Susan Marian Ellis (born 1965) is a

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

based in New Zealand, who specialises in modelling the

geodynamics Geodynamics is a subfield of geophysics dealing with dynamics of the Earth. It applies physics, chemistry and mathematics to the understanding of how mantle convection leads to plate tectonics and geologic phenomena such as seafloor spreading, ...

of the

Earth's crust Earth's crust is its thick outer shell of rock, referring to less than one percent of the planet's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a solidified division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper ...

deformation, at different scales. Ellis is a principal scientist at

GNS Science GNS Science (), officially registered as the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. It focuses on geology, geophysics (including seismology and volcanology), and nuclear science (partic ...

and her main interests are in

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

tectonics Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

, crust and

petrology Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks, their mineralogy, composition, texture, structure and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous ...

. Ellis's current work focuses on the influence of faulting on stresses in the crust, and how this is related to geological hazard and the tectonic settings in New Zealand.

Education

Born in 1965, Ellis earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree with honours at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. She subsequently completed her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1995 at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

, where she examined the forces driving continental collision using numerical models, applied to Tibet and New Zealand. This was followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Dalhousie University (1996–1997), as part of the Lithoprobe programme, and the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

e, studying the geodynamics of the Swiss Alps.

Career and impact

Ellis has worked with and developed 2D and 3D numerical methods incorporating faults, inelastic

rheology Rheology (; ) is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a fluid (liquid or gas) state but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applie ...

of the crust and mantle, and thermal and fluid evolution. She has investigated studies of rifting exhumation mechanics in Papua New Guinea; mechanics of the Wilson cycle; fluid and magma generation and flow in the

Taupō Volcanic Zone The Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ) is a volcano, volcanic area in the North Island of New Zealand. It has been active for at least the past two million years and is still highly active. Mount Ruapehu marks its south-western end and the zone runs n ...

; subduction initiation; and subduction dynamics. Her work has focused on the influence of faulting on stresses in the crust, and the interplay between seismic and interseismic deformation, as applied to New Zealand tectonic settings.

Awards and honours

In 2005, Ellis was elected president of the New Zealand Geophysics Society (which has since merged to become the New Zealand Geoscience Society). In 2020, she was awarded the

Geological Society of New Zealand Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

's "New Zealand McKay Hammer Award" for the most outstanding published research on New Zealand geology in the preceding three years. The citation reads "For a body of work as a leading geodynamic modeller, making pivotal contributions to our understanding of tectonics". In 2021, Ellis was a co-winner (along with first author Donna Eberhart Phillips) of the Geological Society of New Zealand's "New Zealand Geophysics Prize", the society's top geophysical award bestowed upon the author or authors of the most meritorious recent publication in the field of geophysics.

Selected work

* Sun, T.; Saffer, D.; Ellis, S. (2020). Mechanical and hydrological effects of seamount subduction on megathrust stress and slip. Nature Geoscience, 13(3), pp. 249–255. * Webber, S.; Ellis, S.; Fagereng, Å. 2018. "Virtual shear box" experiments of stress and slip cycling within a subduction interface mélange. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 488: 27-35. * Ellis, S.; Fagereng, A.; Barker, D.H.N.; Henrys, S.A.; Saffer, D.; Wallace, L.M.; Williams, C.A.; Harris, R. 2015. Fluid budgets along the northern Hikurangi subduction margin, New Zealand : the effect of a subducting seamount on fluid pressure. Geophysical Journal International, 202(1): 277-297. * Ellis, S.; Little, T.A.; Wallace, L.M.; Hacker, B.R.; Buiter, S.J.H. 2011. Feedback between rifting and diapirism can exhume ultrahigh-pressure rocks. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 311(3/4): 427-438. * Ellis, S.; Wilson, C.J.N.; Bannister, S.; Bibby, H.M.; Heise, W.; Wallace, L.M.; Patterson, N.G. 2007. A future magma inflation event under the rhyolitic Taupo volcano, New Zealand : numerical models based on constraints from geochemical, geological, and geophysical data. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 168(1-4): 1-27. * Ellis, S.; Beavan, R.J.; Eberhart-Phillips, D.; Stöckhert, B. 2006. Simplified models of the Alpine Fault seismic cycle: stress transfer in the mid-crust. Geophysical Journal International, 166(1): 386-402.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Susan 1965 births Living people Victoria University of Wellington alumni Dalhousie University alumni New Zealand geophysicists Women geophysicists 20th-century New Zealand physicists 21st-century New Zealand physicists New Zealand women physicists 21st-century New Zealand women scientists