César R. Ranero

Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC - ICM)

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

My Dr. degree was awarded (1993) by Barcelona University for work at the Earth Sciences Institute (CSIC). A postdoc (93-99) and tenured researcher (2000-05) at GEOMAR. I joined ICREA in 2005 to work at the Marine Sciences Institute (CSIC). I have published  >75 articles with >3400 citations and h-index = 35. I have written several book chapters and ~20 non SCI papers. I have >350 contributions to international congresses and delivered >40 invited talks and seminars at European/American universities, research centers, and congresses/workshops. I have been organizer, convener, or program committee member of >30 international scientific meetings. I have been PI or CO-PI of over a dozen projects that included ship cruises. I have supervised the work of more than 20 graduated and postdoctoral researchers. Since 2007 I coordinate the Barcelona Center for Subsurface Imaging (http://www.barcelona-csi.cmima.csic.es) with 25-30 scientists.


Research interests

My research interest is focused on the study of the structure of the lithosphere to understand geological processes at subduction zones, rifted continental margins and oceanic spreading centers.  I primarily work on the analysis, processing, and imaging of seismic data using modern techniques like pre-stack depth migration, and both travel-time and full-waveform inversions. I integrate seismic images and other geophysical observations with geological data to study the tectonic and magmatic processes that lead to the formation of oceanic lithosphere at spreading centers and the rift architecture of continental margins. I also study tectonic processes at convergent plate boundaries, where my interest has been centered on the relations between long-term tectonics and fluids in the incoming oceanic and overriding plates. I am particularly interested on the processes that govern the generation of earthquakes at subduction zones.

Selected publications

– Bangs NL, McIntosh KD, Silver EA, Kluesner JW & Ranero CR 2016, ‘A recent phase of accretion along the southern Costa Rican subduction zone’, Earth And Planetary Science Letters, 443, 204 – 215.

– Bayrakci G, Minshull TA, Sawyer DS, Reston TJ, Klaeschen D, Papenberg C, Ranero CR, Bull JM, Davy RG, Shillington DJ, Perez-Gussinye M & Morgan JK 2016, ‘Fault-controlled hydration of the upper mantle during continental rifting’, Nature Geoscience, 9, 5, 384 – +.

– Dagnino D, Sallares V, Biescas B & Ranero CR 2016, ‘Fine-scale thermohaline ocean structure retrieved with 2-D prestack full-waveform inversion of multichannel seismic data: Application to the Gulf of Cadiz (SW Iberia)’, Journal Of Geophysical Research-oceans, 121, 8, 5452 – 5469.

– Gomez de la Pena L, Gracia E, Munoz A, Acosta J, Gomez-Ballesteros M, Ranero CR & Uchupi E 2016, ‘Geomorphology and Neogene tectonic evolution of the Palomares continental margin (Western Mediterranean)’, Tectonophysics, 689, 25 – 39.

– Prada M, Ranero CR, Sallares V, Zitellini N, Grevemeyer I 2016, ‘Mantle exhumation and sequence of magmatic events in the Magnaghi-Vavilov Basin (Central Tyrrhenian, Italy): New constraints from geological and geophysical observations’, Tectonophysics, 689, 133 – 142.

– Carbonell R, Sallares V, Ranero CR, Booth-Rea G 2016, ‘Preface to the “Deep Seismix-2014” special issue’, Tectonophysics, 689, 1 – 3.