Adam Francis Holt
Asst. Professor

Assistant Professor, Department of Marine Geosciences - Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine Geosciences (MGS) at UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS).
I am a Geodynamicist who studies the deformation occurring at plate boundaries and within the underlying, flowing mantle. In order to constrain the fundamental properties of these elements, I integrate models with geological observations (e.g., plate velocities, topography, tectonic deformation), with a particular focus on subduction zones. Subduction is a fundamental component of the solid Earth: it drives large earthquakes, mountain building, and cycles volatiles into and out of the mantle. An ongoing focus of my research is expanding the range of observations that we can couple with models to investigate the forces governing mantle and lithosphere deformation (at subduction zones and beyond!). This often requires the development of new modeling techniques (e.g., analytical models of mantle circulation) and the use of supercomputers to solve the relevant equations in numerical models.
At RSMAS, I supervise graduate students in the Geodynamics research group and teach courses related to Geophysics, Geodynamics, and the mathematical and computational methods that underpin these fields.
Education
2011 | M.Sci. Geophysics Imperial College London |
2016 | Ph.D. Geological Sciences University of Southern California |