Dear prospective graduate students for 2007-2008,

Thanks for your interest in the structure/tectonics program at the University of New Mexico. There are lots of exciting projects underway and I am looking for a couple of graduate students to add to our research group at UNM.

I am a structural geologist/tectonicist. My research is eclectic, but I continue to work on field- based tectonic studies predominantly in the southwestern U.S.A. One of my interests has been on understanding the processes that go on in the middle crust during orogenesis and crust formation, especially the interaction of deformation, metamorphism, and plutonism. The Proterozoic rocks of the Southwest provide a spectacular natural laboratory for these types of studies, with excellent exposures of rocks that were tectonized at 10-20 km deep in the crust and now are spectacularly exposed in the southern Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Transition Zone of Arizona, Basin and Range, and flanks of the Rio Grande rift (great places to do field work!). I am also very interested in the processes by which older zones of weakness get reactivated in younger tectonic events, right up to the present tectonism that is reshaping crust, mantle and landscapes in the western U.S. In the last 5 years or so, I have embarked on a new research effort that involves Quaternary incision history and uplift history in the Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountains and interaction of denudational and neotectonic histories in the western U.S., but with a somewhat unusual “bottom-up” perspective.

I currently have two Masters students (Ryan Crow and Magdalena Sandoval) and one PhD student (Tony Salem). I hope to add 1-2 new graduate in Fall of 2007. I like to have a large enough research group to have a critical mass for exchange of ideas, but small enough that I can work closely with each student. Most of my students have projects that combine field mapping and structural analysis with one or more other aspects of geology, such as geochronology, metamorphic petrology, sedimentary tectonics, tectonic geomorphology, and a range of analytical tools. It is increasingly important to develop a broad background, a "toolbox" of analytical tools, and be able to integrate different types of data. My style of working with students is to work closely together on problems of mutual interest. We often work as a collaborative team (with others in the UNM group or with collaborators at different universities), with joint publications and a very thorough merging of our data and ideas.

I have several research projects in mind for new students (with 2 grants presently in hand and others being applied for), and I am always willing to think of other possibilities as well. Please give me a call or send me an email to discuss possible projects:

1) Grand Canyon: This effort is becoming a life-long work with many facets (Precambrian to Quaternary to outreach), but the open next steps are more specific:

I am also involved in a geoscience education effort (now funded by NSF at the $2 M level) entitled “The Trail of Time” which involves work to develop a geologic exhibit at South Rim.

2) Rocky Mountains: There are several projects related to my recently funded CREST project (Colorado Rockies Experiment and Seismic Transects) that involve tectonic studies in the Colorado and New Mexico Rockies and cover much of the time and depth evolution of the lithosphere, but with an emphasis of Cenozoic uplift of the Rockies. These projects range from work on the Proterozoic quartzite-rhyolite "phenomenon", Proterozoic shear zones, Quaternary incision in the upper Colorado River basin, and mantle tectonism associated with the Aspen anomaly.

3) In New Mexico: my recent and ongoing work involves studies of the incision history of various drainages and especially the knickpoints in rovers that cross the Jemez lineament. I continue to be active in mapping of basement rocks in the Tusas Range as part of the New Mexico Statemap project.

4) Rocky Mountain EarthScope: EarthScope is an historic Earth Science experiment (http://www.earthscope.org/), a “telescope to look downwards” I have recently been on the EarthScope Science and Education Committee (ESEC) and remain involved in an effort to help organize EarthScope experiments in the Rocky Mountains (Rocky Mountain EarthScope; http://www.ees.nmt.edu/RME/Agenda2004.html). This involves a wide variety of exciting collaborative projects.

For graduate student funding, the ideal is to combine funds from departmental teaching and NSF research grants. This gives you the opportunity to teach some semesters and have time for more concentrated research in other semesters. I try to fully fund students for both the academic year and for a couple of months in the summer. My current and pending funding situation is listed on my web page. I teach the UNM Advanced Field course in June. This involves a river trip through the Lower Granite Gorge of the Grand Canyon and two additional mapping projects in areas where I am conducting research. I encourage my incoming graduate students to take this course and we often design a project to get them "jump started". This offers a chance to begin to work together on rocks and structures of the type you would be working on for your thesis. This course can be counted either for the undergraduate field course requirement or (if you have already had an undergraduate field course) as a course in your graduate program.

Please feel free to call me (505-277-4346) or send me an email (kek1@unm.edu) with further questions about our program. I'd be glad to send our field camp information, and various reprints and preprints, if you wish. If you get a chance to visit New Mexico, give me some warning and I’ll try to arrange a fieldtrip to some nearby spectacular rocks!

All the Best,

Karl Karlstrom, Professor

Questions or comments? kek1@unm.edu

Address:
Karl Karlstrom
Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Northrop Hall
University of New Mexico Albuquerque NM 87131

office phone 505.277.4346 fax 505.277.8843

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