Paul James Tackley

Institute Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich Title Professor Country Switzerland Period 2008/08/15 - 2008/09/06 Research Theme Development of spherical mantle convection models and application to subduction Host Researcher Satoru HONDA

Self Introduction

Hi, my name is Paul Tackley, and I am a professor in the Institute of Geophysics at the Swiss National Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. I have visited Japan several times and am happy to be back here again. My research group in Zurich studies flow and deformation ("geodynamics") of the solid Earth and other planetary bodies using computational modeling. Our research covers a wide range of scales, from features that can be observed by a geologist in the field, to global, 3D spherical models of mantle convection and plate tectonics, and a correspondingly wide range of topics, from crustal and lithospheric deformation to the thermo-chemical evolution of the entire planet over billions of years. The research topic on which I spend most time is the evolution of Earth (and other terrestrial planets) over billions of years, and how this can explain observations of Earth's mantle structure made by seismologists, as well as geochemical data. To perform such modelling, it is important to including realistic treatments of mineral physics, because phase transitions can have a large effect on the dynamics as well as the seismic signature. While visiting ERI I am interacting with Prof. Satoru Honda on the modelling of subduction zones in spherical geometry, and am also learning about the interesting research being performed in experimental fluid dynamics and seismology.

web site: http://www.gfd.ethz.ch/