IAS Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor: Simon Wallis, Nagoya University, Japan
January - March 2010
Simon R. Wallis is Associate Professor of Geology at Nagoya University, Japan.
After obtaining his doctorate at Oxford University in the UK, Dr Wallis moved to Japan first as a researcher at Kyoto University and later as a faculty member at Nagoya University with a brief interlude as an investment banker!
In his research, Dr Wallis works on solid-state flow of rocks and how this phenomenon is related to processes of mountain building. His studies combine the fields of structural geology and petrology with theoretical studies of the thermal structure of the earth. His work includes studies of subduction zones based on the examples of SW Japan and Guatemala and processes of continental collision based on examples in Tibet and mainland China.
He also works on flow of mantle rocks and plans to develop this work in collaboration with Professor Mike Kendall, Professor of Earth Sciences and Jon Blundy, Professorial Research Fellow in Petrology, at Bristol.
As part of his work on mantle rocks, Dr Wallis' research group made the first discovery of naturally occurring diamond in Japan, which was widely reported in the media.
Dr Wallis has spent the last two years working as an adviser to the Japanese foreign office on their application to the UN for an extended continental shelf. His other duties include working as vice director for the international university consortium, AC21.
Dr Wallis will be giving a short course on Rock Fabrics in Ductilely Deformed Rocks with focus on Crystal Preferred Orientations in the Department of Earth Sciences.
Two sessions on Tuesdays, 16 and 23 March
Room : IC 1.01 (Earth Sciences)
Time: 9.30 to 10.30 and 11.15 to 12.45
Session 1: Tectonic foliations and lineations. Review of formation processes. Interpretation in terms of finite strain.
Session 2: Crystal plastic deformation. Main features of diffusion creep, dislocation creep. Processes of dynamic and static recrystallization.
Session 3: Lattice preferred orientation patterns in rocks. Depiction and interpretation of CPO in rocks.
Session 4: Practical. Plotting and analysis of CPO patterns.