Virginia Gail Toy (born 1979) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

geologist who studies fault zones and

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s in New Zealand,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. She is one of the leaders of the Deep Fault Drilling Project of New Zealand's Alpine Fault, and was a research scientist on the Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project. She then worked as a research associate professor in geology and associate dean (international) in the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. Toy currently works as a Professor at the University of Mainz.

Early life and education

Toy grew up on Auckland's North Shore and gained her Bachelor of Science then Master of Science (with honours) in geology from Auckland University. She then gained a Master of Philosophy in Earth Sciences from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

and a Doctor of Philosophy in geology from the University of Otago in 2008. Her PhD was on the (micro)structural geology of New Zealand's Alpine Fault.

Career and impact

In 2016 Toy was awarded a

Rutherford Discovery Fellowship The Rutherford Discovery Fellowships are an annual science fellowship in New Zealand. The fellowships, established in 2010, are administered by the Royal Society Te Apārangi through a competitive process. Ten fellowships are awarded nationally. T ...

by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

for her research entitled: 'Weaving the Earth's Weak Seams: Manifestations and mechanical consequences of rock fabric evolution in active faults and shear zones'. In 2017 Toy co-published in Nature that they had discovered "extreme" hydrothermal activity beneath Whataroa, a small township on the Alpine Fault, which "could be commercially very significant" and possibly globally unique. Toy also worked on building stability during earthquakes in Ecuador, using computer modelling to determine the relationship between rock type and building damage. She has been used numerous times by New Zealand media as a geological expert, on the Kaikoura earthquake,

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

risk, predicting the next earthquake on the Alpine Fault and the misreporting of science in the media. She has also been used as a

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

presenter in the book ''Terrain: Travels Through a Deep Landscape'' and TV show ''Beneath New Zealand.''

References

External links

Video explaining Alpine Fault drillingOfficial page of Alpine Fault drilling program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toy, Virginia 1979 births Living people Structural geologists 21st-century New Zealand geologists Academic staff of the University of Otago University of Otago alumni