Phaedra Upton

Phaedra specialises in Tectonic Geomorphology and Geodynamic modelling. Her work brings together observations from geology and geophysics and uses modelling to understand the processes behind the observations. Her research covers a wide range of topics from 3D deformation within oblique orogens, crustal fluid flow, topographic development, river capture, drainage evolution, placer gold distribution and the relationship between tectonics and genetics. She has worked extensively in the Southern Alps of New Zealand and in a number of overseas mountain belts including Taiwan, the Himalaya, SE Alaska, Norway and the USA. Phaedra has convened several international scientific meetings including the 2017 PATA days International Workshop on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics and Archeoseismology, a year after the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. In 2018 she convened an international workshop in the US focussed on Coupling of Tectonic and Surface Processes. Phaedra led a large research programme on the tectonics of the New Zealand plate boundary. She was the New Zealand Geoscience Society Hochstetter Lecturer in 2020. Phaedra is currently the Geodynamics Team Leader.