GEOL 4101
Geology Building
8000 Regents Drive
College Park, MD 20742

qchuang [at] umd [dot] edu

Nicholas Schmerr

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I’m interested in studying Earth’s interior structure, from upper mantle to the core, using seismology methods. My research focuses on the structure of mantle transition zone (MTZ), which is delineated by the 410 and 660 km discontinuities. The depths of 410 and 660 discontinuities are dependent on the temperature and composition in the mantle transition zone. I study the topography change of 410 and 660 discontinuities (or MTZ thickness), thus to understand the thermal and chemical heterogeneities in the upper mantle. Moreover, I’m also working on seismic anisotropy in the mantle transition zone, which can be caused by the lattice preferred orientations of minerals such as wadsleyite and ringwoodite. If mantle flow (e.g. subducting slabs) can align these two minerals, seismic anisotropy can be produced in the mantle transition zone. My project aims to constrain the strength and orientation of seismic anisotropy in MTZ, thus to better understand the mantle convection in upper mantle.

Huang, Q., Schmerr, N., Waszek, L., and Beghein, C. (2019) Constraints on seismic anisotropy in the mantle transition zone from long-period SS precursors. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 124 DOI: 10.1029/2019JB017307