Veronica Rodriguez Tribaldos

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Building 083, Room 0109R

M/S 74R316C

Phone: 510-495-2728

Biography

I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Energy Geosciences Division of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. I obtained a Bachelor Degree in Geology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) and a joint M.Sc. Degree in Applied Geophysics from TU Delft (Netherlands), ETH Zurich (Switzerland), and RWTH Aachen (Germany). In 2018, I received a PhD from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) in which I investigated the spatio-temporal evolution of a large sedimentary basin in northeast Brazil by means of seismic imaging, subsidence analysis through well-log information and gravity modeling.

In 2018, I joined LBNL as a postdoctoral researcher to work with Jonathan Ajo-Franklin and his group in the application of fiber-optic sensing for near-surface imaging. My research focuses on developing and using seismic techniques for near-surface imaging aimed at understanding the dynamics of subsurface processes for environmental and energy-related applications. My expertise lies in the application of fiber-optics based sensing (mostly distributed acoustic sensing, DAS) to these problems.

Research Interests

My research interests include the development and application of innovative geophysical techniques to improve the understanding of subsurface properties that could have an impact on environmental issues, hazards and sustainable management of groundwater and energy resources. My work at LBNL focuses on applying mostly passive seismic approaches, such as ambient noise interferometry, to analyze seismic signatures recorded in DAS datasets that can be exploited for imaging at high resolution and a variety of scales from local, to regional to basin-scale. I am specially interested in combining DAS with Dark Fiber Networks (i.e. fiber-optic cable telecommunication networks that can be repurposed as seismic sensors) to achieve high-resolution monitoring of subsurface dynamics in complex environments that can be challenging to study using classic sensors (e.g. urban areas). The applications I am currently working on include geotechnical and hydrological characterization and monitoring, investigation of ground subsidence dynamics due to permafrost thaw in arctic environments, and basin-scale imaging of structures relevant to geothermal systems.