DOCSLIB.ORG

Mysteries of the Great Unconformity, a Journey in Deep Geologic Time

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Mysteries of the Great Unconformity, a Journey in Deep Geologic Time winter 2017 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT UNCONFORMITY, A JOURNEY IN DEEP GEOLOGIC TIME ne of the more challenging aspects of Othe Earth Sciences, for non-specialists and specialists alike, is the concept of deep time—that Earth history spans immense periods of time. As a species, we humans are accustomed to time in the near term, Redwall Limestone measured as days, months, years, lifetimes (centuries), and millennia (history/ archeol- ogy). We have little personal connection Muav Limestone to time periods measured in millions or billions of years. For many, the Bright Angel Shale concept of deep time is too abstract to comprehend. As we ponder the vastness of time, it is helpful to consider a simple Tapeats Sandstone exercise to illustrate very large numbers. Great Unconformity As children we learned to count to one hundred. At one number per second, this exercise took less than 2 minutes. Proterozoic However, counting to one million would take over 277 hours, or over 11 days! No sleeping or eating, just counting. One billion is a 1,000 times larger than one million, far beyond our ability to count. Photo of the Great Unconformity of Grand Canyon. Here, 500 million-year-old sedimentary strata of Cambrian age were deposited on 1,750 million-year-old metamorphic rock of the Granite To count to one billion would take over Gorge, representing a 1,250 million-year break in the rock record. Photo by Peter Scholle. 11,574 days, almost 32 years! As impossibly large as these numbers lives and thrives by using geologic materi- represents a gap in the geologic history, seem to be, Earth itself has been reliably als, the more we understand this history which geologists call an unconformity. dated at about 4.56 billion years old. the better we will understand Earth’s How can we unravel the events that may This age was determined by dating the resources, their inherent limitations, and have occurred within each missing period best-known material from which our environmental consequences of their of time? You might consult another book planet formed, chondritic meteorites. extraction and use. from another library or from another part This material formed as the inner planets of the globe. This other book may describe coalesced during the formation of the early Geologic puzzles and the same story but from another character’s solar system. The oldest dates derived from missing time point of view. The story is clearly the same, Earth minerals are a bit younger than these As geologists, we read the history of planet but the descriptions are a bit different, and meteorites. Because Earth is a dynamic Earth as written in rocks, but that history the gaps in the story occur over different planet that is constantly recycling crust is written in thousands of “books” that are intervals. If we’re clever, and with the ben- through plate tectonics, the rock record scattered around the globe. And, within efit of international scientific collaboration, becomes sparser the farther back in time any single “book,” there are missing we can combine the two (or more) books one explores. In order to better understand “pages,” even “chapters.” The missing to create a complete story. Earth’s geologic history and our place in pages and chapters represent periods of If you have traveled much around New that history, our task as geologists is to geologic time that are not recorded in each Mexico, the region, or across the globe, scour the planet and look for every avail- regional storyline. Each bit of missing time you have seen excellent outcrops that able geologic record. Because our society Published by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources • A Division of New Mexico Tech Block diagrams illustrating the three main types of regional scale unconformities. Each unconformity, indicated by red arrows, represents a break in the rock record where time is unrepresented. Each type of unconformity requires a different set of geologic events to explain the resulting geologic relationships, although erosion is a common thread. record Earth’s rich geologic history, but layers, there was a period of non-deposition The same sequences of rocks and their you may not have known how the story and/or erosion (perhaps from a drop in accompanying unconformities are also from place to place fits into a coherent sea level) that was followed by deposition exposed in other parts of the state, such record of Earth’s geologic past. This is of another sedimentary unit (perhaps due as in the bluffs and mesas along the I-40 the job for geologists—to understand the to rising seas). Disconformities may be corridor from the Rio Puerco drainage west geology of Earth from region to region, difficult to identify, especially if there is of Albuquerque to Grants. and correlate each regional history into little evidence for erosion at the contact. The next type of unconformity, a cohesive global geologic history. The If so, other evidence must be brought to called an angular unconformity, is easily students and professionals of the geological bear to verify the gap in the rock record. recognizable in the field (block B above). sciences have been unravelling this mystery Before geologists could directly date The lower strata are typically tilted more for over 100 years, and each generation geologic material using radiometric dating steeply than the overlying strata. Special of scientists brings new techniques and techniques, we had to rely on the succes- geologic circumstances are needed to create insights into play. sion of fossils in the rock layers. An abrupt an angular unconformity. After a package Armed with an understanding of deep change in fossil assemblages between two of layered sedimentary or volcanic rocks is time, and using the natural radioactive layers would indicate that some period of deposited, the rocks are deformed by fault- decay of some key minerals, we can time was missing (a disconformity!). ing or folding to tilt the layered bedrock. now explore geologic mysteries in our Real examples of disconformities are After tilting of the strata, the rocks then own backyard. Our first task is to get abundant within the state, but may seem undergo erosion that bevels or planes off acquainted with unconformities—those unremarkable without the context of exposed portions of the deformed bedrock. missing sections in geologic time—and geologic time. Most any stack of layered The eroded surface is then covered by learn how to recognize them in the real sedimentary rocks in New Mexico is likely new layered rock deposits. The time gap world. Because unconformities most com- to contain one or more disconformities. represented by angular unconformities can monly represent a period of erosion, one For instance, driving north along I-25 span short or long periods of geologic time, might look for evidence of erosion. approaching Las Vegas, NM, several note- but the exciting implication is that there There are three common types worthy disconformities are exposed among has been a time of deformation or upheaval of regional-scale unconformities; all the steeply tilted and colorful sedimentary recorded in the rock record by the tilting represent erosional surfaces marking the rock layers cut by the highway. Within and beveling of the lower layers. contact between rocks below and above this interval, Permian Period limestone, In New Mexico, the Rio Grande the contact, as illustrated in the block sandstone, and mudstone that formed in follows the Rio Grande rift, which diagrams above. The most common, is an ocean 300–251 million years ago are represents a relatively young (less than 30 the disconformity (block A above), which overlain by Triassic Period sandstones million years old) chapter in the geologic is found between layered sedimentary and mudstones that were deposited by story of New Mexico, and represents a rocks. The contact can be recognized by ancient river systems at 251–200 million zone of faulting due to thinning of the an abrupt change in the composition, years ago. In this case, the contact between continental crust (see the summer, 2012 age, or depositional setting of the layered them is a disconformity representing about Earth Matters for more details). Along the sedimentary rocks across the unconform- 30 million years of missing time. The axis of the rift, from southern Colorado to able boundary, although the strata may ancient river deposits are in turn overlain the Texas–Mexico border, basins formed appear continuous. On the block diagram, by Cretaceous Period sandstones and by progressive spreading of the crust and the boundary is marked by a heavy black mudstones that represent another period consequent faulting over millions of years line that represents an irregular, eroded of ocean inundation between 145 and and filling of the rift basins by sedimentary contact between two different sedimentary 66 million years ago and another discon- rocks of the Santa Fe Group. In such a rocks. After deposition of the lower/older formable gap of about 40 million years. complex geologic setting where faulting, new mexico earth matters 2 winter 2017 story in such breathtaking views. The Great Unconformity is marked by the contact of 1,750 million-year-old metamorphic rocks directly overlain by the 500 million- year-old Tapeats Sandstone (photo on page 1). As in the Sandia Mountains, this monumental break accounts for nearly one quarter of Earth’s geologic time! The Great Unconformity in Grand Canyon leaves us with a mystery on some important events in Earth history, including the assembly and breakup of the ancient supercontinent San Lorenzo Canyon near Socorro, New Mexico showing an angular unconformity between older, tilted strata and younger near-horizontal strata.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chapter 2 Paleozoic Stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon
    CHAPTER 2 PALEOZOIC STRATIGRAPHY OF THE GRAND CANYON PAIGE KERCHER INTRODUCTION The Paleozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon is defined as the time between 542 and 251 million years before the present (ICS 2010). The Paleozoic Era began with the evolution of most major animal phyla present today, sparked by the novel adaptation of skeletal hard parts. Organisms continued to diversify throughout the Paleozoic into increasingly adaptive and complex life forms, including the first vertebrates, terrestrial plants and animals, forests and seed plants, reptiles, and flying insects. Vast coal swamps covered much of mid- to low-latitude continental environments in the late Paleozoic as the supercontinent Pangaea began to amalgamate. The hardiest taxa survived the multiple global glaciations and mass extinctions that have come to define major time boundaries of this era. Paleozoic North America existed primarily at mid to low latitudes and experienced multiple major orogenies and continental collisions. For much of the Paleozoic, North America’s southwestern margin ran through Nevada and Arizona – California did not yet exist (Appendix B). The flat-lying Paleozoic rocks of the Grand Canyon, though incomplete, form a record of a continental margin repeatedly inundated and vacated by shallow seas (Appendix A). IMPORTANT STRATIGRAPHIC PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS • Principle of Original Horizontality – In most cases, depositional processes produce flat-lying sedimentary layers. Notable exceptions include blanketing ash sheets, and cross-stratification developed on sloped surfaces. • Principle of Superposition – In an undisturbed sequence, older strata lie below younger strata; a package of sedimentary layers youngs upward. • Principle of Lateral Continuity – A layer of sediment extends laterally in all directions until it naturally pinches out or abuts the walls of its confining basin.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018-5 PGS Newsletter
    SEPTEMBER 2018 PGS NEWSLETTER VOL LXXI NO 1 September 12, 2018 Tectonics of the Social hour 6:00 PM Midcontinent: Looking Dinner 7:00 PM West (Geologically) Program 8:00 PM Dinner costs from Pittsburgh $30.00 per person $10.00 student member Across the Craton Reservations Email your name and number of attendees in your party to: pgsreservations @gmail.com You can also reserve and pay via PayPal at: https://www.pittsburgh geologicalsociety.org/ Dr. Stephen Marshak Location Foster’s Restaurant University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Foster Plaza Bldg. 10 Green Tree PA Deadline for reservations is noon on Monday, Sept. 10. Speaker Abstract Geologists have long held a fascination with and magnetotelluric arrays) that serve to mountain belts, because of their scenic beauty, characterize variations in crustal thickness, the and because they offer cross sections that intensity of faulting, and the relationship of provide access to rocks once deep in the crust. seismicity to structure; 2) structure-contour Datable igneous and metamorphic rocks in maps that help characterize the nature of mountain belts provide a basis for developing a displacement in fault-and-fold zones; 3) chronology of tectonism. The USA subsidence curves that constrain the timing of Midcontinent region doesn't display such basin subsidence; 4) a digital elevation model drama. These interior plains, which extend (DEM) of the Great Unconformity (the contact from Pittsburgh west to the Rockies, are part of between Precambrian and Paleozoic strata), North America's cratonic platform, a region in that gives a clearer image of structural relief which crust that formed over 1 billion years ago between basins and domes; 5) results from a lies buried beneath a veneer of nearly flat-lying thermochronologic study of the Great Phanerozoic sedimentary strata.
    [Show full text]
  • Michael Kenney Paleozoic Stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon
    Michael Kenney Paleozoic Stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon The Paleozoic Era spans about 250 Myrs of Earth History from 541 Ma to 254 Ma (Figure 1). Within Grand Canyon National Park, there is a fragmented record of this time, which has undergone little to no deformation. These still relatively flat-lying, stratified layers, have been the focus of over 100 years of geologic studies. Much of what we know today began with the work of famed naturalist and geologist, Edwin Mckee (Beus and Middleton, 2003). His work, in addition to those before and after, have led to a greater understanding of sedimentation processes, fossil preservation, the evolution of life, and the drastic changes to Earth’s climate during the Paleozoic. This paper seeks to summarize, generally, the Paleozoic strata, the environments in which they were deposited, and the sources from which the sediments were derived. Tapeats Sandstone (~525 Ma – 515 Ma) The Tapeats Sandstone is a buff colored, quartz-rich sandstone and conglomerate, deposited unconformably on the Grand Canyon Supergroup and Vishnu metamorphic basement (Middleton and Elliott, 2003). Thickness varies from ~100 m to ~350 m depending on the paleotopography of the basement rocks upon which the sandstone was deposited. The base of the unit contains the highest abundance of conglomerates. Cobbles and pebbles sourced from the underlying basement rocks are common in the basal unit. Grain size and bed thickness thins upwards (Middleton and Elliott, 2003). Common sedimentary structures include planar and trough cross-bedding, which both decrease in thickness up-sequence. Fossils are rare but within the upper part of the sequence, body fossils date to the early Cambrian (Middleton and Elliott, 2003).
    [Show full text]
  • Stratigraphic Framework of Cambrian and Ordovician Rocks in The
    Stratigraphic Framework of Cambrian and Ordovician Rocks in the Central Appalachian Basin from Medina County, Ohio, through Southwestern and South-Central Pennsylvania to Hampshire County, West Virginia U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1839-K Chapter K Stratigraphic Framework of Cambrian and Ordovician Rocks in the Central Appalachian Basin from Medina County, Ohio, through Southwestern and South-Central Pennsylvania to Hampshire County, West Virginia By ROBERT T. RYDER, ANITA G. HARRIS, and JOHN E. REPETSKI Stratigraphic framework of the Cambrian and Ordovician sequence in part of the central Appalachian basin and the structure of underlying block-faulted basement rocks U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1839 EVOLUTION OF SEDIMENTARY BASINS-APPALACHIAN BASIN U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MANUEL LUJAN, Jr., Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1992 For sale by Book and Open-File Report Sales U.S. Geological Survey Federal Center, Box 25286 Denver, CO 80225 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ryder, Robert T. Stratigraphic framework of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in the central Appalachian Basin from Medina County, Ohio, through southwestern and south-central Pennsylvania to Hampshire County, West Virginia / by Robert T. Ryder, Anita C. Harris, and John E. Repetski. p. cm. (Evolution of sedimentary basins Appalachian Basin ; ch. K) (U.S. Geological Survey bulletin ; 1839-K) Includes bibliographical references. Supt. of Docs, no.: I 19.3:1839-K 1. Geology, Stratigraphic Cambrian.
    [Show full text]
  • Stratigraphical Framework for the Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) Rocks of Scotland South of a Line from Fort William to Aberdeen
    Stratigraphical framework for the Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) rocks of Scotland south of a line from Fort William to Aberdeen Research Report RR/01/04 NAVIGATION HOW TO NAVIGATE THIS DOCUMENT ❑ The general pagination is designed for hard copy use and does not correspond to PDF thumbnail pagination. ❑ The main elements of the table of contents are bookmarked enabling direct links to be followed to the principal section headings and sub-headings, figures, plates and tables irrespective of which part of the document the user is viewing. ❑ In addition, the report contains links: ✤ from the principal section and sub-section headings back to the contents page, ✤ from each reference to a figure, plate or table directly to the corresponding figure, plate or table, ✤ from each figure, plate or table caption to the first place that figure, plate or table is mentioned in the text and ✤ from each page number back to the contents page. Return to contents page NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Research Report RR/01/04 Stratigraphical framework for the Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) rocks of Scotland south of a line from Fort William to Aberdeen Michael A E Browne, Richard A Smith and Andrew M Aitken Contributors: Hugh F Barron, Steve Carroll and Mark T Dean Cover illustration Basal contact of the lowest lava flow of the Crawton Volcanic Formation overlying the Whitehouse Conglomerate Formation, Trollochy, Kincardineshire. BGS Photograph D2459. The National Grid and other Ordnance Survey data are used with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Ordnance Survey licence number GD 272191/2002.
    [Show full text]
  • Grand Canyon
    U.S. Department of the Interior Geologic Investigations Series I–2688 14 Version 1.0 4 U.S. Geological Survey 167.5 1 BIG SPRINGS CORRELATION OF MAP UNITS LIST OF MAP UNITS 4 Pt Ph Pamphlet accompanies map .5 Ph SURFICIAL DEPOSITS Pk SURFICIAL DEPOSITS SUPAI MONOCLINE Pk Qr Holocene Qr Colorado River gravel deposits (Holocene) Qsb FAULT CRAZY JUG Pt Qtg Qa Qt Ql Pk Pt Ph MONOCLINE MONOCLINE 18 QUATERNARY Geologic Map of the Pleistocene Qtg Terrace gravel deposits (Holocene and Pleistocene) Pc Pk Pe 103.5 14 Qa Alluvial deposits (Holocene and Pleistocene) Pt Pc VOLCANIC ROCKS 45.5 SINYALA Qti Qi TAPEATS FAULT 7 Qhp Qsp Qt Travertine deposits (Holocene and Pleistocene) Grand Canyon ၧ DE MOTTE FAULT Pc Qtp M u Pt Pleistocene QUATERNARY Pc Qp Pe Qtb Qhb Qsb Ql Landslide deposits (Holocene and Pleistocene) Qsb 1 Qhp Ph 7 BIG SPRINGS FAULT ′ × ′ 2 VOLCANIC DEPOSITS Dtb Pk PALEOZOIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS 30 60 Quadrangle, Mr Pc 61 Quaternary basalts (Pleistocene) Unconformity Qsp 49 Pk 6 MUAV FAULT Qhb Pt Lower Tuckup Canyon Basalt (Pleistocene) ၣm TRIASSIC 12 Triassic Qsb Ph Pk Mr Qti Intrusive dikes Coconino and Mohave Counties, Pe 4.5 7 Unconformity 2 3 Pc Qtp Pyroclastic deposits Mr 0.5 1.5 Mၧu EAST KAIBAB MONOCLINE Pk 24.5 Ph 1 222 Qtb Basalt flow Northwestern Arizona FISHTAIL FAULT 1.5 Pt Unconformity Dtb Pc Basalt of Hancock Knolls (Pleistocene) Pe Pe Mၧu Mr Pc Pk Pk Pk NOBLE Pt Qhp Qhb 1 Mၧu Pyroclastic deposits Qhp 5 Pe Pt FAULT Pc Ms 12 Pc 12 10.5 Lower Qhb Basalt flows 1 9 1 0.5 PERMIAN By George H.
    [Show full text]
  • A Silurian(?) Unconformity at Flanders Bay, Maine
    Maine Geological Survey Studies in Maine Geology: Volume I 1988 A Silurian (?) Unconformity at Manders Bay, Maine Richard A. Gilman Gary G. Lash Department of Geosciences State University College at Fredonia (SUNY) Fredonia, New York 14063 ABSTRACT Reexamination of exposures of conglomerate and greenstone at the head of Flanders Bay has resulted in the recognition of an unconformity believed similar to that exposed on Spectacle Island on the east side of Frenchman Bay. It is proposed that the conglomerate is part of the Bar Harbor Formation of Siluro-Devonian age; the underlying greenstone is probably of Silurian age. The rocks above the unconformity consist of pebbly siltstone and polymict, matrix-supported conglomerate in which clasts are predominantly of felsic volcanic rocks and quartz. A depositional model is proposed in which gravels derived from a volcanic source terrane, and transported in a high energy tluvial system, were mixed with basin-margin muds to produce debris tlows. Chemical analyses of the underlying greenstone show it to be andesitic, but to have substantial differences in composition from Silurian and Lower Devonian basalts and basaltic andesites from the Machias-Eastport area. INTRODUCTION In his study of the stratigraphy of the Bar Harbor Formation 68° 15' 68° 00' in the Frenchman Bay area, Maine, Metzger (1979) briefly men­ 44° 30·~-~-~-~~-----------~ 2) tions exposures of pebble conglomerates that contain clasts of volcanic rocks and quartz at several isolated outcrops at the head of Flanders Bay, in the vicinity of Jones Cove (Fig. l). The ~N conglomerates are associated with a weakly foliated greenstone. He concluded that the conglomerates are intraformational with­ \ones Cove in a sequence of greenstones rather than belonging to the con­ Frenchman Bay glomerates of the Bar Harbor Formation that he describes from Spectacle, Turtle, Flat and Heron Islands on the east side of \) SCHOODIC Frenchman Bay (see also Gates, in press).
    [Show full text]
  • 'Great Unconformity' on the North China Craton Using New Detrital
    1 Measuring the ‘Great Unconformity’ on the North China Craton using new 2 detrital zircon age data 3 4 Tianchen He1*, Ying Zhou1, Pieter Vermeesch1, Martin Rittner1, Lanyun Miao2, Maoyan Zhu2, Andrew 5 Carter3, Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann1,3 & Graham A. Shields1 6 7 1 Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK 8 2 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and 9 Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China 10 3 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, 11 London WC1E 7HX, UK 12 *Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]) 13 14 Abstract: New detrital zircon ages confirm that Neoproterozoic strata of the southeastern North China 15 Craton (NCC) are mostly of early Tonian age, but that the Gouhou Formation, previously assigned to 16 the Tonian, is Cambrian in age. A discordant hiatus of >150-300 million years occurs across the NCC, 17 spanning most of the late Tonian, Cryogenian, Ediacaran and early Cambrian periods. This widespread 18 unconformable surface is akin to the ‘Great Unconformity’ seen elsewhere in the world, and highlights 19 a major shift in depositional style from largely erosional, marked by low rates of net deposition, during 20 the mid-late Neoproterozoic to high rates of transgressive deposition during the mid-late Cambrian. 21 Comparison between age spectra for southeastern NCC and northern India are consistent with a 22 provenance affinity linking the NCC and East Gondwana by ~510 Ma. 23 24 Supplementary material: The full sample list and U-Pb data are available at: 25 26 It has long been recognized that the traditional Precambrian–Cambrian (Ediacaran–Cambrian) 27 boundary interval is characterized worldwide by low rates of deposition and/or a major unconformity, 28 known as the ‘Great Unconformity’ (Brasier & Lindsay 2001, Peters & Gaines 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • The Meaning of the Great Unconformity and Sauk
    JOURNAL OF CREATION 28(1) 2014 || PERSPECTIVES distinctive stratigraphic surface in The meaning the rock record.”1 The Great Unconformity is also of the Great considered a unique feature within Unconformity the last 900 Ma of uniformitarian time.2 The Tonto Group in the Grand and Sauk Canyon is also recognized as covering about half of North America and is Megasequence called the Sauk Megasequence,1 the bottom of six megasequences that Michael J. Oard supposedly account for sedimen- tation over North America. The Sauk sequence is well defined lithologically he Great Unconformity, first on top of the upper crust and locally defined in the Grand Canyon T on Precambrian sedimentary and in 1869, separates the Cambrian metasedimentary rocks. However, Tapeats Sandstone from the underlying the other five sequences are based Precambrian rocks (the geological on many assumptions, such as fossil column and timescale are used for dating and not lithology, and are discussion purposes only). There commonly missing large sections in is some confusion in the Grand North America (see below). Canyon in that there is a second major unconformity between the Precambrian sedimentary rocks and The Great Unconformity in the igneous and metamorphic rocks Montana and Wyoming (figure 1). The uniformitarian origin of the Great Unconformity is supposed I have observed the Great Un- to be slow denudation over about a conformity at several locations in billion years that resulted in a nearly Wyoming and Montana. Whereas flat planation surface. Then after the Great Unconformity is near the this denudation, a shallow marine bottom of 1,200 m of flat strata in the transgression deposited the Tapeats Grand Canyon, it occurs at the tops of Sandstone, Bright Angel Shale, and some mountain ranges in Wyoming Muav Limestone in a fining upward and Montana.
    [Show full text]
  • Francis A. Macdonald
    Francis A. Macdonald Professor of Geology Department of Earth Sciences 2111 Webb Hall University of California at Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (857) 998-9993 [email protected] Education Ph.D. Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2009. B.S. Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 2001. Experience § Professor of Geology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 2018-present. § Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2017- 2018. § John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2014-2017. § Associate Professor, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2013-2014. § Assistant Professor, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2009-2013. § Research Assistant, USGS Astrogeology, Flagstaff, AZ, 2004. § Lab Manager, Paleomagnetics Laboratory, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, 2002-2004. § Field Technician, Aguoron Paleoproterozoic Drilling Project, South Africa, 2002-2003. § Field Technician, Geophysical cruise ship, South Pacific, 2000-2001. § Research Assistant, Caltech, 1999-2000. Awards § Macelwene Medal (American Geophysical Union Early Career Award), 2019. § Reviewer Award, Geology, for consistently prompt, insightful, meticulous, and tactful reviews, 2015. § Donath Medal (Geological Society of America Young Scientist Award), 2014. § Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising Award, Harvard College, 2012. § Ian Hamilton Golden Brunton Award, for excellence in field mapping, Caltech, 2001. Grants & Fellowships § NSF Frontier Research in Earth Systems: Do arc-continent collisions in the tropics set global climate state? 2019-present § NSF Sedimentary Geology and Paleontology: Collaborative Research: Did the formation of the Great Unconformity trigger oxygenation and the Cambrian explosion? 2018- present. § Inter-Continental Drilling Program (ICDP): Geological Research through Integrated Neoproterozoic Drilling, Ediacaran-Cambrian transition (GRIND-ECT) for scientific drilling in Brazil, Namibia, and South China.
    [Show full text]
  • An Inventory of Trilobites from National Park Service Areas
    Sullivan, R.M. and Lucas, S.G., eds., 2016, Fossil Record 5. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 74. 179 AN INVENTORY OF TRILOBITES FROM NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AREAS MEGAN R. NORR¹, VINCENT L. SANTUCCI1 and JUSTIN S. TWEET2 1National Park Service. 1201 Eye Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005; -email: [email protected]; 2Tweet Paleo-Consulting. 9149 79th St. S. Cottage Grove. MN 55016; Abstract—Trilobites represent an extinct group of Paleozoic marine invertebrate fossils that have great scientific interest and public appeal. Trilobites exhibit wide taxonomic diversity and are contained within nine orders of the Class Trilobita. A wealth of scientific literature exists regarding trilobites, their morphology, biostratigraphy, indicators of paleoenvironments, behavior, and other research themes. An inventory of National Park Service areas reveals that fossilized remains of trilobites are documented from within at least 33 NPS units, including Death Valley National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. More than 120 trilobite hototype specimens are known from National Park Service areas. INTRODUCTION Of the 262 National Park Service areas identified with paleontological resources, 33 of those units have documented trilobite fossils (Fig. 1). More than 120 holotype specimens of trilobites have been found within National Park Service (NPS) units. Once thriving during the Paleozoic Era (between ~520 and 250 million years ago) and becoming extinct at the end of the Permian Period, trilobites were prone to fossilization due to their hard exoskeletons and the sedimentary marine environments they inhabited. While parks such as Death Valley National Park and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve have reported a great abundance of fossilized trilobites, many other national parks also contain a diverse trilobite fauna.
    [Show full text]
  • EPGS Guidebook
    THE EL PAS0 GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY GUIDEBOOK FOURTH ANNUAL FIELD TRIP CENOZOIC STRATIGRAPHY Of THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY AREA DORA ANA COUNTY NEW MEXICO MARCH 14, 1970 CENOZOIC STRATIGRAPHY OF THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY AREA DQk ANA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO John W. Hawley - Editor and Cmpi ler GUIDEBOOK FOURTH ANNUAL FIELD TRIP of the EL PAS0 GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY March 14, 1970 Compiled in Cooperati on with: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso Earth Sciences and Astronomy Department, New Mexi co State University Soi 1 Survey Investigations, SCS, USDA, University Park, New Mexico New Mexico State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, New Mexico EL PAS0 GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS Charles J. Crowley Presi dent El Paso Natural Gas C. Tom Hollenshead Vice President El Paso Natural Gas Carl Cotton Secretary El Paso Indpt. School Dist. Thomas F. Cliett Treasurer El Paso Water Utilities Wi11 iam N. McAnul ty Counci lor Dept. Geol. Sci., UTEP Robert D. Habbit Councilor El Paso Natural Gas FIELD TRIP COMMITTEES Guidebook John W. Hawley Edi tor and compi 1er Soi 1 Survey Invest., SCS Jerry M. Hoffer Contributor and editing Dept. Geol. Sci., UTEP William R. Seager Contributor and editing Earth Sci. Dept. NMSU Frank E. Kottlowski Contributor and editing N. M. Bur. Mines & Min. Res. Earl M.P. Lovejoy Contributor and editing Dept. Geol. Sci., UTEP William S. Strain Contributor and editing Dept. Geol. Sci., UTEP Paul a Blackshear Typing Dept. Geol . Sci ., UTEP Robert Sepul veda Drafting Dept. Geol . Sci ., UTEP Caravan Earl M. P. Lovejoy Pub1 icity and Regi stration Charles J.
    [Show full text]