Research Projects
Time constraints on low-angle thrust faults from synorogenic volcaniclastic strata in the northern Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona
This project is designed to constrain the style and timing of early Laramide deformation in the southern U.S. Cordillera by applying U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology to volcaniclastic rocks in the footwall of a major low-angle thrust fault (Show Goat Formation) collected while geologic mapping and measuring stratigraphic section. We interpret this unit to have been deposited in an intermontane basin formed in response to regional uplifts during the Laramide Orogeny.
An anticline-syncline pair and multiple phases of deformation during the Laramide Orogeny, central Dragoon Mountains, Arizona
We are utilizing new geologic mapping and structural data collected in the range to characterize a large anticline-syncline pair that is locally overturned. The Stronghold Granite and associated intrusive dykes are pervasive throughout the map area, resulting in complex alteration and mineralization of Paleozoic and Cretaceous strata. Alteration and extensive reverse and normal faulting adds to the challenge of interpreting Laramide deformation in the Dragoon Mountains.
Paleostress and fracture analysis of the Bighorn Mountains, Casper Arch, and Black Hills, Powder River Basin, Wyoming
In collaboration with the Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) partnership, we are performing a detailed paleostress analysis, including calcite twinning paleopiezometry analysis to estimate shear stress magnitudes and in-situ (LA-ICPMS) U-Pb analysis of calcite veins to constrain emplacement timing of vein populations grouped by orientation and/or cross-cutting relationships, to better understand the tectonic evolution of Laramide basins.
Exhumation history of the Granite Mountains, Wyoming: insights from the Battle Springs Formation
The Granite Mountains are an east-west trending mountain range extending off the southern end of the Wind River Range in central Wyoming. Laramide uplift and subsequent erosion of the Granite Mountains is documented by basin deposition of the Battle Springs Formation, a sequence of sedimentary rocks recording southwest flowing paleo-streams, alluvial fans, and swamps. We combine new zircon and apatite U-Th/He thermochronology with U-Pb zircon geochronology to detail the early exhumation history of the range.
Zircon U-Th/He thermochronology of the southern Basin and Range province
Zircon U-Th/He thermochronology datasets on exhumation in the southern Basin and Range province are commonly inconsistent with the timing of extension. Data consistently overlaps with the timing of nearby magmatism instead. This discrepancy may be explained by magmatic resetting from the mid-Cenozoic flare up, with potential implications for models of regional heating, crustal thickening, and metamorphic core complex exhumation.
Provenance of the Killpecker and associated dune fields, Wyoming
We collected samples from the Killpecker and associated dune fields in western Wyoming. Samples will be prepared for U-Pb zircon geochronology and sandstone petrography analyses that will explore how sediment sources vary in influence spatially throughout the dune fields.
Stratigraphy of the Pumpkin Buttes: Evidence for late Cenozoic sediment evacuation.
Project description coming soon...
