Vernon Cormier

Professor

My research interest is solid earth geophysics, emphasizing deep and three-dimensionally heterogeneous structure of Earth inferred from seismic wavefields. Areas have included effects on the seismic wavefield by descending slabs and fault zones, solidification of the inner core and its role in driving the geodynamo, viscoelastic and scattering attenuation of waves in heterogeneous media, synthesis of seismic wavefields for nuclear test detection, and seismic detection of mineral phase changes in the upper mantle.

Education

• Ph.D.: Geophysics at Columbia University
• M.S.: Geophysics at Columbia University
• B.S.: with honors: Geophysics at California Institute of Technology

Courses

• ERTH 4560 / PHYS 4130: Fundamentals of Planetary Science
• ERTH 4550 / PHYS 4100: Physics of Earth’s Interior
• ERTH 6530: Geophysical Inverse Theory

Select Publications

• Cormier, V.F., Y. Tian, and Y. Zheng (2020), Heterogeneity spectrum of Earth’s upper mantle obtained from the coherence of teleseismic P waves, Commun. Comp. Phys., 28, 74-97, doi: 10.4208/cicp.OA-2018-0079.
• Sanborn, C.J., and V.F. Cormier (2018), Modeling the blockage of Lg waves from 3-D variations in crustal structure, Geophys. J. Int., 214, 1426-1440, doi: 10.1083/gji/ggy206.
• Cormier, V.F. (2015), Detection of inner core solidification from observations of antipodal PKIIKP, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 7459-7466, doi: 10.1002/2015GL065367.