My research projects revolve around the general question of what controls the style, rate, and temporal evolution of Earth’s crust deformation at tectonic plate boundaries. I am particularly interested in understanding how parameters that are temporally and/or spatially unsteady (like lithospheric strength, thermal flux, surface loads,…) ultimately modulate the pattern of faulting within plate-boundary zones.

I typically tackle these questions by tracking the morpho-tectonic and kinematic signature of faults and fault systems at intermediate timescales (from few tens of ka to few Ma, which is a critical time-window to explore the dynamics of transient behaviors at plate boundaries) and in all types of plate-boundary kinematics (i.e. convergent across the Alps, transcurrent along the San Andreas fault system, divergent across the Red Sea).

Practically, my approach is at the interface between the fields of Quantitative Geomorphology, Structural Geology, Geochemistry, and Modelling. My work generally involves (i) large-scale remote morpho-tectonic mapping (GIS) from high-resolution optic and topographic data (Pleiades images, airborne LiDAR data, multibeam bathymetry,…), (ii) field campaigns designed to collect quantitative geologic and geomorphic data (structural measurements, topographic surveys, Quaternary geology and geomorphic mapping, …), (iii) sampling and radiochronologic dating of strain markers (typically for the determination of ³⁶Cl or ¹⁰Be cosmic-ray exposure ages), (iv) tectonic reconstructions at various scales, ranging from simple local-scale palinspastic restorations to numerically-constrained large-scale rotations.

I also have secondary interests in all the fields related to my main projects, such as Earthquake geology, Mantle dynamics, Volcanology, Paleoclimatology, …

• Moulin, A., & Benedetti, L. (2018). Fragmentation of the Adriatic promontory: new chronological constraints from Neogene shortening rates across the Southern Alps (NE Italy). Tectonics, 37(9), 3328-3348.
• Moulin, A., Benedetti, L., Rizza, M., Jamšek Rupnik, P. J., Gosar, A., Bourlès, D., & Ritz, J. F. (2016). The Dinaric Faults System: large-scale structure and rates of slip of the transpressive northeastern boundary of the Adria microplate. Tectonics, 35(10), 2258-2292.
• Moulin, A., Benedetti, L., Gosar, A., Rupnik, P. J., Rizza, M., Bourlès, D., & Ritz, J. F. (2014). Determining the present-day kinematics of the Idrija fault (Slovenia) from airborne LiDAR topography. Tectonophysics, 628, 188-205.
• Moulin, A., Benedetti, L., Vidal, L., Hage-Hassan, J., Elias, A., Van der Woerd, J., ... & Tapponnier, P. (2022). LGM glaciers in the SE Mediterranean? First evidence from glacial landforms and 36Cl dating on Mount Lebanon. Quaternary Science Reviews, 285, 107502.

• Ph.D., Earth and Environmental Sciences, Université Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France.
• M.S., Earth and Environmental Sciences, Université Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France.
• B.S., Biological and Geological Sciences, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.

• Since 2021 December: Post-doctoral scholar, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
• 2020 September – 2020 November: Post-doctoral position, CEREGE, Aix en Provence, France.
• 2018 September – 2019 August: Temporary Lecturer and Research Assistant, Université Aix-Marseille, France.
• 2016 October – 2017 December: Post-doctoral scholar, UC Davis, Davis, California, USA.
• 2015 October – 2016 August: Temporary Lecturer and Research Assistant, Université Aix-Marseille, France.
• 2015 March – 2015 June: Post-doctoral scholar, CEREGE, Aix en Provence, France.
• 2013 October – 2014 August: Temporary Lecturer and Research Assistant, Aix-Marseille University, France.

• Physical Science and Engineering Division
• Crustal Deformation and InSAR Group