
Contact Information
Research Areas
Research Interests
Prof. Liu has a broad interest in the temporal evolution of solid Earth. He takes an interdisciplinary approach to study the history of subduction and mantle convection, and their interactions with Earth's surface. Particular questions Prof. Liu tries to answer include what drives the long-term, large-scale continental vertical motion; how could orogeny be related to mantle dynamics; to what extent major volcanic eruptions are due to abnormal subduction processes. In practice, he applies forward and inverse data-assimilation methods to the construction of geodynamic simulations, using observational data from various fields.
Education
- Ph.D. Geophysics, California Institute of Technology, 2010
Courses Taught
- GEOL 107: Physical Geology
- GEOL 450: Probing the Earth's Interior
- GEOL 552: Geodynamics
Additional Campus Affiliations
GeoThrust Professorial Scholar, Geology
Professor, Geology
External Links
Recent Publications
Cui, Q., Zhou, Y., Liu, L., Gao, Y., Li, G., & Zhang, S. (2023). The topography of the 660-km discontinuity beneath the Kuril-Kamchatka: Implication for morphology and dynamics of the northwestern Pacific slab. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 602, [117967]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117967
Zhao, F., Li, S., Jiang, S., Liu, L., Zhu, J., Dai, M., Liu, Y., Wang, G., Liu, Z., Hu, B., & Zhu, Y. (2023). Transcurrent tectonic system and deep seismogenic mechanism in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau: A view from gravity and magnetic anomalies. Earth-Science Reviews, 236, [104269]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104269
Dong, H., Dai, L., Liu, L., Jiang, X., Li, S., Gong, W., Wang, L., Wang, D., Li, Z. H., & Yu, S. (2022). Joint Geodynamic-Geophysical Inversion Suggests Passive Subduction and Accretion of the Ontong Java Plateau. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(23), [e2022GL100744]. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL100744
Frost, D. A., Avery, M. S., Buffett, B. A., Chidester, B. A., Deng, J., Dorfman, S. M., Li, Z., Liu, L., Lv, M., & Martin, J. F. (2022). Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal-Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23(3), [e2021GC009764]. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC009764
Li, Z. H., Liao, J., Liu, L., & Faccenda, M. (2022). Editorial: Subduction and collision dynamics of tectonic plates. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10, [1023604]. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1023604