THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
The Department of Geosciences
Fall 2001
News Around the Department
3
The California Arc
4
Ancient Logger Mystery
5
The Desert Speaks
6
The Colorado Plateau
7
Update on Coney Endowment
8
Coney Fellowship Award
8
Phelps Dodge Exploration News
9
Other Department News
9
Spring 2000 Degrees 10
In Memory 10
Alumni News 11
•
Lesa Langan-DuBerry, editor
520-626-8204
lesa@geo.arizona.edu
•
www.geo.arizona.edu
Volume 7, Number 1
Letter from the Chair
INSIDE
The UA Geosciences Newsletter
is published twice a year by the
Department of Geosciences
PO Box 210077
The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0077
®
Susan Beck
I
t is hard to believe that I have been Department Chair
for one year now. I have thoroughly enjoyed being the
head of such an outstanding unit, and I have gained an
appreciation of how vibrant and active the Department is in
both teaching and research.
It has been a busy year. The most exciting news is that we
have hired two outstanding new faculty that will strengthen
our programs in structure and tectonics, and economic geology. Dr. Paul Kapp (BS ‘96,
UA, and PhD ‘01, UCLA) is a structural geologist. Paul uses structural analysis,
geochronology, and geodynamic modeling to understand continental lithosphere
deformation. His current projects include low-angle oceanic subduction, melange
underplating, and continental underthrusting in Tibet. Dr. Eric Seedorff (PhD ‘87,
Stanford) will fill the Lowell Chair in Economic
Geology. Eric has 15 years of industry
experience. His research interests include
hydrothermal systems, mineral deposits in
Cordillera settings, and extensional tectonics.
Eric, with the help of others in the Department,
will start a professional graduate training
program that includes mineral exploration, and
mine development and operations. We are
thrilled to have these two new faculty join our
ranks starting next semester.
Field camp continues to be a capstone
experience for our undergraduate students. We
added two more faculty, Jay Quade and Mihai
Ducea, to our field camp instructors roster. Jay
and Mihai joined Peter DeCelles and Clem
Chase last summer in Utah for the
“best-ever” field camp. We are continuing to
improve our field course, and we are committed
to making sure that our students get trained in
the fundamentals of geology, including a strong From left to right, students Rebekah
grounding in the field. We would love to hear
Wright, Jennifer Fimbres, and Courtney
from alumni about their past field camp
Ward at the end of a hot day during field
experiences at the UA. If you have some fun
camp in Salt Valley, Utah, last summer.
memories, send us a note along with pictures,
and we will include them in the next newsletter.
cont’d page 2
DONORS
Department of Geosciences
UA Geosciences
NEWSLETTER
Fall 2001
GEOSCIENCES ADVISORY BOARD
REGINA M. CAPUANO
University of Houston
CHARLES F. KLUTH
Chevron
ROBERT W. KRANTZ
Phillips
DAVID J. LOFQUIST
ExxonMobil
STEPHEN J. NARUK
Shell
DAVID K. REA
University of Michigan
WILLIAM H. WILKINSON (Chair)
Phelps-Dodge
Letter from the Chair, cont’d...
The Department of Geosciences expresses its gratitude
to alumni and friends who continue to support the Department
through their generous contributions.
BERT S. BUTLER
Robert H. Weber
•
PETER J. CONEY FELLOWSHIP
Tekla A. Harms
Charles D. & Susan A. Winker
(Shell Matching Gift)
•
CORPORATE DONORS
BP Amoco
Chevron
ExxonMobil
•
EVANS B. MAYO
Lorrel B. Nichols, Jr.
•
H. WESLEY PEIRCE SCHOLARSHIP
Neal E. McClymonds
•
MAXWELL N. SHORT SCHOLARSHIP
Robert H. Weber
JOHN & NANCY SUMNER
SCHOLARSHIP
Robert W. Parker/
Findmor Natural Gas
•
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS
AFMS Scholarship
Tucson Gem & Mineral Society
•
UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
AZ-NV Academy of Science
•
UNRESTRICTED
Patrick Gisler
Elaine Hazlewood
Neal E. McClymonds
David K. Rea
(Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation)
Yukimitsu Tomida
The Department continues to do well. Faculty continue to
As many of you may have heard, the State of Arizona,
increase their external funding for research projects, and we are
like many states, is facing a severe budget shortfall, and the
University has been hit with major budget cuts. Although
teaching increasing numbers of students in introductory
Geoscience classes for non-majors. Tremendous effort has gone
we are likely to have a rough few years, I am confident that
into developing high quality, large enrollment, non-major
we will come through intact.
One of the truly enjoyable
courses over the past few years. Pete
Kresan and Bob Butler revamped our
parts of being Department Head
Natural Science with a Geologic
is to have the opportunity to get
to know so many of our alumni.
Perspective course this past year. Owen
Davis, Jonathan Overpeck, and Judy
I want to thank all of you for
Parrish have developed a new introyour generous support this past
year, and I hope to see many of
ductory Life Science course. Faculty and
students spent their summers in the field
you in Tucson this coming year.
all over the globe, including Alaska,
Finally, I want to introduce
Lesa Langan-DuBerry, our new
Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Spain, Nepal,
and China as well as the western U.S. We
Program Coordinator for
successfully recruited 22 outstanding new
Alumni. Lesa is producing our
Newsletter and coordinating
graduate students this year, and we
continue to increase the number of
our efforts in alumni outreach.
undergraduate students doing research
If you have any alumni news,
Susan Beck (left) and Bob Butler (right) with Alumni
please give Lesa a call at
projects with faculty.
Gary Jones (MS ‘80). Gary visited the Department in
This spring is the 30th anniversary of
(520) 626-8204 or E-mail her
November while in Tucson to receive a Professional
GeoDaze, our student run symposium!
at lesa@geo.arizona.edu.
Achievement Award from the UA.
GeoDaze is April 4-6 this year, so mark
your calendars. Graduate students Melissa
Trout and Cristina Luis are the co-chairs.
page 2
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
News
Around the
Department
Spencer Titley Receives Career
Distinguished Teaching Award
S
Marie Paquette. “The first is his constant
desire to learn from everyone and
everything around him. The second is
his devotion to student advancement.
He is always accessible when you are a
student in his course, and his openness
continues after the semester ends.”
According to graduate student
Carlotta Chernoff, “Dr. Titley’s
students see through his eyes
the wonderful possibilities
and opportunities in geology,
and through the process of
teaching, he imparts to them
the key skills and tools that
they will need to be
successful.”
In his 40 years of
teaching, Spence has
successfully graduated over
30 PhD candidates and over
90 MS degree students.
Spence Titley (center) with graduate student Stacie
“I believe that Dr. Titley’s
Gibbins (left) and a mine geologist at the Grasberg
capacity to be such an
open pit copper-gold mine in the Indonesian province
influential teacher lends itself
of Irian Jaya.
to his personal philosophy
that ‘geology is not a career,
Spence has always taught introductory but a way of life,’” says Alisa Miller (BS
‘01). “To be a man so rooted in this belief
classes (Minerals and Society), underis what sets Dr. Titley apart from other
graduate classes (Ore Deposits), and
people.”
numerous graduate classes and seminars.
Over the decades, the words that
From 1961 to 1970, he taught the sixstudents share about Spence remain the
week field mapping course which is both
same. Spence Titley is an outstanding
challenging and demanding because it
requires teaching and mentoring students teacher and mentor, and he makes a real
difference in their lives. “Spence Titley is
12 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week.
a mentor who is without parallel in our
“Spence is one of the most dedicated,
academia,” says Kevin Horstman (PhD
tireless, and successful teachers that I
‘96). “I am proud to have been a doctoral
have ever known,” says colleague
student of his, and I am proud to call
Jibamitra Ganguly. “I do not know any
him my friend.”
other individual in the entire field of
“I deliberately chose to work with
Earth Sciences who has been a mentor to
Spence on my PhD program not only
as many MS and PhD students.” Other
because of his technical expertise, but also
colleagues in the Department and the
because of his years of experience,” says
College support this sentiment
Stephen Enders (PhD ‘00). “As an older
wholeheartedly.
student, I wanted to work with someone
Although Spence has received many
who could be more than a teacher, I
prestigious awards for his research on ore
wanted a mentor. I will be forever
deposits around the world, he considers
grateful for his insight, advise, and
his students the most important part of
encouragement.”
his job. “Dr. Titley has two remarkable
Corolla Hoag (MS ‘91) was Spence
qualities that have impacted his career in
Titley’s 100th graduate student. She says,
teaching,” says undergraduate Anne
pencer Titley received the College
of Science’s Career Distinguished
Teaching Award in the spring of
2001, acknowledging his 40 years of
excellence in teaching and mentoring at
the University of Arizona’s Department
of Geosciences.
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
“Dr. Titley’s training in the study of ore
deposits, exploration, and mining
techniques have given me sure footing
and confidence in the work environment,
regardless of the commodity.” Elizabeth
Anthony (MS ‘79, and PhD ‘86), professor
at UTEP , says, “I try very hard to emulate
Spence Titley’s dedication in my own
career.”
The faculty of the Department of
Geosciences have been fortunate to have
Spence Titley as a colleague since 1960.
“Spence helps young people (and some
not so young) learn to be better scientists
and more humane individuals,” says
colleague Mark Barton.
It takes a great deal of dedication,
through the thick and thin of an
academic career, to contribute in a
meaningful way to the lives of students
for over 40 years.
Thank you Spence Titley.
Spence Titley (right), Kurt Friehauf (left),
a former post-doc currently working with
Spence, and two local geologists in
front of a dominant intrusion formation
in Indonesia.
page 3
The California Arc
MIHAI DUCEA
Progress in Understanding the Composition
and Evolution of Cordilleran Batholiths
C
ordilleran batholiths are extensive belts of granitic
plutons that formed above subduction zones.
Understanding the petrology and tectonic framework
of these batholiths has stirred great geologic controversies and
continues to pose several major problems in modern geology,
such as quantifying the rates and processes of crustal growth
vs. recycling. One of our major limitations in deciphering
large-scale arc magmatic features is the limited knowledge of
their vertical dimension. How deep do they extend, what is
their composition at depth, and how thick is the crust beneath
arcs? How much of the crustal thickening is tectonic versus
magmatic? Is magmatism in major arcs steady state, and do
magmatic rates correlate with plate convergence rates?
The Sierra Nevada Mountains and related areas of California
provide one of the best-studied examples of a continental
margin arc, where large volumes of granitic rock were intruded
into the crust above a subduction zone during the Mesozoic.
Our recent work on California arc rocks [Fig. 1] provides a new
view of the arc: its deep structure, its magmatic history, and
the sources of the granites. The arc was active from 220 to 80
million years ago, but it had two major magmatic flare-ups that
lasted only 10-15 m.y. The second of these (100-85 m.y. ago)
was the big one that resulted in emplacement of about 80% of
the entire batholith. The original geometry of the batholith
has been modified by the Basin and Range extension in the
Cenozoic, but we can reconstruct its original form using surface
exposures (mostly upper crustal rocks), scattered outcrops of
rocks from the deeper part of the arc, and xenoliths that were
brought to the surface by younger volcanism, in combination
with recently acquired seismic data. The present crust is ~33 km
thick, and arc granites extend through this entire depth range.
Since some granites have been eroded off the top of the Sierra,
and since granites are derived by differentiation of more mafic
materials, we argue the crust must have been at least about 70
km thick when it formed; much like the Andes today. The
residue of granite production has since been recycled back into
the mantle, but the mid-crustal exposures and xenolith data
show that the residue was a mixture of granulite and eclogite
facies rocks, with the latter being significantly more important
than previously thought.
The arcs are intimately associated with subduction and thus
it is dogmatically assumed that higher convergence rates imply
faster turnaround times in the corner-shaped mantle wedge,
faster devolatilization of the downgoing slab, and hence higher
melt production in the mantle wedge. We show, however,
that there is no apparent correlation between the known
convergence rates or the angle of convergence of subduction
and the well-quantified magmatic fluxes in California. Without
minimizing the role of subduction and subduction-related
basaltic magmatism in the evolution of this long-lived
continental arc, an additional conceptual model that can
explain both the flare-up and subsequent demise of granitic
magmatism is needed. We propose that the flare-ups have been
instigated by major periods of deformation when the arc overrode North America [Fig. 2]. The xenolith data provide firsthand evidence for large-scale imbrications beneath the arc,
page 4
Figure 1. Map of central and southern California. Dark grey areas
are Mesozoic granitic and related metamorphic rocks. Near the coast
are mainly Jurassic Franciscan formation rocks. Light grey areas
show Mesozoic arc-related amphibolite-granulite terrains. Xenolithbearing volcanic rocks from the San Joaquin field are also shown.
whereas the exposed terranes document a datable metamorphic
foliation that is indicative of shortening and that predates the
late Cretaceous magmatic flare-up by about 15-25 Ma. The
delay between the peak of thrusting and the peak of lower
lithosphere en-masse magmatism might be a consequence of
the relaxation time needed for the geotherms to rebound after
initial thrusting. The link between magmatism and deformation
in arcs has been questioned for decades. However, studies of
other segments of Cordilleran arcs where magmatism is thought
to be intimately linked to shortening typically postulate that
magmatism predates and triggers or enhances deformation in
the mid- to deep-crust in contrast to this new model. We also
speculate that the
eventual cessation
of magmatism in
the arc is related to
depletion of the
deep crustal and
upper mantle
sources of granitic
components and
not to refrigeration
by a shallowly
subducting slab.
Figure 2. Schematic W-E interpretative cross section (vertical~horizontal
scale) through the Sierra Nevada lithosphere prior to the Cretaceous
batholith. The source region of the Cretaceous Sierra Nevada batholith
(SNB) is shown, as well as the oceanic “Panthalassan” (PT) and
continental North American (NA) segments of the batholith. SJF marks
the San Joaquin xenolith probe in the Sierra Nevada. The box shows
the area that experienced partial melting during magmatic flare-up.
Abbreviations: Ccrustal - Precambrian lower crust, Cmantle - Precambrian
enriched mantle lithosphere, S - accreted crustal rocks, M - accreted
mantle, Mi - miogeocline rocks, FP - the subducting Farallon Plate.
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
JULIO BETANCOURT
Strontium Isotopes Solve
Ancient Logger Mystery
Julio Betancourt is an Associate Professor and alumnus
(MS ‘83, PhD ‘90) who works for the USGS at the
Desert Laboratory.
U
ntil recently, the origin of some 200,000 conifer beams
used in the architecture of Chaco Canyon has been
one of the great mysteries in southwestern archeology.
Between AD 900 and 1150, the Anasazi developed a complex
culture centered at Chaco Canyon that spanned parts of
northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and
northeastern Arizona. The Chacoan phenomenon was
characterized by monumental architecture, advanced
agricultural and water control systems, and elaborate road, trail,
and signaling networks that integrated numerous communities
into a regional exchange and resource procurement system.
Among the resources moved great distances were large
stockpiles of timber to span roofs and lintels in the multistoried
stone pueblos, called “great houses.” The logs included not just
ponderosa pine, the dominant species in the architectural
timber, but also tens of thousands of spruce and fir beams that
had to be logged and hauled from mountain tops at least 50
miles away. Four of us (Nathan English, Julio Betancourt, Jeff
Dean, and Jay Quade) recently teamed up to pinpoint the
sources of this timber using strontium isotopes. The results were
reported in the October 9 issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (English et al., 2001), and were widely
featured by the science media, including the News & Views
section of Nature (Diamond, 2001), Science News, The New York
Times, National Geographic News, and local and regional
newspapers.
As with most collaborative science, this particular piece of
research reflects our own personal histories and relationships.
For twenty years, Jeff Dean (BA ‘61, PhD ‘67, now Professor,
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research) has supervised the crossdating and archiving of cores and cross-sections from Chaco
Canyon architectural timber. These samples were collected by
archeologists, and are now stored at the Tree-Ring Laboratory.
Some years back, Jeff and Dick Warren published a compendium
of all the tree-ring dates from Chetro Ketl, one of the Chacoan
great houses. One of the problems with Chetro Ketl is that
every investigator had invented his/her own room designation
scheme. Jeff relied on first-year graduate student, Julio
Betancourt (PhD ‘90, now with USGS based at the Desert Lab),
to sort through the information and assign each piece of wood
to a fixed room number.
Julio looked at a thousand pieces of wood from Chetro Ketl,
and developed an eye for the different species. One group of
samples labeled “Species X” was thought by Bryant Bannister,
Director of the Tree-Ring Lab in the 1980s, to represent spruce
or fir. A year after the Chetro Ketl synthesis, Tom Van Devender
and Julio analyzed fossil packrat middens from Chaco Canyon
to determine that the Anasazi permanently wiped out the local
pinyon-juniper woodland for fuel. With the remaining funds at
the end of the midden study, we purchased gobs of Polaroid
Cribbed log roof of a small kiva (Kiva L), a ceremonial room, in
Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (taken in the 1920s
by Neil Judd, courtesy of National Geographic Society).
land camera film and instrument time on a scanning electron
microscope to show that “Species X” in the architectural timber
included both spruce and fir. From the midden record, we knew
that neither tree grew at Chaco Canyon during the last 9000
years, so the Anasazi must have hauled the logs from distant
mountain ranges. Exactly which mountain range might tell us
something about social and economic relationships across the
region, but this remained a mystery for another sixteen years.
Last year, Julio asked Jay Quade if we couldn’t use isotopes
to fingerprint the soils or bedrock that supported the spruce and
fir. Based on his own collaborations in the Department to track
detrital sediments associated with the “unroofing” of the
Himalayas and to determine calcium sources in southern
Arizona soil carbonates, Jay thought that strontium isotopes
might work. Strontium isotopes, and the mountain ranges that
surround Chaco Canyon, vary by both composition and age of
the dominant bedrock. The underlying philosophy is that trees
assimilate strontium from local soils and atmospheric dust, and
incorporate them into wood without fractionating the isotopes
87
Sr and 86Sr. The 87Sr/86Sr ratio in the wood should reflect the
ratio in local soil and water, which should be some combination
of local weathering products and atmospheric dust that settles
on tree canopies.
The National Park Service and Navajo Tribe provided
funding and Nathan English (MS ‘00), one of Jay’s former
students from the Himalayan study and now a Research
Associate in the School of Renewable Natural Resources led
the study. The first task was to collect increment cores from
numerous trees growing in the candidate mountain ranges.
The San Mateo Mountains-Mt. Taylor to the south represent a
succession of two- to four-million year old lava flows, the San
Pedro-Nacimiento Mountains to the east are high, faulted blocks
of Precambrian granite and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, and
cont’d page 6
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
page 5
Ancient Loggers, cont’d...
the Chuska Mountains to the west of Chaco Canyon are capped
by a thick and flat-lying Tertiary sandstone. In theory, the older
granites should have higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios than the younger
basalts, with the sandstone yielding intermediate values. We
found that 87Sr/86Sr ratios do not differ by species of tree, but
each mountain has a different strontium ratio, much like
every person has a unique fingerprint.
The next step was to mine the rich archive of dated
Chacoan timbers stored at the Tree-Ring Lab. We selected
52 specimens with cutting dates spanning three human
generations at six of the great houses. The result was that
two-thirds of the specimens could be traced to the Chuska
Mountains, one-third to the San Mateo Mountains, and none
to the San Pedro Mountains. The two fingerprinted sources
were both logged as early as AD 974, suggesting that selection
of timber sources was driven more by socioeconomic ties with
communities to the west and south than by timber depletion
with distance and time. Communities within a few hours’ walk
of the San Mateo or Chuska Mountain forests were well
positioned to regularly harvest, cure, and stockpile timbers for
transport to Chaco Canyon. Conversely, the absence of logs
from the San Pedro Mountains is consistent with the absence
PETER KRESAN
of roads or outlying communities to the east. There is also
evidence that logs from both sources were mixed in common
stockpiles and used simultaneously in the construction of
different great houses at Chaco Canyon. Trees felled in the
Chuska Mountains in A.D. 1037 were used at both Pueblo
Bonito and Pueblo Arroyo, and wood cut in A.D. 974 from both
the Chuskas and San Mateos ended up in a single room at
Pueblo Bonito.
We now have the opportunity to relate sources with species
and architectural function for thousands of dated timbers
archived on our campus. We also can apply 87Sr/86Sr ratios in
provenance studies of botanical materials preserved in other
archeological sites. For his commentary in Nature, we provided
Jared Diamond with a hit list of potential materials, and he
chose to feature the Shroud of Turin, the wrappings of Egyptian
mummies, the roof beams of Roman buildings, and the timber
of Viking ships excavated in Norway. Stay tuned for more
solved mysteries... and eat your heart out, Tony Hillerman!
Diamond, J., 2001. Tree Trail to Chaco Canyon. Nature 413, 687-690.
English, N.E., Betancourt, J.L., Dean, J.S., Quade, J., 2001. Strontium
Isotopes Reveal Source of Architectural Timber at Chaco
Canyon, New Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 98, 11891-11896.
The Desert Speaks
T
he Desert Speaks is a Public Television series featuring natural history, cultures, adventure, and travel in the Earth’s
desert regions. The 2002 series will include five programs with Peter Kresan as on camera geologist and naturalist. For
Tucson viewers, the programs will show on Sundays at 7:00 PM on KUAT channel 6 and are tentatively scheduled for the
dates listed below. Programs will be rebroadcast one week later at 5:00 PM.
Program 1209 Death Valley
Program 1210 Mojave
Program 1211 Joshua Tree
Program 1212 Great Basin Part 1
Program 1213 Great Basin Part 2
April 14, 2002
April 21, 2002
April 28, 2002
May 5, 2002
May 12, 2002
The Desert Speaks series is distributed by PBS and is carried
by 60 to 100 stations across the U.S. Alumni interested in
viewing the series can contact their local PBS station to see if
The Desert Speaks is carried by them and confirm the time that
it is broadcast.
2002 marks the 12th season for The Desert Speaks on
PBS and KUAT. The Desert Speaks has earned over 20 Rocky
Pete Kresan, far left, is on camera with a Desert Speaks
Mountain Southwest Regional Emmy Awards; a First Place,
audience exploring the Mesquite Flats sand dunes in Death
Documentary Series, national award from the National
Valley, California. The image is a high resolution video still
Educational Tele-communications Association (NETA), plus
from the program on Death Valley which will be broadcast
numerous other nominations for educational television
next season. As the sand falls through ones fingers, very little
excellence. The Desert Speaks is produced in High Definition
dust is kicked up, illustrating how wind can sort the very fine
Television and is one of the few series currently offered in
particles of dust from the coarser but still fine sand.
HDTV.
A few years ago, The Desert Speaks produced a program
on the geology and natural history of Northern Sonora,
Mexico, while accompanying the Society of Earth Science Students on a spring break geology field trip. Arturo Baez, a
geoscience undergraduate, played a vital role in making the Sonoran field trip and TV programming possible. Peter Kresan
and Yar Petryszyn, ecologist at the University of Arizona, served as the naturalists on camera. The program was translated
into Spanish and has been shown in many of the public schools in Northern Sonora.
page 6
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
CLEM CHASE
Tectonic History of
the Colorado Plateau
F
or a long time, work on the history of the Colorado
River has focused on the origin of its Grand Canyon,
especially the western end where the river leaves the
Colorado Plateau. Dating of geologic units at this lower end
near Lake Mead show that the major incision of the Canyon
occurred in the last six million years. Conversations with
Steve Reynolds of ASU convinced me that it is equally
puzzling how the Colorado River crossed the Kaibab uplift
(arrow, Fig. 1) at the eastern end of the Grand Canyon.
Insight into this question is provided by the structure of the
Colorado Plateau in Arizona.
The Permian Kaibab limestone defines the surface of
the Laramide (Late Cretaceous - Early Tertiary) Kaibab uplift
or monocline. Figure 2 shows structure contours on the
Kaibab limestone and its equivalents farther east. The key
observation is that the eastern end of the Canyon follows a
single structural level around the uplift. The Canyon
“sidehills” around the uplift.
Figure 1. Geologic map of the southern Colorado Plateau draped on
landscape. Units mentioned: P is Permian Kaibab limestone; TrM is
Triassic Moenkopi formation; black arrow points to the Kaibab uplift.
Figure 2. Structure contour map of the southern Colorado
Plateau, from Hunt, 1969. Contours of the top of
Permian, in thousands of feet. The heavy gray line is the
present course of the Colorado River. The black arrow
shows the course through the Kaibab uplift.
The most reasonable explanation is the pre-Grand Canyon
slipped around the end of the uplift, running on a near-level
surface of Moenkopi formation avoiding the Kaibab whaleback
to the north. The easily erodible Moenkopi has since been
stripped away except for isolated remnants (Fig. 1).
The regional topographic image of the Colorado Plateau
in Figure 3 reveals some of the implications of crossing the
Kaibab uplift. The dark lines represent the 7000’ contour
of present elevation. If no major post-Miocene warping
has occurred, then the part of the Colorado Plateau below
7000’ has all been stripped out by erosion in the last six
million years.
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
Figure 3. Grayscale topographic map of the Colorado Plateau and vicinity.
The dark contour is 7000’ elevation. The arrow is the same as Figure 1.
page 7
Update on Fundraising
for the Peter J. Coney
Endowment
T
he Peter J. Coney Fellowship
was established by colleagues,
students, and friends of Peter
Coney, an exceptionally gifted
scientist in structure-tectonics.
The Department is working to
fully endow the Coney fellowship
in Structure-Tectonics. The funds
currently stand at $119,136.
When this amount reaches
$200,000, the endowment will
become a fully funded annual
fellowship in the amount of
$10,000 which will be given to a worthy graduate student
in Structure-Tectonics each year. We need your help to
fully endow this fellowship honoring Peter Coney.
The Department recently received a generous
donation from Charles Winker (PhD ‘87) and Susan
Archias-Winker (former staff). In their letter
accompanying their gift, the Winker’s said:
We both treasure our memories of Pete Coney. For
Charlie, a class with Pete was a reminder of why he had
become a geologist in the first place. Pete’s teaching
transcended his subject matter, for he was not so
interested in conveying information (though he was a
master of the telling detail) as in training students how
to think. It seemed that for him, geology was as much
art as science; he valued eloquence and economy of
expression, and his illustrations were models of clarity.
As a supervisor, he had no interest in producing carbon
copies of himself, and who could presume to copy such
a singular individual? For a jaded graduate student,
Pete made geology fresh and exciting again.
Please help the Department of Geosciences reach our
endowment goal in honor of Peter Coney. We are asking
for a minimum donation of $5,000 from corporate donors;
individual donors may give whatever
is within their means. All corporate
donors at the $5,000 level and above
and all individual donors will be
recognized on a plaque that will hang
in the Geosciences Department.
Through this endowment your
donation will continue to give year
after year.
If you would like more
information on how you can
contribute to this important effort
please contact Lesa Langan-DuBerry
at telephone number (520) 626-8204,
or E-mail lesa@geo.arizona.com.
Profile: Ofori Pearson
Coney Fellowship
Recipient
M
y research focuses on the structural geology and tectonic
significance of the Ramgarh thrust, a major fault in the
Nepal Himalayas whose importance has only recently been
realized. The Ramgarh thrust accommodates over 100 km of
shortening, an amount that is perhaps similar to that
accommodated by the Main Central thrust, and more than
that accommodated by the Main Boundary and Main Frontal
thrusts. The three main goals of my research are (1) to
document the existence of the Ramgarh thrust across the entire
width of Nepal; (2) to make a new map and cross-section in
central Nepal through the Kathmandu Klippe (that shows the
relationship of the thrust to the Himalayan fold-thrust belt’s
other structural elements; and (3) to describe the microscopic
fabric of a quartzite in the hanging-wall of the Ramgarh thrust
in western Nepal.
Working in collaboration with others in the Department,
particularly Pete DeCelles and Delores Robinson, we now have
evidence that the Ramgarh thrust does extend across the entire
width of the orogen in Nepal. My work in central Nepal suggests
that the general structural geometry of the fold-thrust belt is
similar to the geometry in western Nepal. I am currently
working on a micro-structural fabric analysis of a highly strained
quartzite from the immediate hanging-wall of the thrust in
western Nepal. Quantifying strain amounts will lead to more
accurate shortening estimates for western Nepal. Additionally, a
detailed fabric description of the quartzite will yield information
about the deformation mechanisms operating in rocks carried
by the Ramgarh thrust, thus giving important constraints on
pressure and temperature conditions during deformation.
It is an honor to receive the Peter Coney Fellowship. The
breadth of Peter’s knowledge and his amazing ability at
integrating diverse data sets remains a source of inspiration
for me. As I near completion of my dissertation research, I
frequently remember some of the advice that Peter gave me.
In particular, I recall him saying, “Remember, the details only
matter if they are important.” Peter recognized my tendency
to focus on details, and was constantly encouraging me to see
“the bigger picture.” That bit of advice has been very important
in my graduate career. My interests and dissertation project
have evolved from
being narrowly
focused on
structural processes
to integrating
observations made
using a variety of
structural tools into
a regional tectonic
framework.
~ Ofori Pearson
Ofori and fellow graduate student Delores Robinson in western Nepal.
page 8
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
Stephen Enders Appointed President of
Phelps Dodge Exploration Corporation
S
tephen Enders (PhD ’00) was
appointed as President of Phelps
Dodge Exploration Corporation on
June 1st, 2001. Enders assumes
leadership for the company’s
worldwide metals and minerals
exploration program, and he is
responsible for the discovery and
development of economically viable
mineral reserves. Previously, Enders served as Vice
President of minesite exploration for PDX, where he
developed exploration programs for the company’s
operations and development sites.
Enders joined Phelps Dodge in 1989 as Senior Project
Geologist, and has held a variety of project management
and geology management positions within the company.
Other News in
the Department
Kevin Moodie retired on October 31,
after 28 years with the Department of
Geosciences. Most recently, under
the direction of Peter Kresan, Kevin
provided staff support for the NATS
101 courses, in addition to his other
responsibilities as research technician.
Faculty, staff, and students would like
to say “thank you Kevin” for your
hard work and dedication.
Meg Watt is now the Program
Coordinator for the Center for
Mineral Resources and is working
with Mark Barton through the Center.
She is also doing publication layout
and production for the USGS, SW
field office for Greta Orris and Floyd
Gray in the Environmental and
Natural Resources Building.
Anne Chase is now the Program
Coordinator for Academic Affairs for
the Department of Geosciences.
While continuing her previous work
as Undergraduate Advisor, Anne has
now added the responsibilities of
Graduate Advisor as well. Anne is
located in room 210 of the GouldSimpson building.
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
Prior to Phelps Dodge, Enders held geology positions
with Galactic Resources Ltd., Pegasus Gold Corporation,
Texas Gulf Inc., and Terradex Corporation. He holds a
PhD degree in Geosciences and a MS degree in Geological
Engineering from the UA and a BS degree in Geological
Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.
Phelps Dodge Corporation is the world’s second
largest producer of copper. The company is also the
world’s largest producer of continuous-cast copper rod
and molybdenum and is among the largest producers
of carbon black and magnet wire. Phelps Dodge has
operations and investments in mining facilities in
27 countries and employs approximately 15,000
people worldwide.
Steve and his family now live in Tempe, Arizona.
New Employee to
Work with Alumni
Lesa Langan-DuBerry was recently hired
as Alumni Program Coordinator for the
Department of Geosciences. Lesa will
work part-time and be responsible for
coordinating alumni activities, specifically
fund-raising. She will also produce the
Geosciences Newsletter and other
communication pieces.
Lesa comes to Geosciences from
the University of Wisconsin at Madison
where she was the Communications
Coordinator for the Office of International Programs in the
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Before that, she was a
development worker in The Gambia, West Africa.
Lesa is looking forward to working with Geosciences faculty,
staff, students, and alumni. She has always been interested in
Earth Sciences, and she is looking forward to increasing her
knowledge and understanding through interactions with people
associated with the Department.
Lesa will be located in room 210A, Monday through
Wednesday. If you haven’t met her, please stop by and
introduce yourself. Her contact information is listed below.
Lesa Langan-DuBerry
Alumni Program Coordinator
Department of Geosciences
P.O. Box 210077
Tucson, AZ 85721
Telephone: (520) 626-8204
E-mail: lesa@geo.arizona.edu
Fax: (520) 621-2672
page 9
Spring 2000 Degrees
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
Hillary E. Brown • Evonne C. Creasman • Suzanne L. Eckert • Scott J. Friedman
Rebecca E. Garoutte • Sara E. Goodrich • Darren C. Green • Sandra D. Harris
Katherine E. Hay • Jessica C. Lopez • Alisa C. Miller • Amy E. Prosek
Joseph J. Victory
MASTER OF SCIENCE AND DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
David L. Barbeau, MS
A Flexural Model for the Paradox Basin:
Implications for the Tectonics of the Ancestral
Rocky Mountains. Peter DeCelles
Martin Herrmann, MS
Episodic Magmatism and Hydrothermal
Activity, Pima Mining District, Arizona.
Mark Barton
Luis Fernando Barra-Pantoja, MS
A Re-Os Study of Sulfides from the Bagdad
Porphyry Cu-Mo Deposit, Northern Arizona.
Joaquin Ruiz
Ryan D. Mathur, PhD
Re-Os Isotopes of Base Metal Porphyry
Deposits. Joaquin Ruiz
Alexander P. Bump, PhD
Kinematics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of
Laramide Deformation, Colorado Plateau, Utah
and Colorado. George Davis
Frank K. Mazdab, PhD
The Distribution of Trace Elements in Iron
Sulfides and Associated Chlorine-Bearing
Silicates. Mark Barton
Pilar E. Garcia, PhD
Basement-Cored Uplift Deformation in the
Northern Sierras Pampeanas: Three-Dimensional
Uplift Structure, Basement Deformation, and
Regional Analysis. George Davis
Nadine McQuarrie, PhD
The Making of a High Elevation Plateau:
Insights from the Central Andean Plateau,
Bolivia. George Davis and Peter DeCelles
Eric M. Miller, MS
Investigation of Upper Mantle Structure and Composition Beneath the SW Colorado Plateau and Southern Basin
and Range. George Zandt
In Memory
Nora Colburn died on October 21, 2001. Nora studied
and worked as a research assistant in the Department of
Geosciences at different times over many years.
George Kiersch (PhD ‘47) was a prominent geologist and
educator. He died October 19, 2001, after a long illness.
George graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in
1942. Following completion of military service, he entered
the UA where he studied under B.S. Butler and received his
PhD in Geology in 1947. In 1951, he was appointed to the
faculty as Assistant Professor of Geology. In 1955, George
then became Director of Bureau of Indian Affairs and the
UA’s Survey of Mineral Resources for the Navajo-Hopi Indian
Reservations.
In 1960, George became a faculty member at Cornell
Univ., and he was appointed Chairman of the Geology
Department in 1964. George taught at Cornell until 1978
and simultaneously worked in the private sector where he
was internationally recognized.
page 10
George’s professional and scientific contributions to
Geology were lauded, and he was highly recognized as an
outstanding expert in his fields of economic geology and
engineering geology.
Renee Kra died May 14, 2001, after suffering from a stroke.
Readers will remember Renee as the dynamic Managing Editor
of Radiocarbon, a position she held for three decades.
Friends and colleagues will miss Renee’s sense of humor,
keen eye for detail, and even her notorious (often copious)
editing marks. The journal and its contributors benefited
greatly from Renee’s high standards and dedication.
Shannon Peterson, UA Junior, was killed in a car accident on
October 11, 2001. She was undergraduate student majoring in
Geosciences until the week before her death when she changed
to Studio Arts. She was enrolled in Peter DeCelles’ Stratigraphy
and Sedimentation course this semester.
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
ALUMNI NEWS
1950s & 1960s
1990s
kjye@chevron.com
Mark Melton (former Staff & Faculty)
Tim Demko (PhD ‘95)
I am within a few days of reaching 71 and
have been officially retired for about six years.
I still get requests for some of my photography
to be used in textbooks. To the few people still
alive who might remember me from 1959-63,
best wishes. Send e-mail!
melton@lvcm.com
Tim and his wife Laura had a baby boy,
August 1, 2001. The baby’s name is Noah.
William Laughlin (MS ’59, PhD ’69)
The year 2000 was definitely not good for
my wife and I. On May 10, 2001, our home
burned along with hundreds of others in the
terrible Cerro Grande Fire. We decided not to
rebuild in Los Alamos, although I still have
my business there. F.E.M.A. has treated us
well, but the personal property losses
(particularly photos) were terrible.
ylaughlin@aol.com
1980s
Alison Hess (MS ‘85)
Alison recently received the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s Gold
Medal, the Agency’s highest award, for
her work as Project Manager of the
Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site.
hess.alison@epa.gov
Gary Jones (MS ‘80)
Danielle Horton (BS ‘98) &
Brian Horton (PhD ‘98)
Danielle and Brian have moved to Los
Angeles. Danielle is a science teacher
at Emerson Middle School. Brian is
an Assistant Professor at UCLA, working
on tectonics and basin evolution projects
in Tibet, Iran, and South America.
horton@ess.ucla.edu
Julie Lewis Feeney (MS ‘96)
Julie is currently working for an
environmental consulting company in
Northern Virginia called HydroGeoLogic.
jfeeney@hgl.com
Paul Kapp (BS ‘96)
Paul will join the Geosciences faculty in
the spring of 2002. Paul received his PhD
from UCLA in 2001.
I have become an assistant professor in
dendrochronology at the UA Laboratory of
Tree-Ring Research. My tree-ring research
interests include
applied imaging
analysis techniques,
climatology, and
geomorphology,
and I am trying to
initiate the use of
tree-ring data as
environmental
monitors, especially
for the fate of
nitrogen in forested ecosystems. In addition
to teaching some dendro courses, I am
co-teaching a large tier II course called
Environmental History of the Southwest.
This course was founded by other faculty and
is perfect for the Tree-Ring Lab. For outside
service, I'm participating as a forestry advisor
to the Arizona Envirothon, an academic
competition for high school students in the
environmental sciences. Representatives
from Arizona often do very well at national
competitions, for which we are proud.
sheppard@ltrr.arizona.edu
Dani Montague-Judd (PhD ‘99)
Emma Violet Judd was born on June 15,
2001. Both parents are doing well. Dani
looks forward to taking Emma on her
first field trip.
ddmjudd@aol.com
Gary received a Professional Achievement
Award from the UA in November 2001.
This award is given to individuals who
have attained prominence in their field.
Gary is now lives in England and is the
President of WesternGeco.
gary.jones@westerngeco.com
Jim Speer (BS ‘94, MS ‘97)
Jim has a teaching position at Iowa State
Univ. teaching geology and geography,
and working in dendrochronology. He
has worked on a climate reconstruction
project in the Dominican Republic,
which is ground-breaking work in
tropical dendrochronology.
gespeer@scifac.indstate.edu
Kathryn Gregory-Wodzicki (PhD ‘92)
& Wojtek Wodzicki (PhD ‘95)
Ken Yeats (MS ’85 )
I am leading a Tactical Exploration team for
Caltex Pacific Indonesia (now merged into
ChevronTexaco) in the Central Sumatra
Basin, a structural paradise of rocks that
have enjoyed repeated deformation. Our
recent success has been in fault-dependent
traps, so we focus on structural analysis
using the latest 3D workstation toys. I'm
still applying the pearls of structural-tectonic
wisdom gleaned from George Davis and Peter
Coney back at the UA. Living with me here
in Duri are my wife, Carolyn, and kids,
Emma (13), and Ian (9).
Paul Sheppard (PhD ‘95)
Emma Violet Judd in her field hat!
Jeff Manuszak (BA ‘96)
After graduating from the UA, I attended
Purdue Univ. and studied under Ken Ridgway.
Our research focused on the stratigraphic and
structural significance of sedimentary basins
in the Eastern Alaska range. I did a one-year
internship with Mobil Oil in Italy, and
finished my MS in 2000. Since then, I have
been a geologist for the private consulting firm
Malcolm Pirnie. I work on the development of
site specific geologic and hydrologic models as
well as environmental restoration at several
sites in Tucson, Phoenix, Bisbee, northern
California, and northern Florida.
jmanuszak@pirnie.com
The University of Arizona/Geosciences Newsletter • Fall 2001
Kate and Woit report from Vancouver that
Alexander Antoni Wodzicki was born at
10:05 AM, on Friday, October 19, 2001.
He weighed 7 lb, 2 oz (3.2 kg). Everyone is
doing fine.
2000s
Alisa Miller (BS ‘01)
Alisa received the College of Science’s
Outstanding Senior Award in the Spring
of 2001. She is now a graduate student at
the California Institute of Technology in
Geological and Planetary Sciences.
page 11
Keep us posted:
Name
Other degrees (institution and year)
Change of address? (Circle which you prefer as a mailing address.)
Home Address
Phone
Business Address
Phone
e-mail
Employer and Job Title
What national meetings do you attend?
New job? Kids? Back in school? Retired? Take a trip? See a classmate? Send us your news for future newsletters
(include a photo). Write us below or e-mail us at lesa@geo.arizona.edu.
UA Geosciences
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