Geochronology and Thermochronology at Stanford

Stanford’s geochronology and thermochronology laboratories, faculty and staff offer a wide range of techniques and expertise to address problems in the earth sciences that are constrained by time and temperature. Our facilities include:

• A SHRIMP-RG Ion Microprobe
• A Finnegan-MAT 262 TIMS
• A Noble Gas 40Ar/39Ar and U-Th/He Thermochronology Laboratory
• A Fission Track Thermochronology Laboratory
• Support facilities for mineral separation, optical and cathodoluminescence imaging, SEM/EDAX and more…

We study

• Uplift and erosion histories and their relation to tectonics
• Faulting and landform evolution
• Rates of geologic processes
• Source uplift, sediment transport to basins and provenance studies
• High-precision dating of stratigraphic and volcanic sequences
• Calibration of geologic and geomagnetic timescales
• High-precision dating of magmatic systems and metallogenic processes
• P-T-t paths of the crust during orogenesis
• Age and P-T-t history of ultra high pressure metamorphic rocks
• Crustal evolution and recycling
• Chronology of plate tectonic reconstructions
• Time-space patterns of regional magmatism, deformation and metamorphism
• Calibration of mineral pairs, multi-technique geochronology and thermochronology

Faculty and Staff

Mike McWilliams (additional info here)
Joe Wooden
Elizabeth Miller (additional info here)
Trevor Dumitru (additional info here)
Steve Graham
Gail Mahood
Bettina Weigand
Frank Mazdab
Page Chamberlin
Gary Ernst (Emeritus)
Juhn Liou (Emeritus)

Current Graduate Students

Pieter Vermeesch
Derek Lerch
Jim Metcalf
Chris Mattinson
Joe Colgan
Carrie Whitehill
Ariel Strickland
Uwe Martin
Julie Fosdick

Recent Theses:

Colgan, J., 2005, Timing and kinematic history of Basin and Range extension in NW Nevada [Ph.D thesis], Stanford University

Hourigan, J.K., 2003, Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonic and magmatic evolution of the northeast Russian margin [Ph.D. thesis]: Stanford, California, Stanford University, 257 p.

Stockli, D.F. , 1999, Regional timing and spatial distribution of Miocene extension in the northern Basin and Range Province [Ph.D. thesis], Stanford University, 239 p. http://tectonics.geo.ku.edu/stockli.html

Selected Publications:

Note: Complete lists of faculty and student publications utilizing our geochronology and thermochronology facilities can be found through individual faculty web pages, lab sites or research group sites.

2004 Colgan J.P., T.A. Dumitru, and E.L. Miller, Diachroneity of Basin and Range extension and Yellowstone hotspot volcanism in northwestern Nevada, Geology, v. 32, p. 121-124.

2004 Hourigan, J. K. and Akinin, V. V., Tectonic and chronostratigraphic implications of new 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and geochemistry of the Arman and Maltan-Ola volcanic fields, Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanic belt, northeastern Russia, GSA Bulletin, p.

2003 Egger, A.E., T.A. Dumitru, E.L. Miller, C.F.I. Savage, and J.L. Wooden, Timing and nature of Tertiary plutonism and extension in the Grouse Creek Mountains, Utah, International Geology Review, v. 45, p. 497-532.

2003 DeGraaff-Surpless, K., J.B. Mahoney, J.L. Wooden and M. McWilliams, Lithofacies control in detrital zircon provenance studies: Insights from the Cretaceous Methow basin, Geological Society of America Bulletin 115, 899-915. . http://pangea.stanford.edu/~mac/pdf/DeGraaff+ 2003.pdf

2003 Stockli, D.F., T.A. Dumitru, M. McWilliams and K.A. Farley, Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the White Mountains, California and Nevada, Geological Society of America Bulletin 115, 788—816.

2002 Miller, E.L., T. Ireland, S. Klemperer, K.A. Wirth, V.V. Akinin, T. Brocher, SHRIMP zircon dating of reflective crust and Moho beneath the Bering Shelf, Alaska and Russia, Geological Society of America Special Paper 360, p. 195-208.

2002 DeGraaff-Surpless, K., S.A. Graham, J.L. Wooden and M. McWilliams, Detrital zircon provenance analysis of the Great Valley Group, California, Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 1564—1580

2002 Surpless, B.E., Stockli, D.F., Dumitru, T.A., and Miller, E.L., Two phase westward encroachment of Basin and Range extension into the northern Sierra Nevada. Tectonics, vol. 21, 1, 10.1029/2000TC001257.

2002 D.F. Stockli, B.E. Surpless, T.A. Dumitru, and Farley, K.A., Thermochronologic constraints on the timing and magnitude of Miocene and Pliocene extension in the central Wassuk Range, western Nevada, Tectonics, v. 21, no. 4, 10.1029/2001TC001295.

2002 Surpless, B.E., D.F. Stockli, T.A. Dumitru, and E.L. Miller, Elizabeth L., Two-phase westward encroachment of Basin and Range extension into the northern Sierra Nevada, Tectonics, v. 21, no. 1, 10.1029/2000TC001257.

2002 Moore, T.E. T.A. Dumitru, K.E. Adams, S.N. Witebsky, and A.G. Harris, Origin of the Lisburne Hills-Herald Arch structural belt: Stratigraphic, structural, and fission-track evidence from the Cape Lisburne area, northwestern Alaska, in Tectonic Evolution of the Bering Shelf–Chukchi Sea–Arctic Margin and Adjacent Landmasses, Geological Society of America Special Paper 360, edited by E.L. Miller, A. Grantz, and S.L. Klemperer, p. 77-109.

2002 Toro, J., P.B. Gans, W.C. McClelland, and T.A. Dumitru, Deformation and exhumation of the Mount Igikpak region, central Brooks Range, Alaska, in Tectonic Evolution of the Bering Shelf–Chukchi Sea–Arctic Margin and Adjacent Landmasses, Geological Society of America Special Paper 360, edited by E.L. Miller, A. Grantz, and S.L. Klemperer, p. 111-132.

2001 Dumitru, T.A., D. Zhou, E. Chang, S.A. Graham, M.S. Hendrix, E.R. Sobel, and A.R. Carroll, Uplift, exhumation, and deformation in the Chinese Tian Shan, in Paleozoic and Mesozoic Tectonic Evolution of Central and Eastern Asia: From Continental Assembly to Intra?continental Deformation, Geological Society of America Memoir 194, edited by M.S. Hendrix and G.A. Davis, p. 71-99.

2001 Dumitru, T.A., and M.S. Hendrix, Fission track constraints on Jurassic folding and thrusting in southern Mongolia and their relationship to the Beishan thrust belt of northern China, in Paleozoic and Mesozoic Tectonic Evolution of Central and Eastern Asia: From Continental Assembly to Intracontinental Deformation, Geological Society of America Memoir 194, edited by M.S. Hendrix and G.A. Davis, p. 215-229.

2001 Stockli, D.F., J.K. Linn, D.J. Walker, and T.A. Dumitru, Trevor A., Miocene unroofing of the Canyon Range during extension along the Sevier Desert Detachment, west central Utah, Tectonics, v. 20, p. 289-307.

2000 Dumitru, T. A., Fission-track geochronology, in Quaternary Geochronology: Methods and Applications, edited by J.S. Noller, J.M., Sowers, and W.R. Lettis, American Geophysical Union Reference Shelf, v. 4, p. 131-156.

2000 Arrowsmith, R., R. BŸrgmann, and T. Dumitru, Uplift and fault slip rates in the southern San Francisco Bay Area from fission tracks, geomorphology, and geodesy, in Quaternary Geochronology: Methods and Applications, edited by J.S. Noller, J.M., Sowers, and W.R. Lettis, American Geophysical Union Reference Shelf, v. 4, p. 505-510.

2000 Stockli, D.F. , Farley, K.A. and Dumitru, T.A., Calibration of the (U-Th)/He thermochronometer on an exhumed normal fault block in the White Mountains, eastern California and western Nevada. Geology, v. 28; no. 11, p.983-986.