Earthquakes frequently claim hundreds of lives and cause major damage to cities and infrastructures. Recent large (M 8.8 in Chile, 2010; M 9.1 in Japan, 2011) as well as moderate-size devastating events (M 6.3 in New Zealand, 2010) are forceful reminders that earthquakes cannot be predicted. However, we can prepare for the expected shaking levels and potential secondary effects (tsunamis, landslides, liquefaction) by investigating the physics of earthquake rupture, by studying seismic wave propagation in the Earth crust, and by finding innovative methods to  quantify the seismic hazard.

The CES-group at KAUST conducts research to study earthquake source physics and ground-motion generation, with the goal to gain insight into  earthquake properties and to create new tools for seismic-shaking estimation for earthquake-engineering applications. We use seismic data to image the kinematic rupture process during earthquakes, and perform forward simulations to understand the dynamcis of the rupture process under various initial conditions. We calculate the radiated seismic wavefield emitted by the space-time varying rupture process, and investigate seismic wave scattering in heterogeneous Earth crust. We are also interested in retrieving accurate information about Earth structure in Saudi Arabia in order to understand better the seismo-tectonics and geo-dynamics of the Arabian Plate, and to improve earthquake locations and thus seismic monitoring capabilities and seismic hazard calculations in the region.