Research Interests in Geology

The primary scientific problems that motivate me are in the area of landscape evolution and tectonics, specifically, the interactions of deformational, thermal, and surficial processes that shape mountain systems and landscapes.

In November 2006, I began a postdoc at Caltech investigating Colorado Plateau uplift and erosion using 13C- 18O carbonate thermometry - a new tool with exciting applications to paleoaltimetry and a wide range of geologic problems. My thesis work at MIT focused on documenting erosion rates and patterns of faulting in the Nepal Himalaya in order to test the hypothesis that climatically driven erosion has focused deformation along the Himalayan front through time. This work integrates 40Ar/ 39Ar thermochronology, thermal-kinematic numerical modeling, geomorphology, and structural geology approaches. My additional research interests include sediment transport mechanics and sediment delivery to basins in orogenic systems.

Future hypotheses I want to test involve the temporal and spatial scales of transients in active mountain ranges, as related to climatic and tectonic forcing. Advancement of cutting-edge detrital thermochronology/cosmogenic radionuclide approaches and applications of the 13C-18C carbonate thermometer naturally complement my broader goal of understanding the nature of feedbacks between tectonics and surface processes at a variety of timescales. Combined with field geology and geomorphology studies in natural laboratories and numerical modeling investigations, such studies could have a broad impact on our understanding of linkages among atmospheric, surficial, and solid Earth processes.