César R. Ranero

César R. Ranero

Institut de Ciències del Mar

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

My Dr. degree was awarded (1993) by Barcelona University for work at the Earth Sciences Institute (CSIC). After a postdoc (93-99) and tenure  (2000) at GEOMAR, I joined ICREA in 2005 to work at the Marine Sciences Institute (CSIC). I have  >120 peer-reviewed articles, with > 100 within the SCI with >4800 citations coming from > 2600 articles and h-index = 40. I have >500 contributions to international congresses and delivered >55 invited talks and seminars at European/American/Japan 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 20-25 scientists.


Research interests

I study subduction systems, continental rifting, and seafloor spreading. For this end, I regularly lead international scientific teams in experiments to acquire the best possible observations. I work on analysis and processing to obtain robust data sets, and use state-of-the-art imaging techniques. I also work with multibeam bathymetry of seafloor maps. My goal is to interpret seismic observables integrated with other geophysical and geological information to advance conceptually in the understanding of active systems. I study tectonic and magmatic processes at oceanic 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, seismogenesis, and fluids in the incoming oceanic and overriding plates. I am particularly interested on the processes that govern the behaviour of earthquakes at subduction zones.

Selected publications

– Sallares V & Ranero CR 2019, ‘Upper-plate rigidity determines depth-varying rupture behaviour of megathrust earthquakes‘, Nature, 576, 7785, 96-101.

– Gracia E, Grevemeyer I, Bartolome R, Perea H, Martinez-Loriente S, Gomez de la Pena L, Villasenor A, Klinger Y, Lo Iacono C, Diez S, Calahorrano A, Camafort M, Costa S, d’Acremont E, Rabaute A & Ranero CR 2019, ‘Earthquake crisis unveils the growth of an incipient continental fault system’, Nature Communications, 10, 3482.

– Melendez A, Jimenez CE, Sallares V & Ranero CR  2019, ‘Anisotropic P-wave travel-time tomography implementing Thomsen’s weak approximation in TOMO3D’, Solid Earth, 10, 6, 1857 – 1876.

– Gras C, Dagnino D,  Jimenez-Tejero CE,  Melendez A, Sallares V & Ranero CR 2019, ‘Full-waveform inversion of short-offset, band-limited seismic data in the Alboran Basin (SE Iberia)’, Solid Earth, 10, 6, 1833 – 1855.


Selected research activities

The significance of deformation and hydration of incoming plates at subduction trenches. EGU General Assembly. Vienna, Austria. 4 April 2019. Invited

The significance of deformation and hydration of incoming plates at subduction trenches. Goldschmidt. Barcelona, Spain. 21 August 2019. Invited