Ikuko Wada
Postdoctoral fellow
iwada@whoi.edu
Department of Geology and Geophysics
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA
+1 508 289 2634
http://www.whoi.edu/people/iwada
Citizenship
Japan
Permanent Residency
Languages
English and Japanese
Primary Field of Specialization
Canada
Numerical modeling of fluid mechanics and heat
transport in subduction zones
Research Interests
My primary research interests are in the geodynamics of the Earth in general and
subduction zones in particular. Topics include
 Mantle rheology and slab-mantle interface strength and their effects on mantle flow
 Thermo-petrologic structure of subduction zones and its controls on subduction zone
processes, such as arc volcanism and earthquakes
 Mineral grain size distribution and grain-scale fluid migration in the mantle wedge
 Fluid availability and its relation to melt generation in the mantle wedge
 Mantle convection and thermal structure in the back arc
 Tectonic forces and stresses
Academic History
11/2009 – present
09/2003 – 08/2009
05/1998 – 08/2003
Postdoctoral fellow with funding provided by US NSF
MARGINS program, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Ph.D., Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria (UVic)
jointly at Pacific Geoscience Centre (PGC), Geological Survey of
Canada, BC, Canada
B.Sc., Earth and Ocean Sciences, UVic, BC, Canada
Employment History
09/2006 – 04/2008 Laboratory instructor for a first-year physics course, UVic
01/2006 – 04/2006 Laboratory coordinator for a first-year geology course, UVic
01/2004 – 12/2005 Laboratory instructor for a first-year geology course, UVic
01/2002 – 08/2002 Geophysical research assistant, PGC
08/2001 – 12/2001 Petrological research assistant, UVic
05/2001 – 07/2001 Paleontological research assistant, UVic
Ikuko Wada
page 2 of 4
Field Experience
07/2010
Research cruise, collecting rock samples from submarine volcanoes in
the Marianas
06/2010
Field school in Central Alps, Switzerland and Italy (as part of an
MIT/WHOI graduate course)
02/2005
Research cruise, marine heat flow probing offshore Ecuador and
Colombia, the international natural hazards AMADEUS project
08/2003
Research cruise, seismic survey offshore of Vancouver Island, Canada
08/2002
Field work, geological mapping and sampling rocks in Sooke, BC,
Canada
2001-2002
Two undergraduate field schools, geological mapping in western
Canada and shipboard geophysical measurements offshore of Vancouver
Island, Canada
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Wada, I., S. Mazzotti, and K. Wang, Intraslab stresses in the Cascadia subduction zone
from inversion of earthquake focal mechanisms, accepted by Bull. Seism. Soc.
Am.
Wada, I., and K. Wang, Common depth of decoupling between the subducting slab and
mantle wedge: Reconciling diversity and uniformity of subduction zones,
Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10, Q10009, doi:10.1029/2009GC002570.
James, T. S., E. J. Gowan, I. Wada, and K. Wang, Glacio-isostatic adjustment modeling
of new relative sea-level observations from the northern Cascadia subduction
zone, British Columbia, Canada, J. Geophys. Res., 114, B04405,
doi:10.1029/2008JB006077, 2009.
Kao, H., K. Wang, R.-Y. Chen, I. Wada, J. He, and S. D. Malone, Identifying rupture
plane of the 2001 Nisqually, Washington Earthquake, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 98,
1546-1558, 2008.
Wada, I., K. Wang, J. He, and R. D. Hyndman, Weakening of the subduction interface
and its effects on surface heat flow, slab dehydration, and mantle wedge
serpentinization, J. Geophys. Res., 113, B04402, doi:10.1029/2007JB005190,
2008.
Wang, K., J. C. Cassidy, I. Wada, and A. J. Smith, Effects of metamorphic crustal
densification on earthquake size in warm slabs, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31,
doi:10.1029/2003GL018644, 2004.
Wang, K., Wada, I., and Ishikawa, Y., Stresses in the subducting slab beneath southwest
Japan and relation with plate geometry, tectonic forces, slab dehydration, and
damaging earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., 109, B08304, doi:10.1029/
2003JB002888, 2004.
Ikuko Wada
page 3 of 4
Publications in Preparation
Wada, I., K. Wang, and C. A. Rychert, Sharp thermal transition in the forearc mantle
wedge as a consequence of nonlinear mantle wedge flow.
Wada, I., M. D. Behn, and J. He, Sharp arc-ward grain size increase in the forearc mantle
wedge and its implications for fluid migration.
Awards and Fellowship
2009-present
US NSF MARGINS postdoctoral fellowship
2008
AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award
2007
SEOS Graduate student workshop, best presentation award, UVic
Presentations
 2010 AGU Fall Meeting one invited presentation (to be given): Thermo-petrologic
structure of subduction zones and its implications for fluid availability at depth
 2010 AGU Fall Meeting presentation (to be given): Sharp arc-ward grain size
increase in the forearc mantle wedge and its implications for fluid migration.
 MARGINS successor planning workshop, San Antonio, Texas, 2010
 2009 AGU Fall Meeting poster presentation: Sharp thermal transition in the forearc
mantle wedge as a consequence of nonlinear mantle wedge flow
 MARGINS Workshop on Volatiles TEI workshop, a keynote speaker, Mt. Hood,
Oregon, 2009
 2008 AGU Fall Meeting Invited oral presentation: Common maximum depth of slabmantle wedge decoupling: Understanding variations in fluid supply and thermalpetrologic processes among subduction zones
 MARGINS Workshop on The Next Decade of the Seismogenic Zone Experiment,
Mt. Hood, Oregon, 2008
 2008 Workshop for Advancing Numerical Modeling of Mantle Convection and
Lithospheric Dynamics, UC Davis, Davis, CA
 Invited seminar speaker for the Geodynamics Seminar Series at Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MS, 2008
 2007 AGU Fall Meeting oral presentation: Comparative study of subduction zone
thermal structure: Implications for slab dehydration and fluid supply for mantle
wedge serpentinization and arc volcanism
 Workshop on The Future of Marine Heat Flow, U. Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 2007
 Seminar speaker at Menlo Park Science Center, USGS, 2007
 2006 AGU Fall Meeting oral presentation: The effect of reduced slab-mantle wedge
coupling on mantle wedge flow and the thermal regime and the serpentinization of
the forearc mantle wedge
Ikuko Wada
page 4 of 4
Presentations (cont.)
 Seminar speaker at Yokosuka Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and
Technology (JAMSTEC), 2006
 2006 Western Pacific Geophysical Meeting, Beijing, China, session chair and oral
presentation: The spatial extent of mantle wedge serpentinization and its effects on
mantle wedge flow and subduction zone thermal structure
 2005 AGU Fall Meeting poster presentation: Effects of plate coupling and margin
topography on forearc stresses
 2004 AGU Fall Meeting poster presentation: Oblique subduction as a controlling
factor for stresses and earthquakes in subducting slabs at the Cascadia and Nankai
subduction zones
 2004 AGU-CGU Joint Assembly 2004, Montreal, Canada, oral presentation: Stress
and metamorphic conditions for warm-slab earthquakes: Geiyo area, Southwest Japan
 2003 AGU Fall Meeting poster submission: In-slab stresses and damaging in-slab
earthquakes in Southwest Japan