The University of Texas at El Paso

Tectonics and Sedimentation Tectonics and Sedimentation Geological Sciences Team Focus Tectonics and We decipher the feedbacks between tectonics, erosion and sedimentation to gain a ! quantitative understanding of deformation, Sedimentation ! erosion and sedimentation dynamics. ! Applied Petroleum Research • Carbonate ! and Clastic Sedimentation • Cordilleran Dr. Gail L. Arnold ! Dr. Benjamin Brunner and Extensional Tectonics • Feedbacks ! between Tectonics, Erosion, and ! ! Sedimentation ! ! ! ! ! Dr. Kate Giles ! Dr. Jose Hurtado ! ! ! ! !

! THE BIG QUESTION Dr. Rip Langford Institute of Tectonic StudiesOrigin of cap rocks? Cap rocks of salt domes Microscopically small Today, our understanding We combine geological, a r e t a r g e t s f o r o i l organisms - so called of cap rock formation is biological and chemical exploration, because they microbes - may be the poor and our knowledge principles to answer the act as reservoirs and builders of cap rocks. To about the role of linked question - traps for oil. us humans, their lifestyle microbial processes is in How do cap rocks form? Dr. Terry Pavlis The ITS is a main driver of researchis bewildering. aimingits infancy. to improve the understanding

of the genesis of oil and gas Sediment cover ! Carbonate Cap Rock reservoirs. Currently, the Gypsum Anhydrite ! ITS is strongly engaged in Dr. Jason Ricketts research on sedimentary Salt Stock

features resulting from salt Oil / Gas Oil / Gas

Dr. Laura Serpa Sketch not to scale Redrawn after Kyle & Posey, 1991 and Shock, 2012 ! movement and syntectonic deformation.Salt domes can be gigantic, with vertical extensions of up to 6 kilometers, and horizontal extensions of 10 kilometers. ! ! ! ! ! !Dr. Tobgay Tobgay The University of Texas at El Paso

Tectonics and Sedimentation Tectonics and Sedimentation Geological Sciences Current Projects ! Future of Tectonics and Unraveling the mixing process of mélange: Mélanges are ! among the most enigmatic rocks on earth. Detrital zircon ! Sedimentation dating has revolutionized their study by providing age controls ! To address the questions in our field, we rapidly that were previously impossible. By combining these new ! develop from observations and discoveries to dating techniques with kinematic modeling we are just now ! hypotheses, which are shared with all team beginning to understand the mixing process. In collaboration ! members, covering a broad range of expertise. This with New Mexico State University and Louisiana State allows us to find new, creative, and efficient ways to University we are studying mélanges in southern Alaska. ! test and refine the hypotheses, keeping us on the ! ! cutting edge of science. ! ! ! Projects carried out at Indio Mountains Research Station ! (38,000 acres owned and managed by UTEP) ! The Indio Mountains are a former Cretaceous rift basin that ! was inverted during Late Cretaceous / Early Tertiary thrusting. ! The world class exposure of sediments and tectonic features Salt-sediment Interactions: The Institute for Tectonic Studies provides us with a unique analogue to oil fields in Brazil. does field research in the Flinders Range (South Australia), the Inverted Basins and out-of-sequence thrusts: The thrust Basque Pyrenees (Spain), and the Paradox Basin (Colorado & systems produce remarkable 3D exposures of stacked thrust Utah, USA). We study geometry, scale, and facies architecture sheets that provide exposures of different parts of the original in order to understand how deformation associated with salt basin. Initial work suggests out-of-sequence thrust systems movement (halokinetics) shapes stratigraphy and potential that appear to be examples of ‘upper plate duplex systems’. reservoir strata. The research is sponsored by the joint Testing this hypothesis requires careful mapping and industry Salt-Sediment Interaction Research Consortium reconstruction of the thrust systems, addressing the (SSIRC). intertwined structural and stratigraphic nature the system. Syntectonic Rift sedimentation: Using unusually well- ! exposed outcrops of Lower Cretaceous strata of the eastern ! Chihuahua Trough, the so-called ‘Presalt, rift basin fluvial & JOIN US! ! lacustrine facies’, we reconstruct the interplay of climate, Our department offers B.S. degrees in Geological ! tectonics, and diagenesis in forming fluvial and lacustrine Sciences and Environmental Science, M.S. degrees in sequences. Our research indicates that authigenic carbonates Geological Sciences, Geophysics, and Environmental ! that so far were considered ‘geologic curiosities’ could be Science, and the Ph.D. in Geological Sciences. carriers of key information about the genesis of oil reservoirs. Dept. of Geological Sciences Recent Publications and Presentations ! University of Texas at El Paso Giles K.A. & Rowan M.G. Concepts in halokinetic–sequence Pavlis T. L. Kinematic model for out-of-sequence thrusting: Motion of 500 W. University Ave deformation and stratigraphy; in Alsop, G. I., et al. (eds), Salt Tectonics, two ramp-flat faults and the production of upper plate duplex systems. Sediments and Prospectivity; Geological Society of London Special Journal of Structural Geology, v.51, p.132-143, 2013 El Paso, TX 79968-0555 Publications, 363, p. 7-31, 2012. Pavlis, T. L. et al. Introduction to Special Issue: Neogene tectonics and Phone: 915.747.5501 Langford R. P. & Massad Facies Geometries and Climatic Influence on climate-tectonic interactions in the southern Alaskan orogen. Stratigraphy in the Eolian-Sabkha Transition in the Permian Cedar Mesa Geosphere, 10(2), 1-4., 2014. www.science.utep.edu/geology Sandstone, SE Utah, 2013.