Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, University of Southampton

2011 – present lecturer of geophysics University of Southampton
2009 – 2011 NERC fellow University of Bristol
2007 – 2009 postdoc Scripps Institution of Oceanography
2007 Ph.D. Brown University, Seismic Imaging of the physical and chemical properties of the mantle: The lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary beneath eastern North America and the mantle wedge beneath Costa Rica and Nicaragua
2004 M.S. Brown University, Geological Sciences
2001 B.A. magna cum laude Boston University, Studies in Physics and Geophysics

I seismically image the structure of the crust and upper mantle to constrain the physical and chemical properties of the Earth. I am generally interested in the evolution of ocean lithosphere, the formation of the continents, subduction zones, ridges, rifts, and hotspots.

The base of tectonic plates, the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is a fundamental boundary in plate tectonics. However, it is not globally mapped, nor is the mechanism that defines it universally understood. The main focus of my research is investigating this boundary at high resolution on a local and global scale with receiver functions and SS bounces. I am currently working in the Afar and Ethiopain Rift Systems, and I particularly interested in imaging this boundary beneath rifts.

I am also interested in the forces that drive melting in subduction zones. Information from high density seismic arrays can help to constrain melting and volatile pathways through the mantle, in particular attenuation tomography and Vp/Vs.

Primary research group:  Geology and Geophysics

Research project