I study rheological properties (fracture, friction, crystal plasticity) of rocks and minerals, especially fault zone materials  and metamorphic rocks (e.g., hydrated mantle, altered oceanic crust and sediments), and how they evolve during metamorphic reactions to understand the mechanism of normal/slow earthquakes in subduction zones.

Resent projects: 

1. Brittle-plactic transition of fluid-overpressured quartz shear zone 

2. Physical property of the fossilized oceanic plate and crust-mantle transition zone from ICDP Oman Drilling Project

3. Dehydration of lawsonite could directly trigger intermediate-depth earthquakes in subducting oceanic crust  (link 1 2)

4. Slow stick-slip of antigorite under hydrothermal conditions as a possible mechanism for slow earthquakes  (link 1 2)

5. Permeability, porosity and pore geometry evolution during compaction of Neogene sedimentary rocks  (link 1)

6. Rheological profile of the upper mantle, the mantle transition zone and the lower mantle 

Keywords:

subduction zone, plate tectonics, earthquake, oceanic crust, mantle, metamorphic rocks, rheology, friction, permeability, serpentine.

Research interests :

1. Mechanisms of earthquakes, slow earthquakes, plate tectonics.

2. Frictional properties of fault zone materials.

3. Rheology of metamorphic rocks.

4. Effects of hydration/dehydration reactions on the rheological properties of hydrous minerals.

5. Fluid flow in subduction zones, sedimentary basins and continental crusts.

6. Seal capacity of sedimentary rocks for CCS, and nuclear waste isolation.

7. Rheology of the upper and the lower mantle, and the mantle transition zone.

The above research interests mainly involve experimental rock deformation techniques:

Designing, modifying, maintaining, and operating various kinds of high pressure/temperature rock deformation apparatuses; Mechanical behaviour of dehydrating rocks under differential stress; Characterization of frictional properties and fluid flow in deforming fault gouges; Characterization of rheological properties of natural minerals and metamorphic rocks; Elastic property and acoustic emission measurements of metamorphic rocks; Permeability and porosity of foliated schists, igneous rocks, and sedimentary rocks; Microstructural observations using optical and electron microscopes; Chemical and crystallographic analysis using EPMA and XRD.

CV

Job history:

4/2022-present     Associate Professor, Hiroshima University

4/2022-present     Visiting Senior Researcher, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

10/2016-3/2022              Scientist (tenured in 2020), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

04/2018-09/2018             Adjunct lecturer, Tohoku University

10/2016-12/2016             Visiting Scientist, Brown University

04/2014-09/2016             Postdoctoral Research Associate, Brown University (w/ Prof. Greg Hirth and Prof. Terry Tullis)

04/2013-03/2014             Visiting Research Scholar, Brown University

04/2013-03/2014             Research fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (PD), Hiroshima University

04/2012-03/2013             Research fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC2), Hiroshima University

04/2010-03/2013             Technical Trainee, Geological Survey of Japan

07/2010-03/2012             Research Assistant for rock deformation research, Hiroshima University

04/2008-03/2011             Teaching Assistant for field geology, Hiroshima University

Education:

Ph.D., Hiroshima University     2013   (Advisor: Prof. Ikuo Katayama, co-advisor: Dr. Takehiro Hirose)

M.Sc., Hiroshima University     2010   (Advisor: Prof. Toshihiko Shimamoto)

B.Sc., Hiroshima University     2008    (Advisor: Prof. Toshihiko Shimamoto) 

Memberships:

American Geophysical Union

Japan Geoscience Union

Geological Society of Japan

Experience of referee:

Geophysical Research Letters

Island Arc

Nature Geoscience

Earth and Planetary Science Letter

Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

AAPG Bulletin

Nature Communications

Scientific Reports

Journal of Structural Geology

Tectonophysics

NSF and research proposals in other countries

HardwareX

etc.