My primary research focuses on geodynamics, including:

• Mantle convection processes

• Subduction zone dynamics

• Seismic activity and planetary science

2016–2021
Ph.D. in Geophysics, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
2013–2016
M.Sc. in Geophysics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)
2009–2013
B.Sc. in Geophysics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)

2021–2024
Postdoc, California Institude of Technology, USA
2025–present
Assistant professor, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

1. Zhe Jia, Wei Mao, María Constanza Flores, Sebastián Barra, Sergio Ruiz, Bertrand Potin, Thorsten W. Becker, Marcos Moreno, Juan Carlos Baez, Daniel Ceroni, Leoncio Cabrera, (2025). Deep intra-slab rupture and mechanism transition of the 2024 Mw 7.4 Calama earthquake. Nature Communications, 16, 8140

2. Zhe Jia, Wenyuan Fan, Wei Mao, Peter M. Shearer, Dave A. May, (2025). Dual mechanism transition controls rupture development of large deep earthquakes. AGU Advances, 6(3), e2025AV001701

3. Shunjie Han, Tao Yuan, Wei Mao, and Shijie Zhong, (2024). The persisting conundrum of mantle viscosity inferred from mantle convection and glacial isostatic adjustment processes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 648, 119069

4. Erin Hightower, Michael Gurnis, Wei Mao, (2024). Influence of Farallon slab loading on intraplate stress and seismicity in eastern North America in the presence of pre-existing weak zones. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 25, e2024GC011493

5. Wei Mao, Michael Gurnis, Wenbo Wu, (2022). On the origin of small-scale seismic scatters at 660-km depth. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23, 2022GC010560

6. Kang Kaixuan, Shijie Zhong, A Geruo, Wei Mao, (2022). The effects of non-Newtonian rheology in the upper mantle on relative sea level change and geodetic observables induced by glacial isostatic adjustment process. Geophysical Journal International, 228, 1887-1906.

7. Wei Mao, Shijie Zhong, (2021). Formation of horizontally deflected slabs in the mantle transition zone caused by spinel-to-post-spinel phase transition, its associated grainsize reduction effects, and trench retreat. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2021GL093679.

8. Wei Mao, Shijie Zhong, (2021). Constraints on mantle viscosity from intermediate-wavelength geoid anomalies in mantle convection models with plate motion history. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126(4), e2020JB021561.

9. Wei Mao, Shijie Zhong, (2019). Controls on global mantle convective structures and their comparison with seismic models. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth, 124(8), 9345-9372

10. Wei Mao, Shijie Zhong, (2018). Slab stagnation due to a reduced viscosity layer beneath the mantle transition zone. Nature Geoscience, 11(11), 876-881

11. Wei Leng, Wei Mao, (2015). Geodynamic modeling of thermal structure of subduction zones, Science China Earth Science, 58(7), 1070-1083