Aqeel Abbas, a PhD graduate student in our group, received the prestigious 2023 Outstanding Students Award for his remarkable achievements in non-academic pursuits under the category of Social Service: Serving the CU community. Congratulations to Abbas!

InnoCarnival 2023 was organised by the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, held from 28 October to 5 November 2023 at the Hong Kong Science Park. InnoCarnival 2023 is one of the supporting events for “Happy Hong Kong” campaign and has attracted over forty-seven thousand visitors.

This year, our group attended the InnoCarival and displayed our project on induced earthquakes related to shale gas production. To illustrate how the production activities influence the risk of earthquake hazard, we designed an interactive game.

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The workshop of Evolution of Plates was held on 7th September 2023 in Chinese University of Hong Kong. The workshop was organized by Prof. Yang Hongfeng's group.

The topic of this workshop is about plate tectonics. 9 Professors from different institutes including 3 from CUHK were invited to present in the workshop. The talks cover a broad range of research such as the oceanic lithosphere structure, earthquakes, volcanos, lunar crustal structure, and subduction zones. The excellent talks inspired heated discussion during the workshop.

Photo taken during the workshop

Photo taken during the workshop

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Dr. YANG Yuyun, now a Postdoc in our group, won the Best Poster Award in the 2023 ARMA East Asia Geomechanics Workshop, held in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University during 11-12 Aug, 2023. Yuyun presented her work entitled "Stress transfer outpaces injection-induced aseismic slip and triggers seismicity". Congratulation to Yuyun!

Dr. Suli YAO, now a Postdoc in our group, receives the Excellent Dissertation Award 2023 from Chinese Geophysical Society. This award was set to honor doctoral theses with breakthrough achievements and innovative applications in geophysical science.

Suli YAO received her Ph. D. degree in our group in 2022. Then she continues her research in CUHK as a Postdoc, focusing on earthquake modeling and seismic hazard assessment.

The 18th Academic Conference of Seismological Society of China (中国地震学会第十八次学术大会) was held in Guiyang, Guizhou province during 7-9 Aug, 2023. Prof. Yang was invited to give a keynote talk on the first day of the conference. In the talk, Prof. Yang presented our recent research progress on investigating earthquake rupture propagation on heterogeneous faults.

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Ng Yue Sze (Ceci), an undergraduate who did her final year project (FYP) in our group, won the First Runner-up in the AGS (HK) Final Year Project Competition 2023. Ceci's FYP focuses on monitoring human activities in HK through inspecting the ambient noise recorded by the seismic station. Congratulations to Ceci!

The paper published by our group "The Cascading Foreshock Sequence of the Ms 6.4 Yangbi Earthquake in Yunnan, China" on Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. was selected to be the outstanding paper by "李善邦青年优秀地震科技论文奖" （三等奖) of Seismological Society of China. This paper talks about the earthquake sequence that occurred in Yangbi Yunan in 2021 and holds implications on earthquake nucleation process. The first author of this paper is Dr. ZHU Gaohua, who was a postdoc in our group when she worked on it. Prof. Yang is the corresponding author of this paper. Congratulations!

Link to the paper

The conference "Dense Array, CGS-Continental Dynamics", organized by SUSTech and CGS, was hold during 16-18 June 2023 in SUSTech, Shenzhen. Many of our group members joined the conference and presented our studies. In this conference, Prof. Yang presented our recent progress on the near-fault rupture phases during the 2023 Turkey Mw 7.8 earthquake and won the the Innovative Exploration Award. Moreover, Dr. ZHANG Jia, who is now a Postdoc in our group, won the best poster presentation award. Congratulation to them!

Prof. Yang Received the Award

Dr. ZHANG Jia Received the Award

All Group Members in the Conference

Dr. YAO SULI, who is now a Postdoc in our group, received the outstanding presentation award in "第六届全国青年地质大会", held in Wuhan, China. In this conference, Suli presented her work on dynamic scenarios derived from inter seismic locking models. Congratulations to Suli!

Our Ph. D student Junhao Song received the Reaching Out Award 2022/23 by CUHK. This award has been set to support the academic activities outside HK such as conferences, short-term visits, and exchanges. Congratulations to Junhao!

Our Ph. D students, Junhao Song and Aqeel Abbas, received the PhD International Mobility for Partnerships and Collaborations Award by CUHK in 2023. This award will support their exchange programs later this year. Congratulations to them!

The paper "Machine-Learning-Facilitated Earthquake and Anthropogenic Source Detections near the Weiyuan Shale Gas Blocks, Sichuan, China ", published on EPP in 2021 has been awarded as a high-citation paper. Dr. Zhou Pengcheng, who was the PhD student in our group, is the first author of this paper. Prof. Yang is the corresponding author of this paper. Link to the paper .

The paper “Rapid Report go the 8 January 2022 Ms 6.9 Menyuan Earthquake, Qinghai, China”, published on EAR has recently been awarded as a high-citation paper. Prof. Yang is the first and corresponding author of this paper. Link to the paper .

On 6 Feb 2023, two large earthquakes with Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.5 struck Turkey and Syria. The two continental events are very destructive due to the shallow depth. Prof. YANG Hongfeng was interviewed by news.cn (新华社) and CGTN about the Turkey earthquake sequence.

Under the collaboration with a group (led by Prof. WANG Ruijia) from the Southern University of Science and Technology, we conduct fieldwork to deploy seismic stations in Zigong, Sichuan, to monitor the seismicity around the Weiyuan shale gas field. Our group members, including two PhD students (Jinping and Juhao) and three postdocs (Jia, Jiewen, and Chunyu) are involved in this fieldwork.

In recent years, the local seismicity induced by the shale gas production activities in that region has drawn high social concerns. Our group have conducted research in this region. Details can be found on the publication page.

A Research Spotlight article published on Eos.org highlights our recently published Geophysical Research Letters paper “Deep Outer-Rise Faults in the Southern Mariana Subduction Zone Indicated by a Machine-Learning-Based High-Resolution Earthquake Catalog” (EOS). The first author of this paper is CHEN Han, a PhD student in our group. This great news has been posted by Science Faculty via different platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter ) Congratulations!

Prof. YANG Hongfeng is awarded the Faculty Exemplary Teaching Award 2021 for his quality teaching. Congratulations to Prof. Yang!

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The project "Dynamics of Plate Suduction and its Control on Tectonic Evolution of South China Sea (大洋板块俯冲动力学机制及对南海构造演化的控制作用)" was awarded as 2021 grand-prize project by the Academy of Ocean of China. Prof. Yang contributed to this project as one of the principle investigators. Jiangyang Zhang, who was a postdoc in our group from 2019.5 -2021.5, contribiuted to this project through investigating the bending of subducting plates.

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Chan Yuk Po, Bowie, a MPhil in our group since 2020.08, passed her thesis defense. Congratulations to Bowie!

Jeremy Wong, an undergraduate alumnus of our group, was awarded by the Joseph Needham Merit Scholarship in 2022 for his excellent academic performance. Jeremy is the first student in ESSC that won this award. Now he is doing his PhD program is UCSD (US). Congratulations to Jeremy!

Suli Yao, a PhD student in our group, passed her PhD thesis defense on 20th May. Congratulations to Suli!

Gaohua Zhu, who was in our group as a PhD student (2016-2020) and a postdoc (2020-2022), was selected by the 100-Talent program of Chinese Academy of Science. She will start soon as a research professor in the institute of oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Congratulations to Gaohua!

The CUSeisTut is a website that contains 15 micro-modules on tools used in seismological research . The CUSeisTut website is a product of the project “Developing hands-on micro modules of seismological data processing”, supported by the Teaching Development and Language Enhancement Grant (TDLEG) of CUHK. Link to CUSeisTut.

Suli YAO, a PhD student in our group, participated in the 2022 Global Young Scientist Summit. The summit was hold online in Jan. Sharing from Suli on the e-newsletter of CUHK Science Faculty.

Dr. WENG Huihui, who worked in our group as a postdoc from 2015.09 to 2018.04, received the prestigious Excellent Youth Award of NSFC (Oversea) in 2021. Huihui's research focuses on earthquake dynamics. In addition, Huihui will join Nanjing University as an assistant professor in fall 2022. Congratulations!

Suli YAO, a PhD graduate student in our group, received the CUHK Outstanding Student Award. Congratulations!

Dr. JIANG Xiohuan, who has been a postdoc in our group in SZRI since 2019.7, just joined Wuhan Polytechnic University as a lecturer. Congratulations to Xiaohuan!

Dr. GUO Rumeng, who worked as a postdoc in our group from 2020.9 to 2021.8, just moved to the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics，Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, as an associate research fellow. Rumeng's research focuses on resolving the interseismic and coseismic fault behaviors using the surface deformation data. Congratulations to Rumeng!

Recently, our group has conducted a comprehensive study of the high-resolution structure and earthquakes near the Challenger Deep, the deepest spot on the Earth. The results showed for the first time how much water is carried into subduction zones in southern Mariana. Since the subducting plate is the primary channel from which water can enter the Earth’s interior, estimating the amount of water carried into the subduction zone plays an important role in the global water and material cycle. The article has been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

This great news has been reported by the CUHK Press Release in English and in Chinese, Sina, Chinahot, and so on.

ESSC undergraduate student WONG Wing Ching Jeremy has recently published an article as the lead author in Earth and Planetary Physics. Jeremy joined our group in year 2 and has been studying induced earthquakes in Sichuan, China. Congratulations to Jeremy!
link to the paper
report on the ESSC website.

Xiang Chen, a PhD student in our group, passed her PhD thesis defense on 17th Aug. Xiang did an excellent job in giving the public presentation and answering the questions from the audience and the committee. Congratulations to Xiang!

Xiang and the defense committee after the thesis defense.

Jeremy Wong, an undergraduate student in our group, received the Award for Excellence and Service in ESSC (2020/21) and Sophie Wai Chee Cheng Research Prize (2020/21)​. In addition, Jeremy won the second runner-up prize in the AGS(HK) Final Year Project Competition. Congratulations!

Bowie Chan, a Mphil student in our group, was awarded the Sophie Wai Chee Cheng Research Prize (2019/20), Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (2020-21), Award for Excellence and Service in ESSC (2020-21), and Rebecca Oi Hang Pang Memorial Scholarship. Congratulations!

Junhao Song, a PhD student in our group, received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (2019-20). Congratulations!

Dr. ZHANG Jiangyang，who has been working in our group as a postdoc since 2019.05, now moved to South China Sea Intitute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, as a research assistant. Jiangyang's research focuses on the mechanics of plate bending in subduction zone. Congratulations to Jiangyang!

Suli Yao, a PhD student in our group, received the Best Presentation Award in the 2020-2021 Science Faculty Postgraduate Research Day , which was held on 8th Jan 2021. The Research Day invited 14 postgraduate students nominated by different divisions to present their innovative research results. Suli presented her work on investigating the frictional strength on the Nicoya megathrust. Congratulations!

Suli Yao, a PhD graduate student in our group, received the Best Student Presentation Award at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Section - Seismological Society of America (ES-SSA). Suli presented her work on deriving ground motion predictions based on interseismic locking models in Nicoya. The video of her talk is available on YouTube (link). Congratulations!

An unusually shallow earthquake triggered by hydraulic fracturing in the Weiyuan shale gas field could change how experts view the risks of fracking for faults that lie very near the Earth's surface.

In the journal Seismological Research Letters, Hongfeng Yang of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and colleagues suggest that the magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck Rongxian County, Sichuan, China on 25 February 2019 took place along a fault about one kilometer (0.6 miles) deep.

The earthquake, along with two foreshocks with magnitudes larger than 4, appears to be related to activity at nearby hydraulic fracturing wells. Although earthquakes induced by human activity such as fracking are typically more shallow than natural earthquakes, it is rare for any earthquakes of this size to take place at such a shallow depth.

Such shallow earthquake has raised great social concerns and has been reported by various media such as the CUHK, hket topick, singtao, and phys.org.

Pengcheng Zhou, a PhD student in our group, passed his PhD thesis defense on 22nd Sep. Pengcheng did an excellent job in giving the public presentation and answering the questions from the audience and the committee. Congratulations!

Jinping Zi, a new PhD graduate student in our group, received the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme Award (HKPFS). Established by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong in 2009, the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) aims at attracting the best and brightest students in the world to pursue their PhD studies in Hong Kong's universities. Jinping is the first recipient of this award in our group. Congratulations!

Gaohua Zhu, a PhD student in our group, passed her PhD thesis defense on 5th June. Gaohua did an excellent job in giving the public presentation and answering the questions from the audience and the committee. Congratulations!

Gaohua Zhu, a PhD graduate student in our group, received the CUHK Outstanding Student Award for her outstanding academic performance. Gaohua is the first recipient of this award in our department. Congratulations!

Gaohua Zhu on the 2019 Outstanding Student Award Presentation Ceremony.

The Chinese Geophysical Society (CGS) has selected Professor Hongfeng Yang as a recipient of the 2018 Fu Chengyi Young Scientist Award, in recognition of his contributions to integrating earthquake rupture dynamics and observational seismology to advance our understanding of earthquake physics and seismic hazard evaluation. The award ceremony was held in Beijing on October 22. Professor Yang is the first recipient of this prestigious award from Hong Kong.

Suli Yao, a PhD graduate student in our group, received the Oustanding Student Presentation Award in the Annual Meeting of Chinese Geoscience Union (CGU). Suli presented her work on dynamic rupture simulations for megathrust earthquakes in Nicoya. Congratulations!

From 10 January to 3 February, Professor Yang participated in the first China-Pakistan Joint Indian Ocean Expedition on the Shiyan 3 research vessel. The Chinese and Pakistani scientists carried out in-depth investigation on the possibility of future megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis in the Makran trench. The expedition was led by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Pakistan National Institute of Oceanography. For more info please visit the article published on CUHK Newsletter in English and in Chinese .

Dr. ZHANG Fan，who has been working in our group as a postdoc since 2016.01, now moved to South China Sea Intitute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, as a research professor. Congratulations to Fan!

Prof. Yang published an article on Sustainable Campus CUHK (續錄中大), talking about the earthquakes occurred under the oceans. See more info at http://www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/chinese/publications/sustainable-campus/article.aspx?articleid=64286.

Prof. YANG Hongfeng was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal about the earthquake happened last Saturday in Nepal. Please visit the following link for the article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-nepal-earthquake-happened-like-clockwork-1430044358.