2022
Kodiak Island, Alaska, US (2 weeks): forearc deformation of a subduction zone (NSF project).
2021
Western Nepal (about 1.5 months): neotectonics of western Nepal Himalaya (NSF project).
2016-2019
Western Nepal (1 month): neotectonics of western Nepal Himalaya (NSF project).
Red Lodge, Yellowstone, and Dillon areas in MT, US (5 weeks of TA, 2018, 2019): continued structural geology research started in 2017.
Block Mt, Dillon, MT, US (2 weeks in 2017): geological mapping and structural analysis.
Big Bend National Park, TX, US (field TA during spring breaks of 2017, 2018)
2013
Xainza, Tibet, China (2 weeks): research on the tectonic evolution of northern Lhasa terrain.
Lhasa and Sangri, Tibet, China (1 month): field assistant to work on magmatism in South Tibet.
Lhatse and Xigaze area, Tibet, China (1 month): field assistant to work on the Cenozoic deformation and sedimentation in South Tibet.
2012
Qilian, Qinghai, China (about 2.5 months): geological mapping in the Qilian mountains (funded by China Geological Survey).
2011
Sichuan and Chongqing, China (about 1 month): research on the geometry and kinematics of the arc-shaped folds in thin-skinned fold and thrust belt in eastern Sichuan (B.S. thesis).
2010
Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China (2 weeks): geological mapping (funded by China Geological Survey).
Baikal Lake area, Russia (2 weeks): a field camp on geology of Baikal rift (an honor international exchange program with Irkutsk State Technical University for top-10 undergraduates in geology, funded by China University of Geosciences, Beijing)
Zhoukoudian, Beijing, China (4 weeks): a comprehensive geology field camp
2009
Suolun & Zhalantun, Inner Mongolia, China (1 month): geological mapping (internship)
Beidaihe, Hebei, China (2 weeks): an intro-level geology field camp