Richard H. Sibson | |
---|---|
Born | 1945 |
Occupation | Professor Emeritus |
Academic work | |
Notable students | Virginia Toy |
Richard Hugh Sibson FRS (born 1945) is a New Zealand structural geologist and emeritus professor at the University of Otago, who has received numerous honors and awards for his work in the field of earthquake research. [1] [2] He has caused a 'fundamental shift' in the interpretation of the relationship between earthquakes and fault zone geology and on the origin of fault-hosted mineral deposits. [3]
Richard Sibson is the son of ornithologist Richard B. Sibson (1911-1994). From 1959 to 1963 he attended King's College in Auckland. [4] Sibson's subsequent decision to study geology was significantly influenced by his uncle, the paleontologist and naturalist Sir Charles Fleming, who suggested this subject to him. [5] In 1968, he gained his BSc at the University of Auckland, 1970, and MSc at Imperial College London. Where in 1977 he also received his PhD. [6] From 1982 to 1990 he worked at the Institute for Crustal Studies and Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara. [7] From 1990 to 2009 he was a professor at the University of Otago. [8] He is associate professor of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. [9] In 2005, he co-founded the Institute of Earth Science and Engineering [6] at the University of Auckland. [10] Sibson's notable students include Virginia Toy. [11]
Sibson studied structural geology at Imperial College under John G. Ramsay, Neville J. Price and Ernie Rutter. His particular interest was in the study of the structure and mechanics of fault zones of the Earth's crust and their relationship to earthquakes. His doctoral thesis dealt with pseudotachylites of the Outer Hebrides, he proved that these rocks are due to earthquake events, as is currently accepted. Sibson studied rock mechanics and rock deformation, and attempted to derive geological information from seismic and seismological measurements. From 1981 he worked in the USGS earthquake program in Menlo Park, later in the Archaikum of Canada he examined the influence of fluids (gases and liquids) on the formation and the course of earthquakes and the formation of ore deposits in fault zones due to hydrothermal processes. Sibson has been involved in public education about the risk posed by New Zealand's numerous active faults particularly the Alpine Fault. [3] [12]
Richard Dixon Oldham FRS was a British geologist who made the first clear identification of the separate arrivals of P-waves, S-waves and surface waves on seismograms and the first clear evidence that the Earth has a central core.
The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioengineering are also housed within the building. The school as an organisation no longer exists, having been incorporated into the Faculty of Engineering since 2003. Today the Royal School of Mines refers to both the departments associated with the former school, and the Grade II listed Edwardian building by Sir Aston Webb, which is viewed as a classic of academic architecture. The building and relevant student union still carry the name.
Gabriel Auguste Daubrée MIF FRS FRSE was a French geologist, best known for applying experimental methods to structural geology. He served as the director of the École des Mines as well as the president of the French Academy of Sciences.
The Alpine Fault is a geological fault that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island, being about 600 km (370 mi). long, and forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate. The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the fault over the last 12 million years in a series of earthquakes. However, most of the motion on the fault is strike-slip, with the Tasman district and West Coast moving north and Canterbury and Otago moving south. The average slip rates in the fault's central region are about 38 mm (1.5 in) a year, very fast by global standards. The last major earthquake on the Alpine Fault was in about 1717 AD with a great earthquake magnitude of Mw8.1± 0.1. The probability of another one occurring before 2068 was estimated at 75 percent in 2021.
George Patrick Leonard Walker was a British geologist who began his career studying mineralogy and later made significant contributions to volcanology. He was widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern quantitative volcanology.
William Sefton Fyfe, was a New Zealand geologist and Professor Emeritus in the department of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Ontario. He is widely considered among the world's most eminent geochemists.
John Frederick Dewey is a British structural geologist and a strong proponent of the theory of plate tectonics, building upon the early work undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s. He is widely regarded as an authority on the development and evolution of mountain ranges.
Keith Edward Bullen FAA FRS was a New Zealand-born mathematician and geophysicist. He is noted for his seismological interpretation of the deep structure of the Earth's mantle and core. He was Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Sydney in Australia from 1945 until 1971.
Captain Frederick Wollaston Hutton was an English-born New Zealand scientist who applied the theory of natural selection to explain the origins and nature of the natural history of New Zealand. Whilst an army officer, he embarked on an academic career in geology and biology, to become one of the most able and prolific nineteenth century naturalists of New Zealand.
Pseudotachylyte is an extremely fine-grained to glassy, dark, cohesive rock occurring as veins that form through frictional melting and subsequent quenching during earthquakes, large-scale landslides, and impacts events. Chemical composition of pseudotachylyte generally reflects the local bulk chemistry, though may skew to slightly more mafic compositions due to the preferential incorporation of hydrous and ferro-magnesian minerals into the melt phase.
John Graham Ramsay was a British structural geologist who was a professor at Imperial College London, the University of Leeds and the University of Zurich.
James Anthony Jackson CBE FRS is Professor of Active Tectonics and head of Bullard Laboratories, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University. He made his name in geophysics, using earthquake source seismology to examine how continents are deformed. His central research focus is to observe the active processes shaping our continents.
The geology of New Zealand is noted for its volcanic activity, earthquakes and geothermal areas because of its position on the boundary of the Australian Plate and Pacific Plates. New Zealand is part of Zealandia, a microcontinent nearly half the size of Australia that broke away from the Gondwanan supercontinent about 83 million years ago. New Zealand's early separation from other landmasses and subsequent evolution have created a unique fossil record and modern ecology.
Sir David Christopher Graham Skegg is a New Zealand epidemiologist and university administrator. He is an emeritus professor in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the University of Otago. He was the vice-chancellor of the university from 2004 to 2011 and president of the Royal Society of New Zealand from 2012 to 2015. His primary research interest is cancer epidemiology.
Christopher Alexander Hunter, FRS is a British chemist and academic. Since 2014, he has been Herchel Smith Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. His research is currently focused on molecular recognition. He was previously a lecturer at the University of Otago and a lecturer then professor at the University of Sheffield.
Virginia Gail Toy is a New Zealand geologist who studies fault zones and earthquakes in New Zealand, Japan and Ecuador. She is one of the leaders of the Deep Fault Drilling Project of New Zealand's Alpine Fault, and was a research scientist on the Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project. She then worked as a research associate professor in geology and associate dean (international) in the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. Toy currently works as a Professor at the University of Mainz.
Mark Rupert Sutherland is a New Zealand geologist and academic specialising in tectonics and geophysics at the Victoria University of Wellington and a principal scientist at GNS Science. Sutherland has been described as "one of New Zealand’s leading earth science researchers" by the Royal Society of New Zealand.
George William Grindley was a New Zealand geologist. The Grindley Plateau in Antarctica is named in his honour.
Julie Varina Rowland is a New Zealand structural geologist, and is a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in tectonic-magmatic-hydrologic interactions, particularly in rift systems. In 2015 she became the first woman to win the Geoscience Society of New Zealand's McKay Hammer Award.