My research is focussed on understanding the deformation of continental lithosphere. Past and present projects are centered on the Miocene to Present deformation of western North America. Both my professional and academic experiences are founded In a strong background in field-based research, geologic mapping, and data collection.

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS:

Role of Strike-slip Faulting in Formation of the Gulf of California

        Isla Tiburón, the largest island in the Gulf of California, is a premier location to examine the role of strike-slip faults in the formation of the Gulf of California due to its proximity to the rift axis. Rift-related marine and non-marine sedimentary rocks and volcanic rocks on Isla Tiburón are cut by the dextral La Cruz fault on southern Isla Tiburón and Yawassag and Bahía Kino strike-slip faults (Coastal Sonora Fault Zone) on northern Isla Tiburón and in adjacent coastal Sonora. To evaluate the history of these faults, I use 1:10,000-scale geologic mapping, 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and paleomagnetism of volcanic rocks, and fault kinematic analysis to understand the timing, magnitude, location, and kinematics of strain during early Gulf (proto-Gulf) rifting.

(Funded by NSF grant EAR-0904337)

Collaborators:

    Rebecca Dorsey (University of Oregon)

    Arturo Martín-Barajas (CISESE)

    John Fletcher (CISESE)

    Mike Darin (University of Oregon)

    Tom Peryam (University of Oregon)

    Alexander Iriondo (UNAM-Juriquilla)

PAST RESEARCH PROJECTS:

M.S. Thesis

   Transtensional Rifting in the Late Proto-Gulf of California, near Bahía Kino, Sonora, México

    (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, 2009; Adviser: Michael Oskin)

Senior Thesis

    Dissimilarities in exposures of the Kennedy Meadows Pendant; evidence for a

    structural discontinuity, Kern Plateau, California

     (California State University, Northridge, 2004; Adviser: George Dunne)

       Knowledge about the Pacific-North American plate boundary within the Gulf of California and Salton Trough has progressed greatly in recent decades. These advances allow for a synthesis of the current knowledge of the research community. We are constructing a series of GIS-based paleotectonic maps that track the development of the Gulf of California - Salton Trough plate boundary in 2-million-year increments from 14 Ma to the present. We will create and publish an animation of our reconstruction. We hope to merge our reconstruction shapefiles with those of the McQuarrie and Wernicke (2005) reconstruction which overlaps our reconstruction to the north.

(Funded by NSF grant OCE-0948169)

Collaborators:

    Paul Umhoefer (Northern Arizona University)

    Rebecca Dorsey (Oregon University)

    Lisa Skinner (Northern Arizona University)

    Mike Darin (University of Oregon)

Reconstruction of the Gulf of California-Salton Trough Plate Boundary, 0-14 Ma

Gulf of California

Tectonic Blocks

Restored to 6 Ma

(from Skinner et al., 2011 )

Friends and Supplies arrive back to

Ensenada Blanca, SW Isla Tiburón