Research

Areas of Interest: Structural Geology Rock strain and deformation mechanisms Paleofluid evolution and migration Paleohydrostrtigraphy Paleomagnetism and AMS History of Geology My primary area of interest is establishing environmental conditions (pressure, temperature, strain rate, and stress) of deformation in orogenic belts. I am particularly interested in applying deformation mechanism regimes, strain partitioning, metamorphic petrology, and fluid inclusion analysis to determine these conditions. More recently, my research has focused on paleofluid evolution and migration, and the relationship of paleofluid flow to paleo-remagnetization events. Specific Areas: Fluid evolution and migration in a foreland fold-and-thrust belt. Previous work has resulted in determining the paleohydrologic structure of the central Appalachian Valley and Ridge province during the Alleghanian orogeny. This was accomplished by analyzing fluid inclusions, stable isotopes, and geochemistry of fracture and vein mineral fillings in order to trace temporal and areal variations in paleofluid chemistry. The Petroleum Research Fund is currently supporting an extension of this study into the surface and subsurface rocks of the Plateau province. Eventually, I am planning to extend this study into the Blue Ridge and Piedmont in order to ultimately gain a complete picture of fluid evolution in the orogen. Investigation of the Late Paleozoic remagnetization event in the central Appalachians. Related to the above project is a current study in collaboration with Dr. Douglas Elmore (University of Oklahoma) to investigate the relationship between paleofluid flow and remagnetization. Many workers have related the remagnetization event to the passage of ‘warm’ exotic fluids from the hinterland. However our work to date indicates that this relationship may not exist. Instead, the remagnetization may be related of hydrocarbon generation, strain, or diagenetic rock alteration. Associated with this project, we are examining the distribution of magnetic grains in rock and how they are modified with rock strain. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation. Determining the paleofluid evolution in the eastern Piedmont (Savannah River site area) of South Carolina and Georgia. This work involves establishing the age relationships of brittle structures in the Piedmont rocks and the overlying Coastal Plain sediments, and fluid inclusion studies of vein filling minerals. This work is done in collaboration with Dr. Jerry Bartholomew (University of Memphis). This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Examining paleo-fluids in the Sawtooth Range thrust system in northwestern Montana. The goal is to understand fluid evolution and migration during thrust faulting. In addition, I am examining the relationship of fluids to rock remagnetization. This work is in collaboration with Dr. Douglas Elmore (University of Oklahoma). The relationship between fluids and deformation in the Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. This project is in collaboration with Mark Fisher (Northern Illinois). The goal is to examine the deformation in the rocks, determine pressure-temperature conditions from fluid inclusions in veins, and relate that information to deformation mechanisms. An overview of my Central Appalachian paleofluid research An overview of my rock magnetism research