Extensional Tectonics and the Basin and Range, USA
Lectured by Dr. James P. Calzia, US Geological Survey, Menlo Park
Helsinki, Kumpula Campus area, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2,
Photograph: Dr. Jim Calzia mapping a south-dipping listric normal fault in Greenwater Valley on the eastern flank of the Death Valley half graben, California
COURSE MISSION
The aim of the course is to provide the participants with a state-of-the-art perception of one of the main Cenozoic extensional provinces on Earth, operational since the cessation of subduction under western North America at California latitude. All relevant aspects of geological processes related to extension will be addressed, including magmatic, structural, metamorphic, seismic, and metallogenic issues. Ancient (Precambrian) extensional processes will also be reflected to. Both lectures and labs will be included.
SCHEDULE:
Monday 15.10.2012:
AM: Introduction to Basin and Range
PM: Geology of the B&R
Tuesday 16.10.2012:
AM: Continue and finish Geology of B&R
PM: Lab – What drives extension?
Wednesday 17.10.2012:
AM: Review Labs
PM: Dynamics of Crustal Extension (lecture and discussion)
Thursday 18.10.2012:
AM: Continue and finish Dynamics of Crustal Extension
PM: Mineral deposits synchronous with B&R extension
Friday 19.10.2012:
AM: Case Study: Neogene crustal extension and magmatism in Death Valley
PM: Finish case study, followed by open discussion of the B&R
Travel and reasonable accommodation expenses will be covered for graduate school members from outside the Helsinki metropolitan area.
Registration Deadline:8.10.2012
LECTURER:
Dr. Jim Calzia currently holds the position of a Geologist Emeritus in the Research and Technology Branch, Western Region Geographic Science Center, Menlo Park, California. He is assigned to InSAR and Great Earthquakes as well as Mojave Ecosystem projects. As the leader of the InSAR and Great Earthquakes Project, Jim has developed a method to study topographic anomalies, using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, in seismically active areas. He is also an internationally renowned expert of the geology of the Death Valley and Mojave Desert regions of southeastern California and vicinity. He has produced a substantial number of geological maps of southeastern California and studied the Precambrian, Mesozoic, and Miocene magmatic activity of the southern Death Valley region (including the origin of the world’s youngest rapakivi granites), the Precambrian
crustal evolution of Mojavia, and the mechanism of Death Valley extension.