Crustal Deformation Group
at Columbia University
The Crust-Def Group at Columbia University investigates how the earth's crust deforms in response to tectonic loading and how the deformation process leads to earthquake rupture and sedimentary basin development. Our research employs and integrates field observations, geophysical imaging, numerical modeling, and laboratory geomechanical rock testing experiments.
Group Members
Folarin Kolawole, Ph.D. (Principal Investigator)
Dr. Kolawole is the Principal investigator at the Crust-Def Group at Columbia University. He integrates field geological observations, geophysical imaging, and laboratory geomechanics to study the brittle deformation of the Earth's crust and lithosphere. Currently, my research largely focuses on unraveling 1.) how strain is accommodated during the early phases of continental extension, and 2.) the geological and mechanical structure of intraplate faults, and the nature of the contemporary stress state that facilitate their seismic reactivation, in relation to both anthropogenically induced and natural intraplate earthquakes.
Rasheed Ajala, Ph.D. (NSF Postdoc Fellow, Lamont Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr. Ajala is a Lamont-Doherty Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. His primary research area is Computational Seismology, and he is interested in developing and utilizing seismic imaging techniques to understand the Earth’s crustal structure and tectonic evolution, and improving seismic hazard assessment. His study areas include Southern California, Indo-Burma, Madagascar, East and Southern Africa.
Currently, his research is focused on integrating structural geology concepts with seismology, and geodynamic modeling to investigate the crustal structure and geodynamics of Salton Trough (Southern California), the magma-poor Western Branch of the East African Rift System, and Cascadia subduction margin.
Leonard Ohenhen (Incoming Fall 2024 Lamont Postdoctoral Fellow)
Leonard Ohenhen will be starting a Lamont Postdoc Fellow position this Fall after the completion of his Ph.D. at the Earth Observation & Innovation Lab at Virginia Tech. Leonard is a geodesist/geophysicist specialized in satellite geodesy, signal processing, near surface geophsyics, as applied to the physics of crustal deformation.
At the Crust-Def Lab, he will be using cutting edge geodetic techniques to explore the spatiotemporal patterns of active tectonic deformation in California, as well as in areas of active surface subsidence along the Eastern North American coastal margin.
Christian Rowan (PhD Student)
Chris is investigating the structural evolution of multi-stage volcanic rift zones, specifically in the Turkana Depression of the East African Rift System. Chris's research involves the integration of field geology (structure and sedimentology), seismic reflection interpretation, and potential field geophysics to investigate how juvenile active rift basins evolve through space and time. Prior to joining Columbia, Chris obtained a MS degree in geology from Rutgers University where he investigated Cenozoic volcanic sequences in the Turkana Rift Basin.
Meritxell Colet (PhD Student)
Meritxell's research focuses on investigating how how fault geometry, fine-scale structure, regional and local stresses control the reactivation and kinematics of plate boundary faults. Her research approach integrates field structural geology, seismology, and geodynamic modeling. Meri joined the Crust-Def lab in 2023 Fall, but prior to joining the Crust-Def Lab, Meritxell worked as a Field System Engineer and Analyst at the Infrasound Lab (ISLA) at the University of Hawaiʻi (UH).
Andry Ramarolahy (PhD Student)
Andry is investigating mechanics and kinematic complexities along propagating rifts that exploit inherited plate boundaries in the southern branches of the East African Rift System. Prior to joining the Crust-Def Lab, Andry obtained a MS degree in seismology from the Institute and Observatory of Geophysics of Antananarivo in Amadagascar.
Lela Kornfeld (Undergraduate Researcher)
Lela is a Sophomore, pursuing an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences. She is investigating the structure of damage and alteration zones along active faults in eastern California. Her research involves field-based structural mapping and laboratory analysis of fault rock microstructure. Lela joined the Crust-Def lab in Spring 2023.
Alexa Mitchell (Undergraduate Researcher)
Lex is a C.P. Davis Scholar Junior undergrad, majoring in Earth Science. Lex's research investigates the damage zone of an active basement fault in New York City by combining multi-scale field-based structural mapping of fracture distribution and passive seismic imaging of velocity distribution across the fault trace. Lex joined the Crust-Def lab in Fall 2024.
Mia Yiannias (Undergraduate Researcher)
Mia is a Junior undergrad, majoring in Earth Science and Applied Mathematics. Mia joined the Crust-Def lab in Fall 2024. Mia's research is focused on characterizing shallow subsurface structure of the Mountainville Fault Zone- a presumably active basement-hosted intraplate fault zone that ruptured in the 2024 Mw4.8 Tewksbury, New Jersey earthquake.
Our Alumni
Cameron Grant (Undergraduate Researcher- Graduated Spring 2024)
Cameron (CU 2024) was an undergraduate student in Earth Sciences. He joined the Crust-Def lab as a Junior in Fall 2022 and completed his undergraduate senior thesis in the lab in May 2024. During the two years in the lab, he investigated fault development in incipient rift zones and fault scaling relationships at the southern tip of the East African Rift System. His research involved the integration of remote sensing, field structural geology, and geophysics to investigate fault growth in the Okavango-Makgadikgadi Rift Zone. His work produced two conference abstracts and a journal article published in the prestigious Earth & planetary Science Letters (Grant et al., 2024, EPSL).
Linkedin URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-grant-b2a0a91b4
Zach Foster-Baril (Postdoc, Jan. 2024 - Feb. 2025)
Zach’s research at CU's Crustal Deformation Lab involved the use of low temperature thermochronology to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of rift-related crustal deformation across the Fundi Basin in the Eastern North American rifted margin.
Sydney Maguire (Graduate Student, Fall 2023 - Spring 2024)
Sydney’s research at CU's Crustal Deformation Lab involved the investigation of how pull-apart basin-bounding faults evolve, with particular focus on fault zone structure and kinematics.
Eva Sharman (Undergraduate Researcher, Fall 2023)
Eva is an undergraduate student, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. During her time with the lab, she worked on a project investigating upper mantle seismic anisotropy patterns beneath a segment of the East African Rift System.
Macy Matthews (Undergraduate Researcher, Summer 2023)
Macy is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences. During her internship, she worked on a research that involve the mapping of fracture systems in subsurface cores.
Krista Watson (NSF-REU Intern, Summer 2023)
Krista is an undergraduate major in Ecology at Gateway Community College, Connecticut. During their NSF-REU internship at the CU Crust-Def lab, Krista investigated crustal deformation and geomorphic expression of incipient rift reactivation in a basin along the East African Rift System.
Sarah H. Alsharif (Undergraduate Researcher, Summer 2023)
Sarah is an undergraduate student in Earth and Environmental Engineering. During her summer research at tour lab, she worked on a research involving the use of tectonic geomorphology techniques to map surface-rupturing fault distribution in an active rift along the East African Rift System.
Farhan Tanvir (Undergraduate Researcher, Summer 2023)
Farhan is an applied physics undergraduate student, working on research involving the use of seismology techniques for imaging upper-crustal structure and tectonic deformation beneath a rift along the East African Rift System.
Patrick Boston (Visiting Intern, Summer 2023)
Patrick is an undergraduate major in Geology at Mid-Western State University, Texas. During his internship at our lab, he worked on the coupling of brittle damage and fault displacement across a border fault relay zone in the Albertine Rift, Uganda.
Lawson Goodloe (Undergraduate Researcher, Fall 2022)
Lawson is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Earth & Environmental Engineering. Lawson's research in our lab utilized seismology techniques to investigate crustal structure beneath an active rift zone.