Andrew Frederiksen

Biography

I am primarily an earthquake seismologist with a structural focus; that is, I use data from earthquakes and other passive sources to obtain information about the Earth’s internal structure, from which I attempt to draw conclusions about the history and dynamics of largescale Earth processes. Earthquake data have a greater ability to illuminate the Earth’s interior than any artificial source, and so are the main information source used to develop models of the Earth below the crust. However, the earthquake seismogram is a highly complex encoding of the interaction between seismic waves and earth structure; as a consequence, there is a need for innovation in the modelling, inversion, and interpretation of earthquake records, as well as in interpreting the resulting constraints on the Earth’s physical properties in terms of geology and mineral physics. Thus, the three major goals of my research to date have been: (i) the development and application of techniques for obtaining information on Earth structure from earthquake recordings, (ii) understanding the origin, history and dynamics of the lithosphere, and the relationship between crust and mantle evolution, and (iii) understanding the specific history of the assembly and modification of the North American continent, as experienced by the lithosphere as well as the crust.

Research Interest

Earthquake seismology, Inversion of teleseismic data, Lithospheric structure and processes.