Dr Vincent C H Tong
email: vincent.tong (at) ucl.ac.uk
Welcome to my website at Birkbeck, University of London,
where I am a Lecturer in Geophysics.
I am also affiliated to the UCL-Birkbeck Research School of Earth Sciences.
For more information about me, please follow this link.
I am the Admissions Tutor for distance-learning students.
Teaching
- Geophysics (2nd year undergraduate course)
- Exploration Geophysics (3rd / 4th year undergraduate course)
I am the recipient of the 2009 Birkbeck Excellence in Teaching Award (BETA), and I am interested in pedagogic research in Higher Education, including assessment and feedback, as well as learning support and module design.
Research interests
The aim is to understand the physical structures and processes hiding beneath the surface. High-resolution and state-of-the-art time-lapse methods play a key role in these studies. More specifically, I use and develop
- wavefield & travel-time tomography
- time-lapse techniques
- seismic anisotropy techniques
- seismic reflection imaging techniques
- electrical resistivity techniques
to study
- mid-ocean ridge structure and evolution
- solar interior
- impact cratering processes
- faulting and hydrothermal circulation
- hydrocarbon reservoirs
- ocean currents.
Impact cratering, helioseismology and marine geophysics
Looking into how impact craters were formed? What's the relationship between the crater landform and pre-impact geology? Including craters found on the surface of other solid planetary bodies? We can provide some good insights with geophysics...
Do we do astronomy only at night? In fact, it's fun to use telescopes to do astronomy in broad daylight. After all, our star is shining during the day...
And we can apply geophysical techniques to the study of our Sun, too.
Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory, California
The Sun was setting on the East Pacific. We were on a research vessel collecting seismic data...
We were trying to find out about how the underwater volcanoes between two big tectonic plates might evolve.
We use similar seismic techniques to study underwater volcanoes and sunspots. Except that we don't do field trips on the Sun. Geophysical research has become very interdisciplinary...
- Click here to find out more about research on mid-ocean ridges.
- Click here to find out more about the SOHO satellite.
Publications
Refereed journal articles
Kent, G. M., S. C. Singh, A. J. Harding, M. C. Sinha, J. A. Orcutt, P. J. Barton, R. S. White, S. Bazin, R. W. Hobbs, C. H. Tong and J. W. Pye, Evidence for three-dimensional seismic reflectivity images for enhanced melt supply beneath mid-ocean ridge discontinuities, Nature, v. 406, 614-619, 2000.
Bazin, S., A. J. Harding, G. M. Kent, J. A. Orcutt, C. H. Tong, J. W. Pye, S. C. Singh, P. J. Barton, M. C. Sinha, R. S. White, R. W. Hobbs and H. J. A. Van Avendonk, Three-dimensional shallow crustal emplacement at the 9 03'N overlapping spreading center on the East Pacific Rise: Correlations between magnetization and tomographic images, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 106, B8, 16101-16117, 2001.
Tong, C. H., J. W. Pye, P. J. Barton, R. S. White, M. C. Sinha, S. C. Singh, R. W. Hobbs, S. Bazin, A. J. Harding, G. M. Kent and J. A. Orcutt, Asymmetric melt sills and upper-crustal construction beneath overlapping ridge segments: Implications for the development of melt sills and ridge crests, Geology, v. 30, no. 1, 83-86, 2002.
Tong, C. H., M. J. Thompson, M. R. Warner, S. P. Rajaguru and C. C. Pain, Acoustic wave propagation in the Sun: Implications for wave field and time-distance helioseismology, Astrophysical Journal, v. 582, L121-L124, 2003.
Bazin, S., A. J. Harding, G. M. Kent, J. A. Orcutt, S. C. Singh, C. H. Tong, J. Pye, P. J. Barton, M. C. Sinha, R. S. White, R. W. Hobbs and H. J. A. Van Avendonk. A three-dimensional study of a crustal low velocity region beneath the 9 degrees 03' N overlapping spreading center, Geophysical Research Letters, v30 (2): art. no. 1039, 2003.
Tong, C. H., P. J. Barton, R. S. White, M. C. Sinha, S. C. Singh, J. W. Pye, R. W. Hobbs, S. Bazin, A. J. Harding, G. M. Kent and J. A. Orcutt, Influence of enhanced melt supply on upper crustal structure at a mid-ocean ridge discontinuity: A three-dimensional study of the 9 degrees N East Pacific Rise, Journal of Geophysical Research, 108(B10), 2464, doi:10.1029/2002JB002163, 2003.
Tong, C. H., M. J. Thompson, M. R. Warner and C. C. Pain, Helioseismic signals and wave field helioseismology, Astrophysical Journal, v. 593, 1242-1248, 2003.
Hobbs, R., C. H. Tong and J. Pye, Modelling and processing of 3-D seismic data collected over the Overlapping Spreading Centre on the East Pacific Rise at 9 03'N, New insights into structural interpretation and modelling, Special Publication of The Geological Society, London, v. 212, 251-259, 2003.
Tong, C. H., M. J. Thompson, M. R. Warner and C. C. Pain, The significance of density and attenuation in the local helioseismology, Astrophysical Journal, v. 596, L263-266, 2003.
Tong, C. H., R. S. White, M. R. Warner and ARAD Working Group, Effects of tectonism and magmatism on crack structure in oceanic crust: A seismic anisotropy study, Geology, v. 32, no. 1, 25-28, 2004.
Tong, C. H., C. Lana, R. S. White, M. R. Warner and ARAD Working Group, Subsurface tectonic structure between overlapping mid-ocean ridge segments, Geology, v. 33, no. 5, 409-412, 2005.
Tong, C. H., Imaging sunspots using seismic methods, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, v. 363, p. 2761-2775, 2005.
Singh, S. C., A. J. Harding, M. C. Sinha, G. M Kent, V. Combier, J. W. Pye, S. Bazin, C. H. Tong, P. J. Barton, R. W. Hobbs, R. S. White and J. A. Orcutt, Three-dimensional reflectivity images of Moho and melt sills beneath the 9 degrees N overlapping spreading centre on the East Pacific Rise, Nature, v. 442, p. 287-290, 2006.
Smith A., I. A. Crawford, R. A. Gowen, A. J. Ball, S. J. Barber, P. Church, A. J. Coates, Y. Gao, A. D. Griffiths, A. Hagermann, K. H. Joy, A. Phipps, W. T. Pike, R. Scott, S. Sheridan, M. Sweeting, D. Talboys, V. Tong, N. Wells, J. Biele, J. Chela-Flores, B. Dabrowski, J. Flannagan, M. Grande, J. Grygorczuk, G. Kargl, O. B. Khavroshkin, G. Klingelhoefer, M. Knapmeyer, W. Marczewski, S. McKenna-Lawlor, L. Richter, D. A. Rothery, K. Seweryn, S. Ulamec, R. Wawrzaszek, M. Wieczorek, I. P. Wright, M. Sims, LunarEX-a proposal to cosmic vision, Experimental Astronomy, v. 23, p. 711-740, 2009.
Tong, C. H., C. Lana, Y. R. Marangoni and V. R. Elis, Geoelectric evidence for centripetal resurge of impact melt and breccias over central uplift of Araguainha impact structure, Geology, v. 38, p. 91-94, 2010.
Tong, C. H., Let interdisciplinary research begin in undergraduate years, Nature, v. 463, p. 157, 2010.