Research Interests
My research group focuses on the tectonics of convergent margins and the evolution of the continental lithosphere. Research goals are generally centered around identifying and resolving interactions between orogenic magmatism, crustal deformation, and lithospheric dynamics in Cordilleran and collisional orogenic systems. Most research projects are field-based, but we also employ lab-based analytical, experimental, and numerical methods. Please visit the research page to learn more about ongoing research.
RECENT NEWS:
March 2023: Congratulations to Dustin Villareal and Alex Robinson who have a new paper out in Journal of Asian Earth Sciences that I am a co-author on; "Early Cretaceous displacement on the Tanymas thrust fault, Northern
Pamir, Tajikistan, and regional tectonic implications" [pdf] March 2023: Special thanks to Cal, Melanie, and Katie for hosting me at Texas Tech this past Friday. Great group of people at a great Department! February 2023: I was up at Stony Brook University working in Dr. Troy Rasbury's lab on fluorite U-Pb dating this past week. Thanks to Troy and Katie for a great visit! January 2023: The AZGS just published the geologic map that Adam and I made for the central Dragoon Mountains as part of our EDMAP project, check it out [pdf] August 2022: I have taken a new position at the University of Texas at El Paso. My official start date is September 1. Go Miners! June 2022: Fangyang Hu has a new paper out in Geophysical Research Letters that I am a co-author on; "Does Large-Scale Crustal Flow Shape the Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau? Insights From Episodic Magmatism of Gongga-Zheduo Granitic Massif. " [pdf] May 2022: Congratulations to Amanda Rossi who successfully defended her thesis! She is starting a new position with the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology in Butte. April 2022: I received the Extraordinary Merit Award for Research from the UWyo College of Arts and Sciences. April 2022: I'm leading an Arizona Geological Society field trip on the 16th to explore the Coyote and Sierrita Mtns., on either side of the Altar Valley. Update: Thanks to everyone who participated! March 2022: The tectonics group is headed to GSA RM/Cord in Vegas. Shane presents in session S3 at 4:05 on Wednesday. Adam and Jessie present in session T6 on Thursday at 8:05 and 10:40, respectively. Jay presents in session T12 at 11:15 on Thursday. Check out the talks! January 2022: Thanks to everyone who made the J-term Regional Tectonics trip a success and a special thanks to Andrew Early and Freeport McMoRan for the Lone Star Mine tour! December 2021: Start of the winter field work season! Adam and I were down in the Dragoon Mtns. working on the EDMAP project and Amanda and Mollie were down at Organ Pipe working on Amanda's thesis. November 2021: Congratulations to Shane!! He has a new paper out in the Journal of Petrology, "Early-Paleogene magmatism in the Pinaleño Mountains, Arizona: evidence for crustal melting of diverse basement assemblages during the Laramide Orogeny." [pdf] October 2021: Portland Bound! Check out the groups' talks and posters next week at GSA. October 2021: The Sed-Tectonics class had a great field trip to the Granite Mountains look at the Eocene-age Crooks Gap Conglomerate and Battle Springs Fm. Check out this drone footage of folks investigating a low-grade lignite interbed. September 2021: Thanks to everyone who made this year's Rocky Mountain Field Trip such a great success! It was wonderful seeing everyone in person. August 2021: There are two new additions to the group! Welcome to Dr. Lily Jackson, a post-doctoral researcher and Mollie Pope, a new M.S. student. August 2021: Lots of last minute field work going on before the semester starts. Jessie and Shane met up with Dr. Allen McGrew in the Ruby Mtns., NV to look at anatectic rocks and Adam and I spent some time in the Black Hills, WY-SD looking at calcite veins. August 2021: Special thanks to the Geologists of Jackson Hole for inviting me out for a talk and John Hebberger for hosting me. It was my first "in-person" talk in over a year! July 2021: PhD student Jessie Shields and I just returned from some field work in central CA looking at Franciscan melange. Special thanks to John Wakabayashi and the Fresno State crew for showing us around. June 2021: My co-authors and I have a new invited review paper out in Lithos, "The causes of continental arc flare ups and drivers of episodic magmatic activity in Cordilleran orogenic systems." [pdf] June 2021: Thanks to all the students who made this year's in-person field camp at Seminoe State Park a wonderful success! June 2021: Pete DeCelles and I have new paper out in Tectonics, "Beveling the Colorado Plateau: Early Mesozoic Rift-Related Flexure Explains Erosion and Anomalous Deposition in the Southern Cordilleran Foreland Basin." [pdf] June 2021: Kurt Sundell has a new paper out in GSA Today, "Jurassic to Neogene Quantitative Crustal Thickness Estimates in Southern Tibet" that I am co-author on. [pdf] May 2021: Congratulations to Cody Pridmore, who defended this MS thesis! Also, Jessie and I were recently on Wyoming Public Radio to talk about the Cordilleran Anatectic Belt (link) May 2021: I have a new paper out in Geology, "Diapiric relamination of the Orocopia Schist (southwestern U.S.) during low-angle subduction," which is my first single-author paper [pdf] |