# Cynthia Ebinger

Cynthia Ebinger is an American geoscientist at Tulane University known for her research on continental rifts and the movement of continental plate boundaries.

## Education

Ebinger's undergraduate degree is from Duke University (1982). She has an S.M. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1986) and a Ph.D. from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1988).

## Career

Ebinger did postdoctoral training at the National Aeronautics and Space Agency's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center and was a NATO postdoctoral fellow at Leeds University (1990–1991). She was a professor at the University of London (2004–2006) and a lecturer at the University of Leeds (1991–1998). In 2006, she moved to the University of Rochester, where she was a full professor. In 2017, she moved to Tulane University, when she was named the first Marshall-Heape Chair in 2017.
Ebinger was editor-in-chief of the journal Basin Research from 2015 to 2019.

### Research

While Ebinger was at NASA, she worked with anthropologists on images of the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia to find eroded sediments indicative of fossil beds that were visible from space. She has also worked on the magmatic margins of the Main Ethiopian rift, modeled the plume of magma beneath the Ethiopean plateau, and examined changes rock-magma interactions to determine how magmatic intrusion causes earthquakes. Ebinger has conducted research at multiple field locations including Tanzania, the Galapagos, and in the continental United States where her research explains the bend in Appalachian Mountains. She has also worked on carbonate-rich magmas on continental rifts where she led an interdisciplinary team that examined how rifts shift carbon dioxide over geologic time.
Ebinger shares her research expertise through appearances on National Public Radio. In 2009, Ebinger talked with National Public Radio about her work in the Ethiopian desert which she described as "creating new ocean floor". In a 2014 appearance on Science Friday Cynthia Ebinger and Elizabeth Cottrell spoke about volcanic eruptions, monitoring earthquakes from land-based measurements and from space, and the potential for predicting earthquakes to allow people to evacuate an area before an earthquake.
In 2013, Ebinger was named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union,
   For fundamental work on the evolution of continental rifts toward seafloor spreading in East Africa and afar.

### Selected publications

* Ebinger, C. J.; Sleep, N. H. (1998). "Cenozoic magmatism throughout east Africa resulting from impact of a single plume". Nature. 395 (6704): 788–791. Bibcode:1998Natur.395..788E. doi:10.1038/27417. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4379613.
* Ebinger, C. J.; Casey, M. (2001-06-01). "Continental breakup in magmatic provinces: An Ethiopian example". Geology. 29 (6): 527–530. Bibcode:2001Geo....29..527E. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0527:CBIMPA>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0091-7613.
* Ebinger, C. J. (1989-07-01). "Tectonic development of the western branch of the East African rift system". GSA Bulletin. 101 (7): 885–903. Bibcode:1989GSAB..101..885E. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1989)101<0885:TDOTWB>2.3.CO;2. ISSN 0016-7606.

## Awards and honors

* Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2013)
* Distinguished Lectureship, Geodynamic Processes at Rifting and Subducting Margins (GeoPRISMS) (2013)

## Reference section

* 1 2 3 "Cynthia Ebinger Named Fellow of American Geophysical Union". Archived from the original on 2014-04-20. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
* ↑ Ebinger, Cynthia Joan (1986). Tectonic model of the MalaÅµi Rift, Africa (Thesis thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/15058.
* ↑ Ebinger, Cynthia Joan (1988). Thermal and mechanical development of the East African Rift System (Thesis thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/53531.
* 1 2 "School of Geosciences Seminar Series - Cynthia Ebinger (Tulane University)". School of Geosciences. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
* ↑ "Focus on Faculty: Dr. Cynthia Ebinger | Honors". honors.tulane.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
* ↑ "Tulane Earth and Environmental Sciences Newsletter". Issuu. 2016. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
* ↑ "Cynthia J. Ebinger". School of Science & Engineering. 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
* ↑ "Issue Information". Basin Research. 31 (1): i–ii. 2019. doi:10.1111/bre.12340. ISSN 1365-2117.
* ↑ Rotevatn, Atle; Ebinger, Cynthia (2020-01-30). "Basin Research outstanding reviewers 2018–19". Basin Research. 32 (1): 1–2. Bibcode:2020BasR...32....1R. doi:10.1111/bre.12278. ISSN 1365-2117.
* ↑ Gibbons, Ann (1991). "A "New Look" for Archeology". Science. 252 (5008): 918–920. Bibcode:1991Sci...252..918G. doi:10.1126/science.252.5008.918. ISSN 0036-8075. JSTOR 2875343. PMID 17843221.
* ↑ Ebinger, C. J.; Casey, M. (2001-06-01). "Continental breakup in magmatic provinces: An Ethiopian example". Geology. 29 (6): 527–530. Bibcode:2001Geo....29..527E. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0527:CBIMPA>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0091-7613.
* ↑ Ebinger, C. J. (1989-07-01). "Tectonic development of the western branch of the East African rift system". GSA Bulletin. 101 (7): 885–903. Bibcode:1989GSAB..101..885E. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1989)101<0885:TDOTWB>2.3.CO;2. ISSN 0016-7606.
* ↑ Ebinger, C. J.; Sleep, N. H. (1998). "Cenozoic magmatism throughout east Africa resulting from impact of a single plume". Nature. 395 (6704): 788–791. Bibcode:1998Natur.395..788E. doi:10.1038/27417. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4379613.
* ↑ Ebinger, C. J.; Keir, D.; Bastow, I. D.; Whaler, K.; Hammond, J. O. S.; Ayele, A.; Miller, M. S.; Tiberi, C.; Hautot, S. (2017). "Crustal Structure of Active Deformation Zones in Africa: Implications for Global Crustal Processes". Tectonics. 36 (12): 3298–3332. Bibcode:2017Tecto..36.3298E. doi:10.1002/2017TC004526. hdl:10044/1/50620. ISSN 1944-9194. S2CID 55833351.
* ↑ Dawson, Faith (March 6, 2018). "Professor searches for clues to predict volcanic eruptions". Tulane News. Archived from the original on 2018-03-25. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
* ↑ Bronston, Barri (July 29, 2020). "Tulane part of study that discovers massive submarine landslide offshore Tanzania". Tulane News. Archived from the original on 2020-08-08.
* ↑ Maselli, Vittorio; Iacopini, David; Ebinger, Cynthia J.; Tewari, Sugandha; de Haas, Henk; Wade, Bridget S.; Pearson, Paul N.; Francis, Malcolm; van Vliet, Arjan; Richards, Bill; Kroon, Dick (2020-07-10). "Large-scale mass wasting in the western Indian Ocean constrains onset of East African rifting". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 3456. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.3456M. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17267-5. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7351987. PMID 32651391.
* ↑ Bronston, Barri (March 8, 2021). "Guts of Galapagos Volcano Revealed in 3D Images". Tulane News. Archived from the original on 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
* ↑ Bell, Andrew F.; La Femina, Peter C.; Ruiz, Mario; Amelung, Falk; Bagnardi, Marco; Bean, Christopher J.; Bernard, Benjamin; Ebinger, Cynthia; Gleeson, Matthew; Grannell, James; Hernandez, Stephen (2021-03-02). "Caldera resurgence during the 2018 eruption of Sierra Negra volcano, Galápagos Islands". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 1397. Bibcode:2021NatCo..12.1397B. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21596-4. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7925514. PMID 33654084.
* ↑ "The bend in the Appalachian mountain chain is finally explained". ScienceDaily. July 18, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-07-20. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
* ↑ Benoit, Margaret H.; Ebinger, Cynthia; Crampton, Melanie (2014-09-15). "Orogenic bending around a rigid Proterozoic magmatic rift beneath the Central Appalachian Mountains". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 402: 197–208. Bibcode:2014E&PSL.402..197B. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.064. ISSN 0012-821X.
* ↑ Muirhead, James D.; Fischer, Tobias P.; Oliva, Sarah J.; Laizer, Amani; van Wijk, Jolante; Currie, Claire A.; Lee, Hyunwoo; Judd, Emily J.; Kazimoto, Emmanuel; Sano, Yuji; Takahata, Naoto (2020). "Displaced cratonic mantle concentrates deep carbon during continental rifting". Nature. 582 (7810): 67–72. Bibcode:2020Natur.582...67M. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2328-3. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32494080. S2CID 219282129.
* ↑ "Study shows diamonds aren't forever". www.newswise.com. June 4, 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
* ↑ "Study shows diamonds aren't forever". ScienceDaily. June 5, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-06-05. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
* ↑ "New Ocean May Be Forming In The Desert". NPR.org. November 8, 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
* ↑ "Cynthia Ebinger". Science Friday. September 12, 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
* 1 2 and the citation read:"Ebinger". Honors Program. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
* ↑ University, Michigan Technological. "GeoPRISMS Distinguished Lecturer: Prof. Cynthia Ebinger, Tulane University". Michigan Tech Events Calendar. Retrieved 2021-06-18.