Jean-Paul AMPUERO

Institute ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of technology) Title Assistant Professor Country Switzerland Period 2007/10/01 - 2008/03/28 Research Theme Physics of slow earthquakes and slip transients Host Researcher Shin'ichi MIYAZAKI

Self Introduction

My name is Jean-Paul Ampuero, but most call me Pablo. I am a Peruvian geophysicist, specialized in theoretical earthquake source seismology. After graduating in IPG-Paris (France) under the supervision of Jean-Pierre Vilotte, I spent two post-doc years in Princeton University (USA) working with Allan Rubin. I am currently a Research Associate in the Insitute of Geophysics of ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and soon after my visit to Tokyo I will move to Caltech (USA) as an Assistant Professor.

My primary research interest is on earthquake dynamics and the physics of active faults. I study problems in earthquake nucleation, propagation, rupture complexity and seismic radiation from the standpoint of theory, observation and modeling. I am also broadly interested in earthquake hazard and risk analysis and mitigation, in particular in subduction zone areas like Peru.

More recently I became interested in aseismic slow earthquakes: what can we infer about the rheological parameters of active faults from geodetic observations of slow slip transients? What is the impact of fault zone fluids on observable properties of these transients? This will be the main topic of my research plan in ERI Tokyo, that I will develop in collaboration with Prof. T. Yamashita and S. Miyazaki. I have also been working on dynamic rupture models on bimaterial faults (faults that separate rocks of different physical properties), another topic on which I will interact with Prof. Yamashita.

I am very grateful for this opportunity to visit ERI and I am enthousiastically looking forward for this first-hand experience of Japanese research and culture.

Seminar

ERI Friday Seminar on 16th November, 2007: "Earthquake dynamics on bimaterial faults"