CHRISTOPHER THISSEN

One of the puzzling results of seismic anisotropy studies has been that the seismically fast directions (typically thought to parallel mantle flow) beneath subducting plates are perpendicular to the direction expected by slab entrained flow... Working with seismologist Maureen Long (Yale), geodynamicist Laurent Montèsi (U. Maryland), and geodynamicist Karen Paczkowski (Yale, U. Maryland), we ran 100,000 finite element models using COMSOL Multiphysics to determine the basic conditions for 3-dimensional flow beneath subducting plates... I'm a geophysicist who studies the dynamics and geologic histories of orogens. I am currently developing methods to use observable geologic data (finite strain, PTt paths, and thermochronology, among others) to infer the dynamics, boundary conditions, and internal velocity fields of orogens on million year timescales.