Staff profiles
Chris RollinsSeismic Hazard / Geodetic Modeller
Biography
My research is in statistical seismology, geodesy, crustal deformation modeling, and seismic hazard. Since joining GNS in 2021, I have been working primarily on the New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model, including: 1) assembling an integrated New Zealand earthquake catalogue and using it to estimate the magnitude-frequency and depth distributions of earthquakes in various regions; 2) using paleoseismological data to estimate the average recurrence intervals of earthquakes on mapped faults, and the likelihood of surface rupture vs. earthquake magnitude; 3) assembling the inputs for the Puysegur subduction zone model; 4) advising on other inputs to the NSHM including the geodetic deformation model, the Inversion Fault Model (IFM), and the Distributed Seismicity Model (DSM) including its spatial character and earthquake rate variability.
Qualifications
- BSc, Geological Sciences (minor in physics)
- PhD, Geophysics
Areas of expertise
- Geophysics: Geodetic data analysis
- Geophysics: Crustal deformation and neotectonics
- Geophysics: Quality control on earthquake database
- Geophysics: Seismic hazard models
- Geophysics: Subduction zones
- Geophysics: Stress triggering
- Geophysics: GNSS
- Geophysics: Historical seismicity
- Geophysics: Collision zones
- Geophysics: Tectonic geodesy
- Geophysics: InSAR Geodesy
- Geophysics: Statistical Seismology
Major Publications
See all publications
- The magnitudefrequency distributions of earthquakes in Aotearoa New Zealand and on adjoining subduction zones, using a new integrated earthquake catalog, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 114(1): p. 150-181. DOI: 10.1785/0120230177.
- The seismicity rate model for the 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 114(1): p. 182-216. DOI: 10.1785/0120230165.
- Paleoseismic earthquake recurrence interval derivation for the 2022 revision of the New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model, Seismological Research Letters 95(1): p. 78-94. DOI: 10.1785/0220230197.
- Stress promotion of the 1958 Mw~7.8 Fairweather Fault earthquake and others in Southeast Alaska by glacial isostatic adjustment and inter-earthquake stress transfer, Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth 126(1): e2020JB020411. DOI: 10.1029/2020JB020411.
- Postseismic deformation following the 2015 Mw7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake : new GPS data, kinematic and dynamic models, and the roles of afterslip and viscoelastic relaxation, Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth 125(9): e2020JB019852. DOI: 10.1029/2020JB019852.
- A geodesy- and seismicity-based local earthquake likelihood model for central Los Angeles, Geophysical Research Letters 46(6): p. 3153-3162. DOI: 10.1029/2018GL080868.
- Interseismic strain accumulation on faults beneath Los Angeles, California, Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth 123(8): p. 7126-7150. DOI: 10.1029/2017JB015387.
- Postseismic deformation following the 2010 M = 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake : observations, kinematic inversions, and dynamic models, Pure and Applied Geophysics 172(5): p. 1305-1358. DOI: 10.1007/s00024-014-1005-6.
- Coulomb stress interactions among M >/= 5.9 earthquakes in the Gorda deformation zone and on the Mendocino Fault Zone, Cascadia subduction zone, and northern San Andreas Fault, Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth 115: B12306. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JB007117.