Wayne State geology department welcomes new professor Dr. Tesfaye Kidane
Wayne State welcomes it's newest professor, D
r. Tesfaye Kidane to the Department of Environmental Science and Geology!
Before joining WSU, Kidane was a full professor of geological sciences for six years at the School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Science at the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa and the School of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia for two years. He taught several courses including tectonics, structural geology, paleomagnetism and maps and mapping techniques.
His research focuses include continental rift dynamics, plate kinematics, and basin evolution. He uses paleomagnetism technique to support most of his research activity. He has published more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed international journals.
In 2015, he teamed up with scientists from Europe to investigate the sedimentary record of the Afar depression (‘ocean at birth’). The launching of this collaborative work was published in EOS. The investigation of the Afar depression continues and currently, he is developing a proposal for the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) to drill 2.5 kilometers in the Dallol basin to better understand the wider basin history.
Dr. Kidane is excited to continue his research in his ‘new home’ at Wayne State University with its vibrant geology team. He is currently setting up a new paleomagnetic laboratory and looking forward to building a team for magnetostratigraphic, paleomagnetic and environmental magnetism research.