Southampton Geophysicist investigates deep seismic activity

Dr Catherine Rychert has joined the University of Southampton as a Lecturer in Geophysics.

Catherine’s research involves the analysis of seismic data from distant earthquakes to constrain the properties of the deep earth. She is especially interested in imaging the tectonic plates at subduction zones and continental rifts around the world, for example beneath Central America and East Africa. Her work complements Southampton’s existing research examining the shallow earth at these types of margins using seismic data from artificial sources.

Before joining Southampton, Catherine was a Fellow of the Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC) at the University of Bristol. She took her PhD in Geological Sciences at Brown University examining 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. Catherine then carried out postdoctoral research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.