Lara S. Wagner

Staff Scientist - Geophysics

My research uses seismic waves to study how the continents we live on grow and evolve over time. Continents exist because of plate tectonics — the process by which the surface of the Earth is continually created, deformed, modified, and recycled back into the planet's interior. Earth is the only planet we know of that has plate tectonics. Without plate tectonics, we would not have an atmosphere or a magnetic field, both of which are essential for life. Despite its importance, our understanding of how plate tectonic processes work is still very basic.

My interest is in understanding what happens when two tectonic plates collide, both in the short term while the collision is ongoing, but also in the long term to study the permanent scars that remain in the continental crust for billions of years and how these might affect ongoing and future deformation and hazards.