PhD student Jeremy Gosselin, along with the uOttawa Geophysics group, recently examined time-varying changes in mechanical properties of rocks in the Cascadia subduction zone, using seismic data. This contribution is key to understanding what controls the dynamics of these faults found beneath Vancouver Island, BC. Jeremy was the scientific backbone of the team. He formed the hypothesis, interpreted and wrote their findings, which were recently published in the journal Science Advances. Last year, Jeremy also developed a new methodology to examine the speed at which seismic waves change depending on the direction in which they travel, a phenomenon known as anisotropy. Using seismic data to estimate anisotropy is a valuable tool to study the current and past dynamics of rocks. This work required Jeremy to undertake extensive FORTRAN and Python programming, test the method and apply it to data collected on the British Columbia coast.
Professor Pascal Audet has been an admirable source of mentorship and guidance, while providing Jeremy with a great deal of freedom to explore his own ideas. For this, Jeremy is extremely grateful. He is also thankful for the help and support offered by his incredibly knowledgeable colleagues, including former postdoctoral fellow Andrew Schaeffer and fellow doctoral students Clément Estève and Stephen Mosher.
In January 2020, Jeremy began a visiting student position at the Geological Survey of New Zealand to study rock properties in the Hikurangi Subduction Zone, but unfortunately, his stay was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although he is back in Ottawa, he hopes to continue working remotely on this project and intends to visit New Zealand again in the future. Jeremy began his fourth year of doctoral studies, during which he is completing ongoing projects and writing his thesis. He is also taking courses to obtain a uOttawa University Teaching certificate, as well as working as a teaching assistant in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Jeremy is a classic example of how to balance work and play for best results. For him, it is very important to make health (including mental health) a priority during his graduate studies. That is why he enjoys cycling in the Ottawa area in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. This helps him balance his work and personal life and stay positive when working on challenging projects.
Read more:
- Seismic evidence for megathrust fault-valve behavior during episodic tremor and slip
- Curie depth estimation from magnetic anomaly data: a re-assessment using multitaper spectral analysis and Bayesian inference
- Azimuthal anisotropy in Bayesian surface-wave tomography: application to northern Cascadia and Haida Gwaii, British Columbia
