Research

I am an early career seismologist with broad interests in earthquakes and seismic structures, particularly those associated with subduction zones. My recent work has focused on utilizing multiple seismic techniques to investigate the seismicity and seismic structures of the Southern Mariana Subduction Zone using data recorded by multiple ocean bottom seismic experiments.

How much water was input into subduction zones?

Subduction zones play important roles in material cycling and earthquake generation on the Earth. The subducting slab is the primary channel from which water can enter the Earth’s interior, estimating hydration of the crust and upper mantle at subduction zones is important for the global water cycle. Therefore, I investigate the hydration of the southern Mariana subduction zone via Rayleigh wave tomographic studies, which could provide constraints on the water input in subduction zones.

Subduction zone earthquakes

I am interested in seismic source studies related to subduction zones. Currently, I mainly involve in small magnitude earthquakes in the trench region, which are generally poorly located and studied. Benefitting from the deployment of ocean bottom seismographs (OBSs), detailed study of seismicity and faulting processes can promote the understanding of the processes related to subduction.

OBS data preprocessing

By extending seismic network to the vast Earth surface covered by the ocean, the development of OBS plays a significant role in monitoring oceanic earthquakes and studying subduction zone structure and dynamics. However, since sensors are settled onto the seafloor through a free-fall process, it is much difficult to utilize OBS data than land station data because of time drifting, potential tilting and unknown orientations of horizontal components. To better utilize OBS data, I am also interested in various techniques for OBS preprocessing.