The program in structural geology and tectonics encompasses a wide variety of subjects, and a wide variety of areas all over the world. The common themes of our research are to understand the deformation of the Earth's crust and to reconstruct its history through geologic time. We approach these studies from many different perspectives, including global synthesis, field studies, materials science, theoretical analysis, and numerical modeling. Research in this group overlaps extensively with geophysics, igneous petrology, and metamorphic petrology, and there is productive interaction with faculty in these other areas.

Eric Cowgill (Ph.D., UCLA, 2001): Structural geology and tectonics; primarily interested in understanding regional deformation within active continental collision zones. Emphasis on the evolution of orogen-scale fault systems and their interactions. Current projects include determining the regional kinematics of active deformation within the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone and the tectonic evolution of the northern Tibetan Plateau.

Louise Kellogg ( Ph.D., Cornell, 1988): Her research group combines geodetic measurements with numerical modeling of deformation in the crust to understand the way faults behave and how they interact. Current focus is on the deformation in Southern California associated with the San Andreas, Garlock and White Wolf faults, and the active tectonics of the Transverse ranges.

Donna Eberhart-Phillips (Ph. D. Stanford University, 1989): Research Associate - Modelling of three-dimensional seismic velocity structure and material properties; and seismotectonic analysis of active deformation. Motivated to integrate 3-D velocity and attenuation models with other geophysics and to use 3-D velocity models to understand the effects of heterogeneous material properties, to extend beyond simply interpreting crustal structure. Current research efforts have focused on New Zealand and Alaska, with emphasis on understanding subduction processes and the transition from subduction to collision. Recent work with imaging 3D attenuation structure is valuable for interpreting tectonic processes that involve fluids, and also has application to engineering response spectra.

Sarah Roeske (Ph.D., UC Santa Cruz, 1988): Tectonic problems at convergent margins, in particular the evolution of major fault zones at all levels of the crust as margins change from convergence to collision. Interested in determining the timing of tectonic events by detailed examination of microstructures, the metamorphic conditions they form at, and the geochronology of those metamorphic minerals. Current field-based studies in Alaska, and western Argentina.

Jeff Unruh (Ph.D., UC Davis, 1990): Kinematics and dynamics of active deformation and the interpretation of seismogenic deformation. Current projects include studies of active deformation in the eastern San Andreas fault system, the northern California Coast Ranges, the Pacific Northwest, the Walker Lane belt and the eastern California shear zone; paleoseismic investigation of the Greenville fault, eastern San Francisco Bay Area; tectonic-geomorphic development of active folds, western Sacramento; role of lithospheric buoyancy forces in driving continental deformation, western United States.

John Dewey (Ph.D., University of London, 1960): Basic interests and knowledge are in structural geology and tectonics from the small-scale materials science of deformed rocks to the large-scale origin of topography and structures. Ongoing field-based research is on the rock fabrics and structures of transpression and transtension especially in California, New Zealand, Norway, Ireland and Newfoundland. Evolving interests are in the neotectonics of California and Nevada in the relationship among faulting,topography, and sediment provenance, yield and distribution. Derivative interests are in the geohazard of volcanoes, earthquakes and landslides.

Eldridge Moores (Ph.D., Princeton, 1963): Professional interests include the tectonics of Alpine and Cordilleran mountain belts, ophiolites and their significance, and environmental geology, and earth history. Field experience encompasses all seven continents, principally western North America, Argentina, the eastern Mediterranean, and Pakistan. Current research includes the ancient and modern tectonics of the California Coast Ranges, the nature of tectonic processes of oceanic lithosphere formation as revealed in ophiolites, and the nature of pre-Rodinian (pre 1000 Ma) ophiolites.

Rob Twiss (Ph.D., Princeton, 1970): Interests are in the understanding and interpretation of deformation mechanisms and deformational structures in rocks, most recently those associated with brittle deformation in the earth's crust. His research group has developed a technique to interpret brittle deformation structures and seismic focal mechanisms, and they have studied the deformation and tectonics associated with earthquake aftershock sequences and regional tectonics.

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