Dates, Rates, and States

Summer School Schedule

Under Construction

Preliminary programme (material is being added as it becomes available):

Pete Reiners:
Lecture: "Using Low-Temperature Thermochronology to Understand Orogenic Erosion"
Practical: "Analyzing spatial and temporal patterns of erosion in the Himalayas"

Bodo Bookhagen:
Lecture: Rates and patterns of surfaces-erosion processes in the light of tectonics and climate

Practical/Exercise: Using geomorphic indices, cosmogenic nuclides, and climatic gradients to interpret erosional patterns

Himalayan transects is one integrative theme to be investigated from various standpoints during the School, including thermochronology / cooling ages, cosmogenic data, geomorphic and climatic indices, and so forth. Three areas along the Himalayas (e.g. NW, Nepal, and Bhutan) will be examined.

Jean Braun:
Related topics and activities to be lead by Jean Braun will examine kinematic models of the orogen using Pecube, a new finite element code developed to solve the 3D heat transport equation and accounting for the effects of a time-varying, finite amplitude surface topography. It has been developed to solve the three-dimensional heat transport equation in a crustal/lithospheric block undergoing uplift and surface erosion, characterized by an evolving, finite-amplitude surface topography.

Michele Cooke:
Michele Cooke's segment of the school will use numerical models to investigate the rates of deformation within and across earthquake cycles. Fault mechanics models examine spatial variations in fault slip rates, temporal variations in slip rates through the earthquake cycle and temporal variations in slip rates during the evolution of a fault system. Validation with geologic slip rates, geologic uplift rates and geodetic velocities also provide constraints on the partitioning of deformation as slip along faults and off-fault distributed deformation (e.g. uplift).

A further collective exercise for the ISES group will be to examine slip rates determined using geological versus geodetic methods, and explore the source(s) of the discrepancies in rates determined from the contrasting data sets. Aspects to consider include temporal and spatial variations upon fault systems, and possible shortcomings within ancillary research realms such as thermochronology, modeling, and paleoseismology.

John Weber:
* Integrated lec/activity on geodesy/neotectonics
* Integrated lec/activity on impacts, using a suite of impactite samples + crater maps. Aims are to examine extremely rapid change, recognition of ancient impactites, and the post-1980s 'paradigm' of catastrophism in the geological record

Emphasis will be on timing deformation and metamorphic processes, and putting t into P-T-t paths. Presentation, discussion and activities will center on thermobarometry, pseudosections and monazite/xenotime geochronology.

Field excursions:
One full-day field trip and one 1/2 day focused on Proterozoic gneisses exposed in Colorado's Laramide uplifts. The high temperature geochronology of plutonic and metamorphic rocks, including in situ mineral ages from shear zones, will be examined, together with aspects of the Cenozoic thermal history and landscape evolution, and findings from geophysical and geodetic surveys.