Research Interests
My research examines the tectonic evolution of continental margins
by combining detailed geologic mapping of sedimentary and volcanic
rocks and faults with a variety of laboratory techniques,
including geochronology, geochemistry, petrography and
paleomagnetics. This research is on a spectrum of topics,
including volcanology, sedimentology, structural geology,
petroleum geology, economic geology, geochemistry, and
geothermal exploration.
My major project for the past decade
focuses on the Cenozoic trantensional rifting along the
Sierra Nevada range front and western Walker Lane belt
in California and Nevada. A second active project focuses on
the stratigraphic and structural setting of the largest
Cenozoic silicic igneous province and epithermal mineral province
on Earth: the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico.
The most continuous strand of my research (since 1978)
investigates the growth of continents at extensional arcs,
in both continental and oceanic settings. Although most
of my research funding has come from NSF, I have become
increasingly attracted to work in geothermal exploration.
