USC.edu

Yehuda Ben-Zion

Professor of Earth Sciences
Yehuda Ben-Zion
Email benzion@usc.edu Office ZHS 109 Office Phone (213) 740-6734

Research & Practice Areas

geophysics, seismology

Biography

Yehuda Ben-Zion is the Director of the Statewide California Earthquake Center and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. His research is focused on physics of earthquakes and faults using a variety of theoretical tools and observations. Current interests include processes leading to large earthquakes, high resolution imaging of fault zones and the crust, earthquake source properties, near-fault data, composition of continuous seismic waveforms, temporal changes of subsurface properties, dynamic ruptures in geologically relevant structures, brittle damage rheology, analysis of seismic hazards, earthquake forecasting.

Ben-Zion is an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and was awarded the Humboldt Research Prize in Geophysics, the Beno Gutenberg Medal of the European Geosciences Union, and the Mercator Fellowship from the German Research Society. He published over 325 scientific papers and edited eight books. Ben-Zion was an editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research (2015-2022), was on the editorial board of other journals, and has served as President of the IUGG Mathematical Geophysics Committee (2011-2020).

Ben-Zion received a B.Sc. in physics and geology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1982 and Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Southern California in 1990. Ben-Zion was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and has held visiting Professor positions at institutions in the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Norway, Australia, and China. He has supervised over 50 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

Education

  • Ph.D. Geophysics and Seismology, University of Southern California, 8/1990
  • B.S. Geology and Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 10/1982
    • Post-Doctoral fellow, Harvard University , 1991 – 1993

  • Tenure Track Appointments

    • Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 08/2005 –

    Research, Teaching, Practice, and Clinical Appointments

    • Visiting Professor, GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany, 2010-2011
    • Visiting Professor, Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France, 2010-2011
    • Visiting Professor, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, 2010-2011

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    Professor Ben-Zion research activities focus on efforts to develop an improved framework for the physics of earthquakes and faults. His studies employ a variety of theoretical tools and observational results. Examples of current research interests include dynamic ruptures and seismic waves in fault structures with bimaterial interfaces and geometrical heterogeneities, damage rheology for irreversible brittle deformation, material fragmentation and pulverized fault zone rocks, dynamics of avalanches in granular materials, high resolution imaging of fault zone environments, analysis of earthquake source properties, and correlations between spatio-temporal seismicity patterns and properties of fault zones (e.g. bimaterial interfaces) and the crust (e.g. heat flow). See Publications for recent papers on these topics.

    Research Specialties

    geophysics, seismology

  • Book

    • Ben-Zion, Y., Rovelli, A. (2015). Properties and processes of crustal fault zones: Volume II. (Vol. 172) Pure Appl. Geophys..
    • Ben-Zion, Y., Rovelli, A. (2014). Properties and processes of crustal fault zones: Volume I. (Vol. 171) Pure Appl. Geophys..
    • Ben-Zion, Y., Sammis, C. G. (2011). Brittle deformation of solid and granular materials with applications to mechanics of earthquakes and faults. (Vol. 168) Pure Appl. Geophys.
    • Ben-Zion, Y., Sammis, C. G. (2009). Mechanics, Structure and Evolution of Fault Zones. (Vol. 166) Pure Appl. Geophys.
    • Ben-Zion, Y., Lee, W. (2006). Advances in Studies of Heterogeneities in the Earth Lithosphere: The Keiiti Aki Volume II. (Vol. 163) Pure Appl. Geophys.
    • Vere-Jones, D., Ben-Zion, Y., Zuniga, R. (2005). Statistical Seismology. (Vol. 162) Pure Appl. Geophys.
    • Ben-Zion, Y. (2003). Seismic Motion, Lithospheric Structures, Earthquake and Volcanic Sources: The Keiiti Aki Volume. (Vol. 160) Pure Appl. Geophys.

    Encyclopedia Article

    • Zöller, G., Hainzl, S., Ben-Zion, Y., Holschneider, M. (2009). Critical states of seismicity: From models to practical seismic hazard estimates, in press, Encyclopedia of Complexity and System Science. (R. Meyers, Ed.).7853-7872. Vol. 9 Springer.
    • Dahmen, K., Ben-Zion, Y. (2009). The physics of jerky motion in slowly driven magnetic and earthquake fault systems, in press, Encyclopedia of Complexity and System Science. (R. Meyers, Ed.).5021-5037. Vol. 5 Springer.
    • Yuen, D. A., Dzwinel, W., Ben-Zion, Y., Kadlec, B. (2009). Visualization of Earthquake Clusters over Multidimensional Space, in review, Encyclopedia of Complexity and System Science. (R. Meyers, Ed.).2347-2371. Vol. 3 Springer.

    Journal Article

    • Hamiel, Y., Lyakhovsky, V., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). The elastic strain energy of damaged solids with applications to nonlinear deformation of crystalline rocks. Pure Appl. Geophys. Vol. 168, pp. 2199–2210.
    • Ben-Zion, Y., Dahmen, K. A., Uhl, J. T. (2011). A unifying phase diagram for the dynamics of sheared solids and granular materials. Pure Appl. Geophys. Vol. 168, pp. 2221–2237.
    • Schulte-Pelkum, V., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). Apparent vertical Moho offsets under continental strike-slip faults from lithology contrasts in the seismogenic crust. Geophys. J. Int.
    • Pischiutta, M., Salvini, F., Fletcher, J., Rovelli, A., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). Horizontal polarization of ground motion in the Hayward fault zone at Fremont, California: Dominant fault-high-angle polarization and fault-induced cracks. Geophys. J. Int.
    • Allam, A. A., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). Seismic velocity structures in the Southern California plate-boundary environment from double-difference tomography. Geophys. J. Int..
    • Ben-Zion, Y., Rockwell, T., Shi, Z., Xu, S. (2011). Reversed-polarity secondary deformation structures near fault stepovers. J. of Appl. Mech.
    • Lyakhovsky, V., Hamiel, Y., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). A non-local visco-elastic damage model and dynamic fracturing. J. of Mech. and Phys. of Solids. Vol. 59, pp. 1752–1776.
    • Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). Episodic tremor and slip on a frictional interface with critical zero weakening in elastic solid. Geophys. J. Int.
    • Dahmen, K., Ben-Zion, Y., Uhl, J. (2011). A simple analytic theory for the statistics of avalanches in sheared granular materials. Nature Physics. Vol. 7, pp. 554-557.
    • Bulut, F., Ben-Zion, Y., Bonhoff, M. (2011). Evidence for a bimaterial interface along the Mudurnu segment of the North Anatolian Fault Zone from P wave arrival times and polarization analysis. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.
    • Ozakin, Y., Ben-Zion, Y., Aktar, M., Karabulut, H., Peng, Z. (2011). Velocity contrast across the 1944 rupture of the North Anatolian fault east of Ismetpasa from analysis of teleseismic arrivals. Geophys. Res. Lett.
    • Wechsler, N., Allen, E., Rockwell, T., Girty, G., Chester, J., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). Characterization of Pulverized Granitoids in a Shallow Core along the San Andreas Fault, Little Rock, CA. Geophys. J. Int. Vol. 186, pp. 401–417.
    • Mitchell, T., Ben-Zion, Y., Shimamoto, T. (2011). Pulverized Fault Rocks and Damage Asymmetry along the Arima-Takatsuki Tectonic Line, Japan. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. Vol. 308, pp. 284–297.
    • Zaliapin, I., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). Asymmetric distribution of early aftershocks on large faults in California. Geophys. J. Int. Vol. 185, pp. 1288-1304.
    • Hillers, G., Ben-Zion, Y. (2011). Seasonal variations of observed noise amplitudes at 2-18 Hz in southern California, Geophys. Geophys. J. Int. Vol. 184, pp. 860–868.
    • Google h-index 83, Spring 2023
    • • Beno Gutenberg Medal, European Geosciences Union, Spring 2022
    • Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship Recipient, Humboldt Research Prize supplement., 2017-2018
    • Visiting Professor fellowship (under the High end Foreign Experts Project, State administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, P.R. China), University of Science and Technology, China, 2017-2018
    • Visiting Professor fellowship, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, 2017-2018
    • Visiting Professor fellowship, IPGP, Université Paris, Paris, France, 2017-2018
    • Visiting Professor fellowship, University Grenoble Alps, France, 2017-2018
    • Visiting Professor fellowship, University of Oslo, Norway, 2017-2018
    • Wiess Visiting Professor fellowship, Rice University, 2017-2018
    • Wiess Visiting Professor fellowship, Rice University, Spring 2017
    • USC PhD mentoring award, Spring 2016
    • Frontiers in Geosciences Lecture, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fall 2013
    • Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship Recipient, Humboldt Research Prize, 2010 – 2011
    • Fellow, American Geophysical Union, Spring 2011
    • Visiting Professor, GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany, Spring 2011
    • Visiting Professor, Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France, Spring 2011
    • Gledden Visiting Senior Fellowship, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia, Fall 2010
    • Ranked 5th in total citations in a global survey of the ESI http://sciencewatch.com/ana/st/earthquakes2/ on “Earthquake Studies”, 2000 – 2010
    • In top 1% of most cited Geosciences authors in the ESI database for the last 10 years, Spring 2010
    • Mercator Fellowship of the German Research Society (DFG), 2003
    • Ranked 4th in citations per paper and 15th in total citations in a global survey of the ESI on “Earthquake Studies”, 1993 – 2003
    • Zumberge Research and Innovation Fellowship, University of Southern California, 1998
    • Visiting Professor Fellowship, Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Japan, 1996
    • Geophysics Graduate Student Achievement (University of Southern California), 1989
    • W. M. Keck Foundation Fellowship (University of Southern California), 1985 – 1988
    • Valedictorian, Natural Sciences Faculty (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), 1982
    • Natural Sciences Dean’s Fellowship (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), 1980 – 1982

  • Editorships and Editorial Boards

    • Editor, Geophys. J. Int., 2005 – 2012
    • Guest Editor, Pure and Applied Geophys, 2010 – 2011
    • Guest Editor, Pure and Applied Geophys, 2008-2009
    • Guest Editor, Pure and Applied Geophys, 2005-2006
    • Guest Editor, Pure and Applied Geophys, 2003-2004
    • Guest Editor, Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2002 – 2003
    • Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research, 1999 – 2002

    Other Service to the Profession

    • President, Mathematical Geophysics Committee of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics , 05/2011 –
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