I use microstructures, geochemical analysis, and stable isotopes to explore the infiltration of meteoric fluids into ductile shear zones. My work on this is two-fold. 1) Detecting fluid sources, quantifying water/rock ratios, and correlating fluids across spatial and temporal scales. 2) Exploring the mechanical processes accumulating fluid infiltration at mid-crustal conditions and the effects of cool, surface-derived fluids on shear zone rheology.

I use LA-ICP-MS analyses of zircon to explore time-dependent magmatic processes through U-Pb geochronology and trace element geochemistry. These tools allow us to assess complex magma mixing and protracted timescales of magmatism at a spatial resolution that informs progressive magmatic processes. The goal of this work has been to constrain the role of magmatic heat flow in aiding the onset of ductile shear in extensional regimes while capturing the behavior of magmatism while entering flat slab subduction. This work is currently in press with Geosphere.

I use oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in surface waters and dynamically recrystallized minerals to assess stable isotope lapse rates and reconstruct elevation in Peru’s highest peaks. In addition to using these reconstructions to explore the implications of topography for geodynamic processes, I’ve become interested in the controls of different paleoaltimeters in crystalline and volcanic rocks. I’m currently focused on understanding the robustness of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes as tracers of fluid composition in detachment faults, and the relative rates of isotopic equilibration required to meaningful preserve elevation history.

I employ Ar/Ar thermochronology and multidiffusion domain modeling of muscovite, biotite, and feldspar in crystal-plastic mylonites to explore the thermal history of the Cordillera Blanca Shear Zone from ~450 - 150 *C during exhumation. Applying these methods to the fault zone mylonites and undeformed rocks across the Cordillera Blanca is key to understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of extensional shear zones, as well as rates of exhumation through viscous-brittle conditions in the mid-crust.

I’ve begun expanding my domestic work on extensional detachment systems by turning attention to large-scale structures in the basin and range. My goals with this work are to explore along-strike variation in structural style and strength controls after identifying systemic along-strike variability in fluid infiltration and deformation style in young, active detachments.

Getting back to my roots in the basement rocks of Colorado and New Mexico to constrain fabric development, kinematics, and rheology during accretional orogenesis.