Julian Lowman

Interior Structure and Dynamics of Terrestrial Planets

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences
University of Toronto Scarborough
Toronto, ON,
M1C 1A4, Canada
phone: 416 208 4880; fax: 416 287 7279
e-mail: lowman@utsc.utoronto.ca

ALSO at:

Departments of Physics, Astronomy & Astrophysics and Earth Sciences
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON,
M5S 1A7, Canada

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Brief CV

• B.Sc., Toronto (1990); M.Sc., York (1993); Ph.D., York (1997).

• PDF, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA (1998-99); Lecturer, Leeds, UK (2000-05); Assistant Professor, Toronto (2006-2010); Visiting Professor, Nantes, France (summer 2009); Associate Professor, Toronto (2010-);

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Graduate Student Opportunities

Funding opportunities are available for both M.Sc. and Ph.D. student applicants with interests in mantle convection studies and the modelling of fundamental heat transport processes in viscous fluids. Applicants should possess good communication skills and a first degree in mathematics, physics, geophysics or an appropriate branch of engineering. Potential students would be enrolled in either the Department of Physics, the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics or the Department of Earth Sciences . The start date is typically August of each year. However, as the University of Toronto has only one intake time per year, it is essential that interested students begin the application procedure prior to the end of the previous year (November). Interested Masters and PhD program applicants are encouraged to contact me directly at lowman@utsc.utoronto.ca regarding potential research projects.

• Keely O'Farrell (PhD candidate, Emulating the thermal structure of spherical shell convection in plane-layer geometry calculations: implications for modelling mantle dynamics)

• Phil Heron (PhD candidate, MSc - Investigating the effect of supercontinent assembly on mantle convection)

• Sean Trim (PhD student, MSc - Effects of rheological heterogeneity at the mantle's boundaries)

• Elliott Sales de Andrade (MSc, University of Toronto, Effects of linear viscosity stratification on mean temperature in two-dimensional Cartesian and cylindrical mantle convection)

• Andrew D. Gait (PhD, University of Leeds, Thesis: Mantle Convection Incorporating Evolving Plate Geometries)

• Dan Nettelfield (MPhil, University of Leeds, Thesis: The Effect Of Imposed Surface Velocities On Numerical Models of Mantle Convection)

• Laura Pinero-Feliciangeli (PhD, University of Leeds, Thesis: Upper Mantle Seismic Anisotropy (co-supervisor))

• Numerical methods in computational fluid dynamics

• The heating modes and cooling processes in terrestrial planets

• Investigation of the feedback between mantle convection and surface motion

• The supercontinent cycle and its effect on the long wavelength heterogeneity of mantle convection

• Computer visualisation applications for 3D computational fluid dynamics

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Quere, S., Lowman, J.P., Arkani-Hamed, J., Roberts, J., and R. Moucha, Subcontinental sinking slab remnants in a spherical geometry mantle model J. Geophys. Res., In Press, 2013.

O'Farrell, K.A., Lowman, J.P., and H-.P. Bunge, Comparison of spherical shell and plane-layer mantle convection thermal structure in viscously stratified models with mixed-mode heating: implications for the incorporation of temperature-dependent parameters, Geophys. J. Int., Vol. 192, 456-472, doi:10.1093/gji/ggs053, 2013.

Stein, C., Lowman, J.P., and U. Hansen, The influence of mantle internal heating on lithospheric mobility: implications for super-Earths, Earth Planet Sci. Lett., Vol. 361, 448-459, 2013.

Lowman, J.P., King, S.D., and S.J. Trim, The influence of plate boundary motion on planform in viscously stratified mantle convection models, J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 116, B12402, doi:10.1029/2011JB008362, 2011.

Stein, C., Finnenkotter, A., Lowman, J.P., and U. Hansen, The pressure-weakening effect on Super-Earths: consequences of a decrease in lower mantle viscosity on the surface dynamics, Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 38, L21201, doi:10.1029/2011GL049341, 2011.

Heron, P.J., and J.P. Lowman, The effects of supercontinent size and thermal insulation on the formation of mantle plumes, Tectonophysics, Vol. 510, 28-38, doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2011.07.002, 2011.

Lowman, J.P., Mantle convection models featuring plate tectonic behaviour: an overview of methods and progress, Tectonophysics, Vol. 510, 1-16, doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2011.04.015, 2011.

Stein, C., and J.P. Lowman, Response of mantle heat flux to plate evolution, Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 37, L24201, doi:10.1029/2010GL045283, 2010.

Heron, P.J., and J.P. Lowman, Thermal response of the mantle following the formation of a `super-plate', Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 37, L22302, doi:10.1029/2010GL045136, 2010.

O'Farrell, K.A., and J.P. Lowman, Emulating the thermal structure of spherical shell convection in plane-layer geometry mantle convection models, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., Vol. 182, 73-84, doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2010.06.010, 2010.

Lowman, J.P., Gait, A.D., Gable, C.W., and H. Kukreja, Plumes anchored by a high viscosity lower mantle in a 3D mantle convection model featuring dynamically evolving plates , Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 35, doi:10.1029/2008GL035342, 2008.

Gait, A.D., Lowman, J.P., and C.W. Gable, Time-dependence in 3D mantle convection models featuring evolving plates: the effect of lower mantle viscosity , J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 113, B08409, doi:10.1029/2007JB005538, 2008.

Shahnas, M.H., Lowman, J.P., Jarvis, G.T., and H-.P. Bunge, Convection in a spherical shell heated by an isothermal core and internal sources: implications for the thermal state of planetary mantles, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., Vol. 168, 6-15, doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2008.04.007, 2008.

Gait, A.D., and J.P. Lowman, Effect of lower mantle viscosity on the time-dependence of plate velocities in three-dimensional mantle convection models , Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 34, L21304, doi:10.1029/2007GL031396, 2007.

Lowman, J.P., Pinero-Feliciangeli, L.T., Kendall, J.-M., and M.H., Shahnas, Influence of convergent plate boundaries on upper mantle flow and implications for seismic anisotropy , Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. (Gcubed), Vol. 8, Q08007, doi:10.1029/2007GC001627, 2007.

Gait, A.D., and J.P. Lowman, Time-dependence in mantle convection models featuring dynamically evolving plates, Geophys. J. Int., Vol. 171, 463-477, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X, 2007.

Jarvis, G.T., and J.P. Lowman, Survival times of subducted slab remnants in numerical models of mantle flow , Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., Vol. 260, 23-36, 2007.