Martin Everardus Reyners (born 1950) FRSNZ is a New Zealand

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 ...

and

seismologist 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 ...

. He is a principal scientist at the

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences 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 ...

(GNS Science),

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

, and is a specialist in subinduction zones, especially in relation to New Zealand.

Education

He was educated at

St Peter's College, Auckland St Peter's College () is a Catholic church, Catholic secondary school single-sex education, for boys in the Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice tradition, and dedicated to St Peter. It is located in the Auckland CBD, central Auckland area of Graft ...

and the

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 ...

, completing a PhD in geophysics in 1978.

Career

His work has "enabled three-dimensional tomographic imaging of the structure of the colliding plates""Martin Reyners, Royal Society of New Zealand, List of Fellows
Retrieved 26 May 2012) and has so shown the modus operandi of

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

under New Zealand, especially in relation to 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 ...

, which is "the most frequently active and productive

silicic Silicic is an adjective to describe magma or igneous rock rich in silica. The amount of silica that constitutes a silicic rock is usually defined as at least 63 percent. Granite and rhyolite are the most common silicic rocks. Silicic is the g ...

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

system on Earth." He has cast light on the mysterious termination of volcanic activity at

Mount Ruapehu Mount Ruapehu (; English ) is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupō Volcanic Zone and North Island North Island Volcanic Plateau, volcanic plateau in New Zealand. It is northeast of Ohakune and southwest of the southern s ...

and its non-continuation with the

subducted 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 plat ...

Pacific Plate further south under New Zealand" He is currently examining why the New Zealand tectonic plates are jammed together in some places because, if these unjam, there could be a large earthquake He is a fellow of the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

(FRSNZ), and has been awarded the Hochstetter Lectureship, and (twice) the New Zealand Geophysics Prize.

Notes

External links

GNS Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyners, Martin 1950 births Scientists from Auckland Living people People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland University of Auckland alumni New Zealand seismologists New Zealand geophysicists Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington alumni 20th-century New Zealand physicists 21st-century New Zealand physicists

Education

Career

See also

Notes

External links