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César R. Ranero

César R. Ranero

Institut de Ciències del Mar

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

MPhD degree in 1993 by Barcelona University for work at the CSIC Earth Sciences Institute. Postdoc (93-99) and tenured  (2000) at GEOMAR (Germany). I joined ICREA in 2005 at CSIC Marine Sciences Institute. I have  >115 papers in the SCI with >6000 citations and h-index = 43. I have >600 contributions to international congresses and >40 invited talks, keynote and seminars at universities, research centers, and congresses. I organized or convened of >30 international scientific meetings. I was CO-PI of 20 projects, with some that included ship cruises. I supervised more than 20 graduated and postdoctoral researchers. Since 2007 I coordinate the Barcelona Center for Subsurface Imaging with ~20 scientists. I have been awarded Fellow of the American Geophysical Union 2018, Ciudat de Barcelona 2019 in Environmental and Earth Sciences, and elected member of the Academia Europaea 2020.


Research interests

My scientific goal is to conceptually advance our understanding of fundamental processes of rifting, passive margins evolution, seafloor spreading, and subduction systems. I am particularly interested on the processes that govern the relations between the behaviour of earthquakes, long-term tectonics, and fluid flow. For this end, I strive to obtain the best quality observations by personally leading field acquisition, analysis, and processing of data. I have specialized in complex, multi-disciplinary experiments, coordinating teams of multi-national scientists to acquire data during cruises that have produced major breakthroughs, and leading drilling projects for ground-truthing to test competing models.  With my group, I work on the development of bleeding-edge geophysical methods that yield novel observations of interest for basic science as well as for technological transfer to industry stake holders.

Selected publications

– Ugalde, Arantza; Jose Egozcue, Juan; Ranero, Cesar R. 2021, ‘A new autoregressive moving average modeling of H/V spectral ratios to estimate the ground resonance frequency’, Engineering Geology, 280, 105957.

– Pena, Laura Gomez de la; Ranero, Cesar R.; Gracia, Eulalia; Booth-Rea, Guillermo 2021, ‘The evolution of the westernmost Mediterranean basins’, Earth-science Reviews, 214, 103445.

– Sallares, Valenti; Prada, Manel; Riquelme, Sebastian; Melendez, Adria; Calahorrano, Alcinoe; Grevemeyer, Ingo; Ranero, Cesar R. 2021, ‘Large slip, long duration, and moderate shaking of the Nicaragua 1992 tsunami earthquake caused by low near-trench rock rigidity’, Science Advances, 7, 32, eabg8659.

– Merino, I; Prada, M.; Ranero, C. R.; Sallares, V; Calahorrano, A. 2021, ‘The Structure of the Continent-Ocean Transition in the Gulf of Lions From Joint Refraction and Reflection Travel-Time Tomography’, Journal Of Geophysical Research-solid Earth, 126, 8, e2021JB021711.

– Merino, I., Ranero, C. R., Prada, M., Sallarès, V., & Grevemeyer, I. (2021). ‘The rift and continent-ocean transition structure under the Tagus Abyssal Plain West of the Iberia’. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126, e2021JB022629.

– Challenge 5: A Safer Ocean: Towards Marine Hazard Impact Mitigation. Ocean Science Challenges for 2030 5: 97-116 (2021). Libros Blancos : Desafíos Científicos 2030 del CSIC 13: 97-116 (2021). CSIC scientific challenges: towards 2030 13: 97-116 (2021).

– Loreto MF, Zitellini N, Ranero CR, Palmiotto C, Prada M 2021, ‘Extensional tectonics during the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin formation and a new morpho-tectonic map’. Basin Research. 33, 1, 138-158.

ICREA Memoir 2021