About Me

I use field mapping, microstructural and kinematic analysis, stable isotopes, and geochronology to explore regional tectonic processes and rheologic evolution of polyphase ductile shear zones.

My large-scale research at the moment focuses on the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Huayhuash subranges of the Peruvian Andes. I’m examining the interplay of slab-flattening, magmatism, crustal delamination, topographic evolution, and water-rock interaction on synconvergent extension and ductile shearing along the western edge of the Cordillera Blanca. I am currently working on a multi-stable isotope proxy-based study that uses rocks from the Cordillera Blanca as a “natural laboratory” to explore the rates of hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope exchange during meteoric fluid infiltration into crystal-plastic shear zones. Additional ongoing work in the Andes is aimed at exploring the mechanical and microstructural processes accommodating downward fluid flow near the brittle-viscous transition in quartzofeldspathic mylonites.

My past research has focused on the assembly of Laurentia during the Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic. I’m beginning to re-enter the Precambrian basement of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado with a collaborative targeting the fine timescales of orogenic processes and spatial and textural trends of deformation in the Proterozoic.

Beyond geology, I’m an avid cyclist, snowboarder, poorly disciplined runner, and still an occasional climber and mountaineer.