Research Themes & Projects

Supported by NSF-EAR-PF 1952791 (2020–2022), NSF-EAR 2445472 (2023–2027), & GRFP, GSA, AAPG, & NatGeo student research grants.

Plate convergence along subduction margins concentrates vast amounts of mechanical energy that may be released through devastating megathrust earthquakes or transmitted to the overriding plate, resulting in permanent deformation and construction of some of Earth’s highest mountains. Understanding overriding plate deformation is essential to assessing subduction zone dynamics and present-day geohazards. 

Our group studies the expression and mechanisms of subduction-related mountain building in the southern central Andes, where orogenesis has been attributed to continuous or pulsed, mixed-mode deformation and the retroarc region hosts one of the world’s most seismically active fold-thrust belts. Collaborative efforts recently culminated in a synthesis of evidence that reveals growth of the Andes was more punctuated, and rapid, than previously thought. Recurring phases of increased arc magmatism, retroarc underthrusting, and foreland basin development indicate fluid-assisted weakening above the subducted slab played a fundamental role in regulating mountain building.

Supported by NSF-EAR 2445472 (2023–2027)

Understanding the behavior of faults and fault-like structures through the full thickness of the lithosphere remains an outstanding challenge, with implications for seismic hazard assessment in tectonically active regions. Ongoing research in the Andes combines structural, basin accumulation, & geophysical analyses with geo/thermochronology data and flexural thermokinematic modeling to explore linkages between deep, basement-involved structures underlying intraforeland uplifts and upper-crustal, emergent faults that have generated historically devastating earthquakes in western Argentina.

Supported by NSF-EAR 2528742 (2025–2028) 

Tectonic processes may influence the biosphere through the development or destruction of landbridges and topography. One of our group's new research directions examines these Earth systems-scale relationships in western Anatolia, which was the locus of major faunal dispersion following Miocene establishment of the “Gomphotherium landbridge.” Faunal migration included emigration of hominoids from Africa to Eurasia, but hominoid fossils do not appear in the Anatolian record until 2–3 Myr after development of the landbridge. 

Our multidisciplinary approach integrates crustal datasets (structural analysis, thermochronology, crustal thickness) with their surface expression (basin evolution, surface elevation) to determine whether high elevations may explain the delay in faunal dispersion. We are further motivated by opportunities to test thermal and mechanical models of crustal evolution during high-magnitude extension using flexural thermokinematic simulations.

NSF-EAR proposal pending (2026)

Models of mountain building and basin accumulation center crustal shortening, tectonic loading, and erosion as primary agents of uplift and subsidence. However, deep mantle forces may exert equally important controls on the vertical motion of continents. 

Emerging research directions focus on the North American Cordillera of Montana and southern Canada, where geologic records of dynamic topography (e.g., basin deposits that extend far beyond the effects of thrust loading; surface uplift, rock exhumation, and tilting of foreland regions that cannot be explained by deformation or eustasy) have received little attention relative to Wyoming or the Colorado Plateau. Constraining these records of cryptic uplift/subsidence is critical to calibrating future geodynamic models and understanding the processes governing topographic evolution.