Christie D. Rowe (born 1978) is a Professor of Geology at McGill University. She holds a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Earthquake Geology and was awarded the 2017

Geological Association of Canada The Geological Association of Canada (GAC) is a learned society that promotes and develops the Geology, geological sciences in Canada. The organization holds conferences, meetings and exhibitions for the discussion of geological problems and the ...

W. W. Hutchison Medal The W.W. Hutchison Medal is a scientific award given by the Geological Association of Canada and named after William W. Hutchison in recognition of his many contributions to the Association and to Canadian and international geoscience. The medal ...

Early life and education

Rowe is from

Strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

Tuolumne County Tuolumne County (), officially the County of Tuolumne, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,620. The county seat and only incorporated city is Sonora. Tuolumne County comprises the ...

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

. Rowe eventually studied geology at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

, where she worked on metamorphic rocks including blueschists and eclogites. She was taught by John Brady and H. Robert (Bob) Burger. In 2007, Rowe received her

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from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Rowe's doctoral work with J. Casey Moore attempted to reconstruct the earthquake cycles in Kodiak Island. Rowe moved to South Africa in 2007 where she taught structural geology and plate tectonics at the University of Cape Town.

Research and career

In 2009 Rowe was appointed an National Science Foundation-MARGINS postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she worked on geophysical observations, including study of the transient fluidisation of granular fault rocks in Alaska and Namibia with

Emily Brodsky Emily E. Brodsky is a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She studies the fundamental physical properties of earthquakes, as well as the seismology of volcanoes and landslides. In 2023, she was elected to th ...

In 2011 Rowe joined McGill University as a Wares Scholar in

economic geology Economic geology is concerned with earth materials that can be used for economic and/or industrial purposes. These materials include precious and base metals, nonmetallic minerals and construction-grade stone. Economic geology is a subdisciplin ...

. Rowe works on earthquake processes, including research in seismology,

structural geology Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover informatio ...

and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...

. She has investigated fossilised earthquakes, including studying the fault that caused the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. Rowe was a member of the science party for Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 343 on the scientific drilling vessel, the Chikyū, to study the fault under the Japan Trench that slipped in the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

. Rowe is a member of the Southern California Earthquake Center, and has studied the

Marin Headlands The Marin Headlands is a hilly peninsula at the southernmost end of Marin County, California, United States, located just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects the two counties and peninsulas. The entire area is pa ...

and other rocks of the

Franciscan Complex The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist Andrew ...

. Her work has included studying the vulnerability to destruction of pseudotachylites, which are described in her work as underreported when compared to earthquakes in active faults. She has studied exhumed fault zones, including pseudotachylite as an indicator of fossilised earthquake ruptures. Rowe's work has shown amorphous nanosilica as involved in the process of lubrication and healing of earthquakes. In 2017 Rowe was awarded the

W.W. Hutchison Medal The W.W. Hutchison Medal is a scientific award given by the Geological Association of Canada and named after William W. Hutchison in recognition of his many contributions to the Association and to Canadian and international geoscience. The medal ...

. That year she was also appointed a

in earthquake geology. Rowe serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Structural Geology and the Geological Society of America's journals

Geology (journal) ''Geology'' is a peer-reviewed publication of the Geological Society of America (GSA). GSA says (ISSN 0091-7613) that it is the most widely read scientific journal in the field of earth science. It is published monthly, with each issue containing ...

and ''

Lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...

''.

Awards and honours

*2020 Francis Birch lecturer for the Tectonophysics Division of the American Geophysical Union *2017 McGill University Principal's Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researchers *2016 Geological Society of America Outstanding Publication Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Christie D. Academic staff of McGill University University of California, Santa Cruz alumni 1978 births Living people Scientists from California 21st-century American geologists Canadian women geologists People from Tuolumne County, California