Professor Michael Kendall

Summary

Mike's research interests cover pure and applied seismology, with connections to mineral physics, geodynamics and engineering. Current research concentrates on the nature of the core-mantle boundary, continental cratons, continental rifting, mid-ocean ridges, and subduction zones. He has led seismic field experiments in a range of geologic settings. 

Techniques developed to study wave propagation in the deep Earth have also been applied to his research in exploration seismology. His interests lie in microseismicity and passive seismic monitoring, rock-fracture characterization, and linked geophysics, geomechanics and fluid-flow modelling. He has managed a number of large industry-funded consortia. 

Biography

Mike is Professor of Seismology and Head of the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. He has a PhD in Geophysics from Queen's University in Canada and he was a NSERC postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the USA. He has had faculty positions at the University of Toronto and the University of Leeds, and he worked briefly for Chevron Canada Resources in Calgary. He is currently president of the British Geophysical Association and vice-president (Geophysics) of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Teaching

Mike currently teaches the Applied Geophysics component of the Earth Sciences unit 'Imaging and Mapping the Earth'. He also coordinates the third-year Environmental Geosciences geophysics fieldtrip, which is currently run in the Brecon Beacons in south Wales.

Keywords

• seismology
• microseismicity
• geophysics
• geomechanical modelling

Memberships

Organisations

School of Earth Sciences

Academic staff

• Earth Sciences academic staff

Research groups

• Geophysics
• Volcanology

Research themes

• Evolution and Architecture of the Solid Earth and Planets
• Geological Hazards and Risk
• Reservoirs and Resources

Links

• Mike's personal webpage: http://www1.gly.bris.ac.uk/~jmk/

Selected publications

• Thompson, D, Helffrich, G, Bastow, I, Kendall, J, Wookey, J, Eaton, D & Snyder, D 2011, ‘Implications of a simple mantle transition zone beneath cratonic North America’. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol 312., pp. 28 - 36
• Nowacki, AJ, Wookey, J & Kendall, J 2010, ‘Deformation of the lowermost mantle from seismic anisotropy’. Nature, vol 467., pp. 1091 - 1094

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Recent publications

• Harland, SR, Kendall, J, Stuart, G, Lloyd, G, Baird, AF, Smith, AM, Pritchard, HD & Brisbourne, AM 2013, ‘Deformation in Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica: measuring shear-wave anisotropy from icequakes’. Annals of Glaciology, vol 54., pp. 105-114
• Nowacki, AJ, Walker, AM, Wookey, JM & Kendall, J 2013, ‘Evaluating post-perovskite as a cause of D" anisotropy in regions of palaeosubduction’. Geophysical Journal International, vol 192., pp. 1085-1090
• Baird, AF, Kendall, J & Angus, DA 2013, ‘Frequency-dependent seismic anisotropy due to fractures: Fluid flow versus scattering’. Geophysics, vol 78., pp. WA111-WA122
• Nowacki, A, Kendall, J & Wookey, J 2012, ‘Mantle anisotropy beneath the Earth's mid-ocean ridges’. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol 317-318., pp. 56 - 67
• Leo, JD, Wookey, J, Hammond, J, Kendall, J, Kaneshima, S, Inoue, H, Yamashina, T & Harjadi, P 2012, ‘Deformation and mantle flow beneath the Sangihe subduction zone from seismic anisotropy’. Phys. Earth Planet. Int, vol 194-195., pp. 38 - 54
• Rychert, CA, Hammond, JOS, Nicholas, Harmon, J, Kendall, J, Keir, D, Ebinger, C, Bastow, ID, Ayele, A, Belachew, M & Stuart, G 2012, ‘Volcanism in the Afar Rift sustained by decompression melting with minimal plume influence’. Nature Geoscience, vol 5., pp. 406-409
• Hammond, JOS, Kendall, J, Collier, J, Helffrich, GR & Ruempker, G 2012, ‘Plume scar in the mantle lithosphere beneath the Seychelles revealed by seismic imaging’. EPSL, vol 355-356., pp. 20-31
• Walker, A, Forte, A, Wookey, J, Nowacki, A & Kendall, J 2011, ‘Elastic anisotropy of D″ predicted from global models of mantle flow’. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, vol 12.

View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system

Courses

Professor Kendall currently teaches 2 courses: