Annie Souriau

Last updated
Annie Souriau Thevenard
Born1947
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Alma materEducation at École normal supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses

Institut de Physique du Globe (Ph.D 1971 - 1978)

Harvard University (1983 - 1984)
AwardsFellow, American Geophysical Union (2001)

Member, Academia Europaea (2004)

Beno Gutenberg Medal, European Geosciences Union (2019)

Contents

Inaugural winner of the Réseau Accélérométrique Permanent award (2018)

Prize Binoux of the French Academy of Sciences (1989)

Corresponding member of the Bureau des longitudes, Paris (2010)
Scientific career
FieldsSeismology, Geology
InstitutionsCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Thesis Le manteau superieur sous la France et les regions limitrophes au nord  (1978)

Annie Souriau is a French seismologist from the commune of Saint-Cloud Paris. She is primarily known for her research into Earth's inner and outer cores, specifically her work examining seismic activity within and around the Pyrenees mountains. Through her and her colleague's research and studies, she has made notable advances to how humans understand the inner workings of the Earth's core while also winning many awards in the process.

Education and career

Annie Souriau began her Education at École normal supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses, which was reserved as a school for girls, during that time her specialty was physics. She then moved onto Institut de Physique du Globe in Paris where she obtained her Ph.D in 1978. in seismology on the structure of the upper mantle. [1] After completing this Souriau then moved on to Toulouse in 1979 to work with the Geodesy Research Group, where alongside and led by Michel Lefebvre, they created a CNRS structure which was used to create a link between fundamental research and space experiments in Earth physics. [1] [2] She spent 1983 to 1984 at Harvard University, followed by a six-month period in Canberra. [2] She was a senior scientist at CNRS in 2004(Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique). [3]

Research

Pyrenees mountains Central pyrenees.jpg
Pyrenees mountains

Souriau is known for her combination of observational data and modeling to examine the structure of Earth's internal core, particularly within the Pyrenees mountains. [4] She has also examined how earthquakes [5] and the drift of the Earth's pole [6] interact with the Chandler wobble, and the heterogeneous nature of the mantle and how it interacts with the surface topography of Earth. [7]

Used a top-down [8] and bottom-up approach to determine the changing rotation of the inner core. Samples of seismic [9] waves were taken, when observed, it appears that the core did not have a cylindrical symmetry. The top-down approach showed that the inner core anisotropy reflects cylindrical symmetry. The axis of the inner core is not perpendicular to orbit, but rather tilted. The rotation affects the direction of anisotropy which results in a change in propagation times. The bottom-up approach first observed the differing anisotropy. The rotation is found to be affected by the changing anisotropy that occurs under seismic waves.

[10] One of the questions that Annie was researching was whether or not there was an existing structure within the outer liquid core. The possible situation that could explain the presence of another structure are eigenmodes and the anisotropy that abnormally splits the eigenmodes. Souriau conducted her research predominantly looking at anisotropy and eigenmodes within the outer liquid. She looked for anisotropy within the outer liquid core by using data from PKPdf polar rays. After, she looked for heterogeneities that would lie still underneath the polar caps which are located at the core mantle boundary. The conclusion of her research was she could not find any splitting eigenmodes within the outer liquid core.

European Geosciences Union(EGU) EGU logo 1.png
European Geosciences Union(EGU)

[11] Through Annie's research she has looked at seismic phases by analyzing patters in travel times and how they reflect/traverse off the Earth’s core. She has aided in discovering three important concepts concerning the Earth’s inner core over the last three decades. The first discovery is that the inner core is elastically anisotropic and has a symmetrical axis that is aligned with the rotational axis of Earth. The second discovery is that there is hemispherical elastic heterogeneity in the Earth’s inner core and lastly the solid mantle above, rotates slower than the Earth’s inner core. Souriau predicted that the Earth’s outer core was homogeneous and presented evidence that the base was heterogeneous and used that idea to investigate the connections between the heterogeneous mantle and the dynamics with the topography of the Earth’s surface.  Due to Annie’s findings, she was the recipient of the 2019 EGU Gutenberg Medal.

Selected publications

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seismology</span> Scientific study of earthquakes and propagation of elastic waves through a planet

Seismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the generation and propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or other planetary bodies. It also includes studies of earthquake environmental effects such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, glacial, fluvial, oceanic microseism, atmospheric, and artificial processes such as explosions and human activities. A related field that uses geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes is paleoseismology. A recording of Earth motion as a function of time, created by a seismograph is called a seismogram. A seismologist is a scientist works in basic or applied seismology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geophysics</span> Physics of the Earth and its vicinity

Geophysics is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists, who usually study geophysics, physics, or one of the Earth sciences at the graduate level, complete investigations across a wide range of scientific disciplines. The term geophysics classically refers to solid earth applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic fields ; its internal structure and composition; its dynamics and their surface expression in plate tectonics, the generation of magmas, volcanism and rock formation. However, modern geophysics organizations and pure scientists use a broader definition that includes the water cycle including snow and ice; fluid dynamics of the oceans and the atmosphere; electricity and magnetism in the ionosphere and magnetosphere and solar-terrestrial physics; and analogous problems associated with the Moon and other planets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seismic wave</span> Seismic, volcanic, or explosive energy that travels through Earths layers

A seismic wave is a mechanical wave of acoustic energy that travels through the Earth or another planetary body. It can result from an earthquake, volcanic eruption, magma movement, a large landslide and a large man-made explosion that produces low-frequency acoustic energy. Seismic waves are studied by seismologists, who record the waves using seismometers, hydrophones, or accelerometers. Seismic waves are distinguished from seismic noise, which is persistent low-amplitude vibration arising from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth's outer core</span> Fluid layer composed of mostly iron and nickel between Earths solid [[inner core]] and its mantle

Earth's outer core is a fluid layer about 2,260 km (1,400 mi) thick, composed of mostly iron and nickel that lies above Earth's solid inner core and below its mantle. The outer core begins approximately 2,889 km (1,795 mi) beneath Earth's surface at the core-mantle boundary and ends 5,150 km (3,200 mi) beneath Earth's surface at the inner core boundary.

Seismic tomography or seismotomography is a technique for imaging the subsurface of the Earth using seismic waves. The properties of seismic waves are modified by the material through which they travel. By comparing the differences in seismic waves recorded at different locations, it is possible to create a model of the subsurface structure. Most commonly, these seismic waves are generated by earthquakes or man-made sources such as explosions. Different types of waves, including P-,S-, Rayleigh, and Love waves can be used for tomographic images, though each comes with their own benefits and downsides and are used depending on the geologic setting, seismometer coverage, distance from nearby earthquakes, and required resolution. The model created by tomographic imaging is almost always a seismic velocity model, and features within this model may be interpreted as structural, thermal, or compositional variations. Geoscientists apply seismic tomography to a wide variety of settings in which the subsurface structure is of interest, ranging in scale from whole-Earth structure to the upper few meters below the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internal structure of Earth</span> Interior of the earth

The internal structure of Earth are the layers of the Earth, excluding its atmosphere and hydrosphere. The structure consists of an outer silicate solid crust, a highly viscous asthenosphere, and solid mantle, a liquid outer core whose flow generates the Earth's magnetic field, and a solid inner core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Core–mantle boundary</span> Discontinuity where the bottom of the planets mantle meets the outer layer of the core

The core–mantle boundary (CMB) of Earth lies between the planet's silicate mantle and its liquid iron–nickel outer core, at a depth of 2,891 km (1,796 mi) below Earth's surface. The boundary is observed via the discontinuity in seismic wave velocities at that depth due to the differences between the acoustic impedances of the solid mantle and the molten outer core. P-wave velocities are much slower in the outer core than in the deep mantle while S-waves do not exist at all in the liquid portion of the core. Recent evidence suggests a distinct boundary layer directly above the CMB possibly made of a novel phase of the basic perovskite mineralogy of the deep mantle named post-perovskite. Seismic tomography studies have shown significant irregularities within the boundary zone and appear to be dominated by the African and Pacific Large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth's inner core</span> Innermost part of Earth, a solid ball of iron-nickel alloy

Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 km (760 mi), which is about 20% of Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don L. Anderson</span> American geophysicist

Don Lynn Anderson was an American geophysicist who made significant contributions to the understanding of the origin, evolution, structure, and composition of Earth and other planets. An expert in numerous scientific disciplines, Anderson's work combined seismology, solid state physics, geochemistry and petrology to explain how the Earth works. Anderson was best known for his contributions to the understanding of the Earth's deep interior, and more recently, for the plate theory hypothesis that hotspots are the product of plate tectonics rather than narrow plumes emanating from the deep Earth. Anderson was Professor (Emeritus) of Geophysics in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He received numerous awards from geophysical, geological and astronomical societies. In 1998 he was awarded the Crafoord Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences along with Adam Dziewonski. Later that year, Anderson received the National Medal of Science. He held honorary doctorates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Paris (Sorbonne), and served on numerous university advisory committees, including those at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, Stanford, University of Paris, Purdue University, and Rice University. Anderson's wide-ranging research resulted in hundreds of published papers in the fields of planetary science, seismology, mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, tectonics and the philosophy of science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shadow zone</span> Area not reached by seismic waves from an earthquake

A seismic shadow zone is an area of the Earth's surface where seismographs cannot detect direct P waves and/or S waves from an earthquake. This is due to liquid layers or structures within the Earth's surface. The most recognized shadow zone is due to the core-mantle boundary where P waves are refracted and S waves are stopped at the liquid outer core; however, any liquid boundary or body can create a shadow zone. For example, magma reservoirs with a high enough percent melt can create seismic shadow zones.

The transition zone is the part of Earth's mantle that is located between the lower and the upper mantle, most strictly between the seismic-discontinuity depths of about 410 to 660 kilometres, but more broadly defined as the zone encompassing those discontinuities, i.e., between about 300 and 850 kilometres depth. Earth's solid, rocky mantle, including the mantle transition zone, consists primarily of peridotite, an ultramafic igneous rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internal structure of the Moon</span>

Having a mean density of 3,346.4 kg/m3, the Moon is a differentiated body, being composed of a geochemically distinct crust, mantle, and planetary core. This structure is believed to have resulted from the fractional crystallization of a magma ocean shortly after its formation about 4.5 billion years ago. The energy required to melt the outer portion of the Moon is commonly attributed to a giant impact event that is postulated to have formed the Earth-Moon system, and the subsequent reaccretion of material in Earth orbit. Crystallization of this magma ocean would have given rise to a mafic mantle and a plagioclase-rich crust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Silver</span> American seismologist (1948–2009)

Paul Gordon Silver was an American seismologist. A member of the research staff at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington since 1982, Paul Silver made a series of important contributions to the investigation of seismic anisotropy and to earthquake research by observing the slow redistribution of stress and strain along fault zones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar seismology</span> Study of ground motions of the Moon

Lunar seismology is the study of ground motions of the Moon and the events, typically impacts or moonquakes, that excite them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crustal recycling</span> Tectonic recycling process

Crustal recycling is a tectonic process by which surface material from the lithosphere is recycled into the mantle by subduction erosion or delamination. The subducting slabs carry volatile compounds and water into the mantle, as well as crustal material with an isotopic signature different from that of primitive mantle. Identification of this crustal signature in mantle-derived rocks is proof of crustal recycling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inner core super-rotation</span> Concept in geodynamics

Inner core super-rotation is the eastward rotation of the inner core of Earth relative to its mantle, for a net rotation rate that is usually faster than Earth as a whole. A 1995 model of Earth's dynamo predicted super-rotations of up to 3 degrees per year; the following year, this prediction was supported by observed discrepancies in the time that p-waves take to travel through the inner and outer core.

Maureen D. Long is an observational seismologist studying mantle and Mesosphere dynamics. She currently serves as a professor at Yale University within the Department of Geology and Geophysics.

Miaki Ishii is a seismologist and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University.

Karen Fischer is an American seismologist known for her research on the structure of Earth's mantle, its lithosphere, and how subduction zones change over geologic history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seismic velocity structure</span> Seismic wave velocity variation

Seismic velocity structure is the distribution and variation of seismic wave speeds within Earth's and other planetary bodies' subsurface. It is reflective of subsurface properties such as material composition, density, porosity, and temperature. Geophysicists rely on the analysis and interpretation of the velocity structure to develop refined models of the subsurface geology, which are essential in resource exploration, earthquake seismology, and advancing our understanding of Earth's geological development.

References

  1. 1 2 "Annie Souriau". Babelio (in French). Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  2. 1 2 "Bureau des longitudes - Fiche étalon". www.bureau-des-longitudes.fr. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  3. 1 2 "Academy of Europe: Souriau Annie". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  4. ↑ Souriau, Annie (2004). Les séismes dans les Pyrénées. Portet-sur-Garonne (Haute-Garonne): F. Loubatières. ISBN   2-86266-439-1. OCLC   419406097.
  5. ↑ Souriau, Annie; Cazenave, Anny (1985-11-01). "Reevaluation of the Chandler wobble seismic excitation from recent data". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 75 (4): 410–416. Bibcode:1985E&PSL..75..410S. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(85)90184-0. ISSN   0012-821X.
  6. ↑ Souriau, Annie (1986-08-01). "Random walk of the Earth's pole related to the Chandler wobble excitation". Geophysical Journal International. 86 (2): 455–465. Bibcode:1986GeoJ...86..455S. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.1986.tb03837.x . ISSN   0956-540X.
  7. ↑ Cazenave, Anny; Souriau, Annie; Dominh, Kien (1989). "Global coupling of Earth surface topography with hotspots, geoid and mantle heterogeneities". Nature. 340 (6228): 54–57. Bibcode:1989Natur.340...54C. doi:10.1038/340054a0. ISSN   1476-4687. S2CID   4340925.
  8. ↑ "Anni Souriau's SCIENCE perspective (1998 July 3)". www.ldeo.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  9. ↑ Souriau, Annie. "The enigmatic Earth's core: constraints given by seismology" (PDF).
  10. ↑ Souriau, Annie (2003). "Is there any structure inside the liquid outer core?". Geophysical Research Letters. 30 (11): 1567. Bibcode:2003GeoRL..30.1567S. doi: 10.1029/2003GL017008 . ISSN   0094-8276. S2CID   128475495.
  11. ↑ "Annie Souriau". European Geosciences Union (EGU). Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Annie Souriau's research while affiliated with French National Centre for Scientific Research and other places".
  13. ↑ "Souriau-Thevenard". Honors Program.
  14. ↑ Anonymous (2001). "Newly elected fellows of AGU for 2001". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 82 (19): 215. Bibcode:2001EOSTr..82..215.. doi:10.1029/01EO00116.
  15. ↑ "Annie Souriau". European Geosciences Union (EGU). Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  16. ↑ "RAP Award presented to Annie Souriau and Pierre-Yves Bard". ISTerre - Institut des Sciences de la Terre. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  17. 1 2 "Academy of Europe: Souriau Annie". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
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