Ammon's Research Interests

My research is focused on the use of seismograms to better image earth structure and earthquake ruptures. My current research projects include the combination of receiver functions and surface-wave dispersion to improve estimates of lithospheric structure. The geographic focus of this work is Africa and Eurasia. Together with former graduate students Minoo Kosarian and Monica Maceira and current student Winchelle Sevilla I am analyzing observations from about 200 seismic stations spread across the region. I also have ongoing work in tomographic imaging of earthquakes and earth structure with researchers from other institutions. I am also developing methods to exploit seismic surface waves to improve earthquake locations in remote regions. Vicki Miller has been working on seismicity and what it means with regard to the ongoing eruption of Soufrierre Hills Volcano on Montserrat. For more details, please visit my other web site by clicking here.

My Current Students [Complete List of Students ]

  Winchelle Sevilla Ph.D. Earthquake ruptures in the Philippine trench
  Vicki Miller Ph.D. Earthquake locations and faulting mechanisms beneath Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat (with Barry Voight).

My Recent Publications [Complete List]

Ammon, C. J. and T. Lay, USArray Records the 9 October 2006 North Korean Nuclear Test, Eos, Trans. American Geophys. Union, 88, pages 37, 38, 2007.

Cho, K. H., R. B. Herrmann, C. J. Ammon and K. Lee (2006), Imaging the Upper Crust of the Korean Peninsula by Surface-Wave Tomography, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 97: 198 - 207, 2007.

Ammon, C. J., H. Kanamori, T. Lay, and A. A. Velasco (2006), The 17 July 2006 Java Tsunami Earthquake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L24308, doi:10.1029/2006GL028005, 2006.

Velasco, A. A., C. J. Ammon, and T. Lay (2006), A search for seismic radiation from late slip for the December 26, 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (Mw = 9.15) earthquake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L18305, doi:10.1029/2006GL027286.

Ketter, B. S., A. A. Velasco, C. J. Ammon, and G. E. Randall (2006), Path-specific velocity structure of western China from surface-wave dispersion, Pure and Appl. Geophys., 163, 1235-1255, doi:10.1007/s00024-006-0071-9.

Ammon, C. J., A. A. Velasco, and T. Lay (2006), Rapid estimation of first-order rupture characteristics for large earthquakes using surface waves: 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L14314, doi:10.1029/2006GL026303.

Ammon, C.J. (2006), Megathrust investigations (News and Views), Nature, 440 (7080), 31-32.

Maceira, M., S.R. Taylor, C.J. Ammon, X. Yang, and A.A. Velasco (2005), High Resolution Rayleigh Wave Slowness Tomography of Central Asia, J. Geophys. Res., 110, doi:10.1029/2004JB003429.

Julià, Jordi, C. J. Ammon,& A. A. Nyblade (2005), Evidence for mafic lower crust in Tanzania, East Africa, from joint inversion of receiver functions and Rayleigh wave dispersion velocities, Geophys. J. Int. 162, 555-569, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2005.02685.x.

Ammon, C. J., C. Ji, H.-K. Thio, D. Robinson, S. Ni, H. Kanamori, T. Lay, S. Das, D. Helmberger, V. Hjorleifsdottir, G. Ichinose, J. Polet, D. Wald (2005), Rupture Process of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake, Science, 308, 1133-1139.

Lay,T., H. Kanamori, C. J. Ammon, M. Nettles, R. Aster, S. L. Beck, S. Bilek, M. R. Brudzinski, R. Butler, H. R. DeShon, G. Ekström, K. Satake, S. Sipkin, S. N. Ward (2005), The Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of 26, December 2004, Science, 308, 1127-1133.

Velasco, A. A., C. J. Ammon, J. Farrell, K. Pankow (2004), Rupture Directivity of the November 3, 2002 Denali Earthquake determined from surface waves, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 94, S293-S299.

Julià, J., C. J. Ammon, and R. B. Herrmann (2004), Lithospheric Structure of the Arabian Shield from the Joint Inversion of Receiver Functions and Surface Wave Dispersion, Tectonophysics, 371, 1-21.


Penn State Earthquake Seismology