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ABOUT

Hello, and welcome to my webpages!  My name is Tom (Thomas!) and I am a geophysicist and earthquake geologist working at in the Rock and Ice Physics Laboratory at University College London.

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In my research I use a unique and innovative combination of laboratory, fieldwork and theoretical approaches in order to understand how rock and ice fractures, deforms and slides by friction. Fractured and damaged rocks in the Earth’s crust control a wide range of important natural phenomena, which is reflected in my research; they host and control the characteristics of devastating tsunamigenic earthquakes, provide pathways to channel deep sourced geo-fluids upwards that control the location and amount of precious metals, minerals (e.g. gold, copper, lithium) and hydrocarbons (e.g. oil and gas), determine the location of volcanic hotspots and geothermal energy, control rate and location of induced anthropogenic earthquakes during fracking and fluid injection, and control the mechanics of huge landslides on Earth and planetary bodies.

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More coming here soon, i'm just putting this new site together!

EDUCATION/QUALIFICATIONS

  • June 2014: Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Understanding Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education

 

  • September 2007:  Ph.D.  The Fluid Flow Properties of Fault Damage Zones. University of Liverpool, UK

 

  • September 2003: Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology, 1st Class. University of Liverpool, UK

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

  • Professor of Earthquake Geology and Rock Physics
    October. 2020 - present . University College London, UK

  • Associate Professor of Earthquake Geology and Rock Physics
    October. 2016 - Present. University College London, UK

  • Lecturer (assistant professor)

        September. 2013 - October 2016. University College London, UK

  • Visiting professor
    July 2013 - August. 2013 –Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile.

  • Post-Doctoral Researcher
    with Dr. Giulio Di Toro
    December. 2011 – June 2013. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy

    • External lecturer
      with Professor Patrick Baud & Dr. Mike Heap
      March 2012 – present. University of Strasbourg, France.

  • Post-Doctoral Research Associate
    with Prof. Joerg Renner
    Nov. 2009 - Nov.2011. Experimental Geophysics Laboratory, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.

    • Visiting Researcher
      with Dr. David Goldsby & Prof. Terry Tullis
      July. 2011 - August 2011. Rock Deformation Laboratory, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    • Visiting Researcher
      with Dr.Virginia Toy and Professor David Prior
      September 2011. Department of Geology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

  • JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    with Professor Toshihiko Shimamoto
    Sept. 2007 - October 2009. Department of Earth & Planetary Systems Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, Japan

  • PhD - The Fluid flow properties of Fault Damage Zones
    Supervised by Dr. Daniel Faulkner, Prof. David Prior & Prof. Ernest Rutter.
    Oct. 2003 – Sept. 2007. University of Liverpool, UK

  • Research Assistant
    Summer 2003, with Professor Trevor Elliott @ University of Liverpool, UK

  • Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology, 1st Class
    1999-2003. University of Liverpool

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