from Crystals to Crustal Dynamics

Dr. Alissa Kotowski's research group at Utrecht University uses the rock record to investigate how solid earth materials deform. We apply structural and chemical techniques, and bridge observations from the atomic to the field scale to gain predictive understanding of tectonic processes. 

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How does Earth generate and sustain plate tectonics? 

Why and how does steady-state deformation give rise to slip transients?

What rheological laws describe bulk flow and strain localization in the lithosphere and crysophere?

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Science is a team effort. To learn more about some of the people I work with, see their websites:

Utrecht University:  Oliver Plûmper, Lisa Eberhard, Eric Hellebrand, ​Martyn Drury, Douwe van Hinsbergen

Educational Initiatives: Vashan Wright (Scripps), Nick Soltis (Indianapolis), Paul Mason (UU)

External: James Kirkpatrick (Univ. Nevada Reno), Caroline Seyler (Univ. Southern California), Matthew Tarling (Univ. British Columbia, Vancouver), David Wallis (Cambridge), Whitney Behr (ETH Zürich), Emily Cooperdock (Brown), Margo Godard (CNRS Montpellier)