Appalachian Geology

The Appalachian orogen is where many geological phenomena have been discovered and first described. The orogen, likely the most studied feature on planet Earth, is still a hub of geological research from Alabama to Newfoundland.

My focus in the Appalachians has been in the Piedmont of Virginia, where rocks known to be native to the North American craton are in fault contact with rocks of likely exotic (peri-Gondwanan) origin. The boundary or zone between these two crustal blocks marks the closure of the early Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean that existed between Laurentia (North America) and Gondwana (Africa and South America) prior to the amalgamation of the supercontinent of Pangea.

Click here for a list of publications and presentations related to this research. This research has been heavily focused in geologic mapping, geochronology, and geochemistry.

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Age and Tectonic Significance of the Elk Hill Complex, central Virginia Piedmont

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Alet, Dillon, and un-named phyllite near Storck, Virginia, USA

Anthropocene deposit in the Piedmont