Thread: MSc study in New Zealand: Estimating deep slip rates in New Zealand using repeating earthquakes

Dear Colleagues,

We are seeking a suitably qualified student to undertake MSc research
(12 months MSc part 2) at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) into
the occurrence of repeating earthquakes throughout New Zealand. The
research will be supervised by Dr Calum Chamberlain (VUW), Prof John
Townend (VUW), and Dr Amanda Thomas (University of Oregon).

This project will focus on developing the first New Zealand-wide
catalogue of repeating earthquakes, which are thought to represent
repeated failure of the same fault patch at different times. This
process can be modeled as the interseismic loading by aseismic slip of a
locked asperity that culminates in seismic failure of the asperity. In
this case, the moment and inter-event times of repeating earthquakes can
tell us the rate of slip deep on faults. Slip rates estimated in this
way have been observed to accelerate prior to large earthquakes (e.g. M9
Tohoku 2011).

Funding received from the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Fund
will provide the successful applicant with a $17,000 stipend, and meet
the cost of 12 months’ tuition. Students from countries other than New
Zealand and Australia will need to meet the additional costs of
international fees.

Interested students, who will ideally have a strong background in
geophysics, physics, mathematics
or geology, should contact calum.chamberlain<at>vuw.ac.nz at the
earliest opportunity and by 31 July 2018 at the latest.

Further contact details can be found in the advert here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xkoemfks9t8w73s/MSc_1_advert.pdf?dl=0

--
Calum Chamberlain
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Seismology and Fault Mechanics
School of Geography Environment and Earth Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
Te Whare Wananga o te Upoko o te Ika a Maui
Cotton 528
Box 600, Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Email: calum.chamberlain<at>vuw.ac.nz
Office phone: +64 420 463 6353