César Rodríguez Ranero

César Rodríguez Ranero

Institut de Ciències del Mar

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

PhD degree in 1993 awarded 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 129 papers in the SCI with >7500 citations and h-index = 48. I have >600 contributions to international congresses and >50 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 over 20 projects, and several research cruises. I supervised more than 30 graduated and postdoctoral researchers. Since 2007 I lead the Barcelona Center for Subsurface Imaging with 20-25 scientists. I have been awarded Fellow of the American Geophysical Union 2018, Premi Ciudat de Barcelona 2019 in Environmental and Earth Sciences, and elected member of Academia Europaea in 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

- Jimenez-Tejero CE, Prada M, de la Peña LG, Ranero CR & Sallares 2025, 'Downward continuation of wide-angle seismic data: implications for traveltime tomography uncertainty', Geophysical journal international, 241 - 3 - 1867 - 1879.
- Latorre H, Ventosa S, Ugalde A, Villaseñor A, Bartolome R & Ranero CR 2025, 'KVP: a multiscale kurtosis approach for seismic phase picking', Geophysical journal international, 241 - 3 - 1922 - 1934.
- Hao SH, Mei LF, Peng GR, Zhang LL, Wu J & Ranero CR 2025, 'Crustal Segmentation Between Failed Rift and Successful Rifted Margin Along the NW South China Sea', Basin research, 37 - 3 - e70029.
- Correia R, Ranero CR et al. 2025, 'Deep crustal structure and seismogenic potential of the Southwest Iberian Margin: insights from seismic and gravimetric data', Geophysical journal international, 242 - 3 - ggaf246.
- Wang WL, Prada M, Cameselle A, Grevemeyer I, Barckhausen U, Dong DD & Ranero CR 2025, 'Mode of Extension During the Xisha Trough Rift in the South China Sea', Journal of geophysical research-solid earth, 130 - 7 -e2024JB030564.
- Prada M, Ranero CR, Grevemeyer I, de la Peña LG, Jiménez-Tejero E, Neres M & Ugalde A 2025, 'Crustal Structure of the J Magnetic Anomaly at 31°N, Northern Central Atlantic', Journal of geophysical research-solid earth, 130 - 12 - e2024JB030874.
- Fonseca JC, Ranero CR, Vannucchi P, Iacopini D & Vital H 2025, 'Tectonic Segmentation of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin Rift', Journal of geophysical research-solid earth, 131 - 1 - e2025JB032857.
- Zhang J, Li Y, Yao Y, Zhao M, Grevemeyer I, Sallares V, Zhu R, Wang L & Ranero CR 2025, 'Seismic structure and the variation of magmatic budget in the southwest sub‐basin of the South China Sea', JGR: Solid Earth, 130 - 8 -e2025JB031304.
- Loreto MF, Ranero CR et al. 2025. 'Anatomy of the right‐lateral strike‐slip Cephalonia Fault to the western Hellenic Arc frontal thrust', Tectonics, 44 - 7, e2024TC008765.