Kuo-Fong Ma[a] (Chinese: 馬國鳳; pinyin: Mǎ Guó Fèng, 1963 – ) is a Taiwanese seismologist. She is primarily known for research conducted on the Chelungpu Fault, the cause of one of the most devastating earthquakes in Taiwan, the 1999 Jiji earthquake.[1]

Kuo-Fong Ma
Born1963 (age 60–61)
Taiwan
Known forEarthquake seismology, Earthquake physics, Engineering and seismotectonics
Scientific career
Doctoral advisorHiroo Kanamori

Career

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Ma was born in 1963 at Su'ao, Taiwan. She graduated from National Central University in 1985 and received her master's degree in 1987 from the Institute of Oceanography at National Taiwan University. In 1993, she earned a PhD degree from the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at Caltech.

She is currently the Chief Scientist of the Taiwan Earthquake Research Center,[2] a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica,[3] a professor in the Earth Sciences Department of National Central University, and the founder and Director of the Earthquake- Disaster & Risk Evaluation and Risk Management (E-DREaM) Center.[4] She is also a member of the Global Earthquake Model.

Ma was one of the Ten Outstanding Young Women of Republic of China of the year 2000[5] and received the Academic Award of Ministry of Education in 2007.[6] In 2011, she was awarded a Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science (TOWIS) prize[7][8] and the annual science prize from the Chien-Shiung Wu Education Foundation.[9]

She received a Ministry of Education National Chair Professorship in 2013.[10] In 2019, she was elected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.[11]

Research

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Ma led the "Taiwan Chelungpu Fault Drilling Project," which explored the causes of the 1999 Jiji earthquake that occurred in central Taiwan on September 21, 1999.[12] Her team was the first to measure the actual thickness of earthquake slip zones, a key parameter in understanding earthquake energy release.[13][14][9] Her research implied that the causes of the 921 earthquake is cyclical in nature, predicting a similar one in 400 years.

Analyses of the earthquake also led to the first characterization of earthquakes caused by the movement of underground water. The team defined this unusual type of earthquake as an "isotropic event," an earthquake-like event caused by natural hydraulic fracturing.[15] This finding might have implications for fracking operations.[16]

Ma established a Taiwan Earthquake Committee to chart earthquake models of Taiwan (the Taiwan Earthquake Model project).[17][18] In 2018, she created the Earthquake Disaster & Risk Evaluation and Management Center (E-DREaM), an agency that brings together experts and scholars in the disaster chains to analyze the risk factors of events such as earthquakes, tsunami, landslides, soil liquefaction, and extreme weather systems.[19]

Key publications

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  • Ma, K. F., Mori, J., Lee, S. J., & Yu, S. B. (2001). Spatial and temporal distribution of slip for the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 91(5), 1069–1087.
  • Ma, K. F., Tanaka, H., Song, S. R., Wang, C. Y., Hung, J. H., Tsai, Y. B., ... & Wu, H. Y. (2006). Slip zone and energetics of a large earthquake from the Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project. Nature, 444(7118), 473–476.
  • Ma, K. F., Lin, Y. Y., Lee, S. J., Mori, J., & Brodsky, E. E. (2012). Isotropic events observed with a borehole array in the Chelungpu fault zone, Taiwan. Science, 337(6093), 459–463.

References

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  1. ^ ""改寫世界地震理論的台灣女科學家:馬國鳳"". 15 June 2017.
  2. ^ "馬國鳳 特聘研究員 Kuo-Fong Ma Distinguished Research Fellow". Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Ma, Kuo-Fong". Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  4. ^ "About Us". E-DREAM. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  5. ^ "總統接見第十八屆十大傑出女青年". Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  6. ^ "教育部第17屆國家講座主持人暨第57屆學術獎得獎人名單公布". Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  7. ^ "2011年第四屆台灣傑出女科學家獎「傑出獎」得主馬國鳳博士". Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  8. ^ "Winner of the 4th TOWIS Award – Researcher Dr. Kuo-fong Ma". Youtube. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Ground Breaking". Taiwan Today. November 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  10. ^ "國家講座及學術獎 名單揭曉". Archived from the original on 2013-11-22. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  11. ^ "2019 Class of AGU Fellows Announced". 15 August 2019.
  12. ^ "Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project (TCDP)". International Continental Scientific Drilling Program. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  13. ^ Ma, Kuo-Fong; Tanaka, Hidemi; Song, Sheng-Rong; Wang, Chien-Ying; Hung, Jih-Hao; Tsai, Yi-Ben; Mori, Jim; Song, Yen-Fang; Yeh, Eh-Chao; Soh, Wonn; Sone, Hiroki; Kuo, Li-Wei; Wu, Hung-Yu (2006). "Slip zone and energetics of a large earthquake from the Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project". Nature. 444 (7118): 473–476. Bibcode:2006Natur.444..473M. doi:10.1038/nature05253. PMID 17122854. S2CID 4413738.
  14. ^ "Breakthrough in Understanding Fault Zone Behavior and Evolution after the 1999 Chi-Chi Taiwan Earthquake". Taiwan Research Highlight. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  15. ^ Ma, Kuo-Fong; Lin, Yen-Yu; Lee, Shiann-Jong; Mori, Jim; Brodsky, Emily E. (2012). ""Isotropic Events Observed with a Borehole Array in the Chelungpu Fault Zone, Taiwan"". Science. 337 (6093): 459–463. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..459M. doi:10.1126/science.1222119. PMID 22837526. S2CID 33508855.
  16. ^ "Erdbeben durch natürliches Fracking". Wissenschaft Aktuell. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  17. ^ "Taiwan Earthquake Model". Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  18. ^ "你是強震的高風險族群嗎?". The Reporter. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  19. ^ "E-DREAM". Retrieved 11 January 2021.

Notes

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  1. ^ In this Chinese name, the family name is Ma.
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