My name is Yasunori Sawaki (Ph.D., he/him), an assistant professor at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. I am an early-career researcher in seismology (a study of earthquakes and interior strucure of the Earth), who earned a Ph.D. (Science) from Kyoto University (in Japan) in March 2023. My current work is to estimate the detailed geometry of crustal faults and the seismological heterogeneity in crusts and subducting slabs, with the aim of advancing our understanding of seismotectonics.
Download the latest CV (last updated on 27 December 2025)
Major papers:
| Period | Place | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 24–29 May 2026 | Chiba, Japan | JpGU2026 |
I participated in American Geophysics Union Annual Meeting 2024 held in Washington D.C. during 9–13 December 2024 and gave an oral talk about the fault geometry of the 2024 Mw 7.5 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Interactions with researchers and students ignited my passion for further research.
I visited Noto Peninsula in central Japan, where M7.6 earthquake occurred on 1 Jan 2024. I saw the great uplift on the western coast and surface rupture in the eastern area.
I participated in the 2024 Seismological Society of Japan (SSJ) Fall Meeting , held at the Toki Messe in Niigata City, JP, from Oct. 21 to 23. I made a following oral presentation.
Deep plutonic bodies over low-frequency earthquakes revealed from receiver-side Green's functions
We imaged the slab and crustal structure of the Kii Peninsula in the Nankai subduction zone in SW Japan using a receiver-function-like analysis. Positive impedance contrasts in the forearc crust correspond to the top surface or inside Kumano pluton, which may control fluid conditions around slow-earthquake sources.
Check it out below!
I participated in the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) Meeting 2024 , held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, JP, from May 26 to 31. I made two presentations: one for oral and the other for poster.
Deep Plutonic Bodies Over Low-Frequency Earthquakes Revealed from Receiver-Side Green's Functions
We have a new preprint on the seismic structure beneath the Kii Peninsula, southwestern Japan, available on SSRN. While it’s not yet peer-reviewed, feel free to check it out if you’re interested!
Sawaki, Y., Y. Ito, E. S. M. Garcia, A. Miyakawa, and T. Shibutani. Deep Plutonic Bodies Over Low-Frequency Earthquakes Revealed from Receiver-Side Green’s Functions. Available at SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4793654
SF-A03 Group Workshop at Toyama was held from Feb. 08–10, 2024. I gave a talk about “Hypocenter-based Visualization of Multiscale Earthquake Faults”.
The presentations on geology related to the mechanism of tectonic tremors were interesting to me. As a research collaborator of group A03, I would like to contribute to the comparative subduction zone studies of Slow-to-Fast earthquakes!
Happy New Year! I hope you all have a great year!
I participated in the AGU Fall Meeting 2023 held at San Francisco during December 11–15. We had a good poster presentation with lively discussions with worldwide researchers. I can’t wait the next opportunity to interact with you all!
I visited the United States Geological Survey in Golden, CO for a month and conducted collaborative studies with Dr. David Shelly. It was a fantastic stay and a good opportunity to proceed my research.
I’m going to San Francisco for the upcoming meeting of American Geophysical Union. I have a poster presentation related to my current study .
