Information
Membership Number: FCA3124
Membership Type: Fellowship
Division: Natural Sciences
Corresponding Email: ***@igeofisica.unam.mx; ***@geofisica.unam.mx
Homepage(s): https://areas.geofisica.unam.mx/geomag/pages.php?listado=visualizar&persona=juf
Present and Previous Positions
Emeritus Professor, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
Director, Chicxulub Institute of Advanced Studies.
Member, El Colegio Nacional.
Member, UNAM Foundation Council / Executive Council of Fundación UNAM.
Member, Biosphere 2 Board, University of Arizona.
Member, Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), International Science Council.
Member, InterAcademy Partnership policy-related committees and boards.
Previous Positions
Director, Institute of Geophysics, UNAM (1997–2005).
President, Mexican Academy of Sciences (2014–2017).
Member, UNAM Governing Board (2013–2022).
International Secretary, American Geophysical Union (2006–2010).
Member, Governing Board, American Institute of Physics (2008–2012).
President, TWAS Mexico Chapter (2009–2011).
President, Mexican Union of Quaternary Studies (2003–2009).
President, College of Geophysical Engineers (2002–2008).
President, Mexican Geophysical Union (1985–1987).
He has also held a wide range of committee, advisory, and leadership positions in international geoscience organizations, including AGU, ICDP, IUGG, IANAS, and other scientific bodies concerned with geophysics, drilling programs, disaster risk, and international scientific cooperation.
Fields of Scholarship and Research Interests
Geophysics; Paleomagnetism; Geomagnetism; Tectonics; Impact Cratering; Paleoclimates; Natural Hazards and Risk Analysis; Earth and Planetary Evolution
Professor Jaime Urrutia-Fucugauchi is a geophysicist whose scholarship has ranged widely across paleomagnetism, tectonics, geomagnetism, impact cratering, paleoclimates, and natural hazards. Over several decades, he has developed a body of work that joins solid-earth geophysics with broader questions concerning planetary history, environmental change, catastrophic events, and the long-term evolution of the Earth system. His research has been especially important in Latin American geophysics, where he has combined original scientific investigation with institution-building, international cooperation, and the training of successive generations of researchers. He is internationally recognized for his work on the Chicxulub impact structure, the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, and related questions of mass extinction and planetary impacts. Official Academy of Europe materials describe him as an internationally known expert on Chicxulub, with major contributions to the study of the crater’s age, structure, stratigraphy, boundary sections, geophysical surveys, and international drilling projects.
His broader research has also included paleomagnetism, rock magnetism, crustal structure, geochemistry, and geophysical approaches to geological hazards. A notable feature of his career is the breadth of its intellectual and institutional reach. In addition to his scientific publications, he has helped build laboratory networks and analytical facilities, supervised a very large number of graduate students, promoted large-scale international collaborations, and played an active part in science policy, public outreach, and the strengthening of geoscience communities across Mexico and Latin America. The materials you provided also emphasize his role in capacity-building projects, public science initiatives, and educational outreach, including museum and exhibition work connected to Chicxulub and Earth history.
Honors, Awards and Other Membership
National Medal of Science and Arts, Mexico (2009).
National University Science Prize / Premio Universidad Nacional (2007).
AGU International Award, American Geophysical Union (2013).
Honorary Fellowship in Geophysics, Royal Astronomical Society (2018).
Member, Academia Europaea.
Fellow, TWAS – The World Academy of Sciences (elected 2004).
Fellow / Member, Geological Society of America.
Member, Mexican Academy of Sciences.
Member, Mexican Academy of Engineering.
Member, El Colegio Nacional.
Mexican Academy of Sciences Young Scientist Award (1991).
Organization of American States M. Noriega Morales Science Award (1992).
Potosí Science Prize (2010).
Bárcena Medal, Mexican Geophysical Union (2010).
Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship.
Selected Publications
Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J. 1978. “Cordilleran Benioff Zones.” Nature 275 (5679): 464.
Sharpton, V. L., G. B. Dalrymple, L. Marín, G. Ryder, B. C. Schuraytz, and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi. 1992. “New Links between the Chicxulub Impact Structure and the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary.” Nature 359: 819–821.
Sharpton, V. L., K. Burke, A. Camargo, S. Hall, D. Lee, L. Marín, G. Suárez-Reynoso, J. M. Quezada, P. Spudis, and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi. 1993. “Chicxulub Multiring Impact Basin: Size and Other Characteristics Derived from Gravity Analysis.” Science 261: 1564–1567.
Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., L. Marín, and A. Trejo-García. 1996. “UNAM Scientific Drilling Program of Chicxulub Impact Structure – Evidence for a 300 km Crater Diameter.” Geophysical Research Letters 23: 1565–1568.
Schulte, P., L. Alegret, J. Arz, et al., including J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi. 2010. “The Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary.” Science.
Gulick, S., J. V. Morgan, R. Grieve, and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi. 2013. “Geophysical Characterization of the Chicxulub Impact Crater.” Reviews of Geophysics 51.
Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., and L. Pérez-Cruz. 2016. “Chicxulub Asteroid Impact: An Extreme Event at the Cretaceous/Paleogene Boundary.” In Extreme Events, Observations, Modeling and Economics, AGU Monograph 214, 93–111.
Morgan, J., S. Gulick, et al., including J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi. 2016. “The Formation of Peak Rings in Large Impact Craters.” Science 354: 878–882.
Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., O. Arellano-Catalán, L. Pérez-Cruz, and I. A. Romero-Galindo. 2022. “Chicxulub Crater Joint Gravity and Magnetic Anomaly Analysis: Structure, Asymmetries, Impact Trajectory and Target Structures.” Pure and Applied Geophysics 179 (8): 2735–2756.
Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., L. Pérez-Cruz, A. Wittmann, J. Arz, I. Arenillas, L. Xiao, J. Zhao, V. Gilabert, and E. Salguero. 2025. “Chicxulub Central Zone Structure and Stratigraphy—PEMEX Exploration Drilling Program.” Frontiers in Earth Science 13.
Other Information
CV-JUrrutiaFucugauchi.pdf
COREAcademy2026-Letter.pdf
