Phone: +44 (0)1865 272068/16
e-mail: tim.wright@earth.ox.ac.uk
http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~timw

Mailing address:
Department of Earth Sciences
Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3PR

Tim J. Wright

My research focuses on trying to understand the physics of continental deformation and the earthquake cycle, with emphasis on developing novel techniques for observing such deformation.

The earthquake cycle is poorly understood. Earthquakes continue to occur on previously unrecognised faults. Earthquake prediction seems impossible. These remain the facts despite nearly a hundred years of intensive study since the earthquake cycle was first conceptualised. Using data acquired from satellites in orbit 800 km above the earth, a new technique - radar interferometry (InSAR) - has the potential to solve these problems.

I use InSAR to create detailed maps of the warping of the earth's surface that occurs in different phases of the earthquake cycle. In addition to mapping the strain release from several earthquakes, including the 1999 Izmit (Turkey) earthquake, I have used InSAR to map the slow accumulation of interseismic strain at the eastern end of the North Anatolian Fault. I use these data to place constraints on competing models of the earthquake cycle.