CREST at Scripps
Chronology of rocks, earthquakes, structure, tectonics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
Our research integrates mid- to low-temperature geo- and thermochronometry, field geology, petrology, microtextural and microstructural analysis, and geochemical data to recover timing and temperature signatures of tectonic processes in the continental lithosphere. I am to understand (1) the structural and thermal record of deformation and seismicity from active brittle fault zones, exhumed ductile shear zones, and exhumed subduction complexes from the microscale to orogen scale, and (2) reconstruct the long-term thermal and tectonic histories in extensional and orogenic systems.
Fault zone evolution
Textural and thermal record of seismicity in brittle fault rocks
Exhumed faults inform earthquake (EQ) mechanisms. Most (~90%) of the energy budget during an EQ goes into work done overcoming frictional resistance and dissipates as heat. The magnitude of temperature rise across a fault is a function of slip velocity, material properties, and strain localization. Temperature rise, in turn, impacts fault strength and thus mechanics during the seismic cycle. This research is aimed at developing and testing low-temperature thermochronometry of fault rocks to quantify these temperatures and provide temporal constraints on fault slip events. This will provide new tools to access the thermal record of seismic events across variable slip rates, as well as temporal and spatial scales to inform fault slip mechanics and the earthquake record.
Check out some of our work:
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