Yosio Nakamura
Senior Research Scientist, UTIG
Professor, DGS

Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University (1963);
M.S., B.S., Tohoku University (1958, 1956)

Telephone 512-471-0428
email: yosio

Yosio is a geophysicist with special interests in terrestrial and extraterrestrial seismology and expertise in seismic instrumentation. He was among the pioneering researchers who, during and following the Apollo Lunar Landing project in the 1970s, used the extensive data collected by a network of seismic stations on the Moon to make the first direct seismic observations of an extraterrestrial object. This research in lunar seismology has led to an invaluable understanding of the dynamics and internal structure of the Moon. It also provides valuable information about tectonism not available on Earth due to the particularities of our planet's size, composition, and stage of evolution. Under Nakamura's direction, researchers at UTIG have developed a fleet of ocean-bottom seismograph (OBS) instruments in order to acquire high-quality seismic data in targeted marine geologic settings. With UTIG colleague Kirk McIntosh, he used a suite of these OBS instruments in a collaborative U.S.-Chinese project that involved the seismic imaging of Taiwan's continent-collision zone. The collected data have permitted Nakamura and McIntosh to study the crustal-thickening processes that both precede and accompany the collision and to examine the triple junction along eastern Taiwan. More recently, with colleagues Jamie Austin and Ian Dalziel, he led a team of UTIG researchers onboard the U.S. icebreaker R/V Palmer to study the deep crustral structure of Bransfield Strait.

Active Research Projects
TAIGER: Integrated Investigation of the Geodynamics of the Taiwan Orogeny

Professional awards
The Antarctica Service Medal of the United States of America, presented by the National Science Foundation, 2002.