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Mousumi Roy 

Ph.D., Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. 

Prospective students: Below you will find a list of current and their projects. I am always looking for motivated graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in numerical modeling applied to tectonics.  Send me an email or stop by my office for details.

Research Interests:

• Geodynamic modeling of lithospheric deformation at plate boundaries and within plate intetiors.
• What can we learn about lithospheric evolution, structure, and rheology from modeling deformation patterns observed at the earth's surface, for example, from geologic and geodetic studies?
• How does localized deformation, such as in narrow fault zones, interact with more broadly distributed crustal deformation, e.g. ductile flow? How does strain accumulation over the earthquake cycle relate to long-term, geologic deformation? What are the implications of laboratory-derived friction constitutive relations for large-scale faults at plate boundaries?

Current Projects (and funding source):

• Testing a new model of the Tertiary evolution of the Colorado Plateau based on constraints from magmatic patterns, xenoliths, geologic, and geophysical data (NSF Tectonics)
• Collaborative Research: Interpretations of seismic anisotropy in terms of the long-term tectonic history of the Western US ( NSF-Earthscope) 
• Collaborative Research: Integrated study of exhumation and erosion using low-temperature thermochronology and geodynamic models of the Colorado Plateau (NSF Tectonics)
• GPS in the Rio Grande Rift: Collaborative Research: Crustal deformation measurements and a multidisciplinary geophysical investigation of the Rio Grande Rift  (NSF-EarthScope)

Past Projects:

• Development of a UNIX/LINUX geodynamic modeling facility within the department's UNIX network.  (NSF - IF)
• Post-Laramide evolution  of the Southern Rocky Mountains (NSF-CDROM)
• Viscoelastic modeling of plate boundary deformation, particularly the long-term geologic evolution of strike-slip plate margins, such as the San Andreas fault system in California. (UNM RAC grant)
• Using gravity, seismic, and topographic data to constrain crust and mantle structure in the Transverse Ranges, southern California (Southern California Earthquake Center).

My group currently includes: 

• Dr. Joya Tetreault (Post-doc, PhD., 2006, CU, Geophysics)
• Caitlin Callahan (EPS grad student, PhD) - Petrology and geochemistry of basalts and xenoliths and their implications for the evolution of the Colorado Plateau
• Kirsten Sanders (EPS grad student, PhD) - Extension in continental rifts
• Nicolas George (undergad, working on Rio Grande Rift GPS -- fieldwork, modeling)
• Mark Fleharty (UNM Computer Science) - linux system administration and scientific programming

Recent Publications:

• Pazzaglia, F., Selverstone, J., Roy, M., and 4 others, Geomorphic expression of midcrustal extension in convergent orogens, Tectonics, 26, doi: 10.1029/2006TC001961, 2007 (PDF reprint)
• Roy, M., MacCarthy, J.K., and J. Selverstone, Upper mantle structure beneath the eastern Colorado Plateau and Rio Grande rift revealed by Bouguer gravity, seismic velocities, and xenolith data, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, v. 6, 2005. (PDF reprint)
• Magnani, M.B., Pazzaglia, F.J.P., Levander, A., Roy, M., and Wisniewski, P.A., Seismic and geomorphic evidence for rejuvenation of topography in the Southern Rocky Mountains, submitted, 2005.
• McCoy, A., Roy, M., L. Trevino and R. Keller, Gravity models of the Colorado Mineral Belt, in The Rocky Mountain Region - An Evolving Lithosphere: Tectonics, Geochemistry, and Geophysics: American Geophysical Union Geophysical Monograph 154 (eds. Karlstrom, K.E. and Keller, G.R.), 2005, PDF available here
• Peterson, C. and M. Roy, A comparative study of the basins of the Rio Grande Rift based on gravity and flexure models, submitted to the New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, 56th Field Conference, 2005. (PDF reprint)
• Roy, M., S. Kelley, F. Pazzaglia, S. Cather, and M. House, Mid-Tertiary magmatism and its relation to rock cooling, exhumation, and extension at the eastern margin of the Colorado Plateau, Geology, v.32, no.10, p.925-928, 2004.  (PDF available here; read abstract)
• M. House, S. Kelley, and M. Roy, Uplift and exhumation along the Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico: Implications of apatite fission-track and (U-Th)/He cooling ages; Tectonics, 22, doi:10.1029/2002TC001418, 2003. (PDF available here)
• Roy, M. and L. H. Royden, Crustal rheology and faulting at strike-slip plate boundaries (1): An analytic model, JGR, 105, 5583-5597, 2000. (Read Abstract)  - PDF available here
• Roy, M. and L. H. Royden, Crustal rheology and faulting at strike-slip plate boundaries (2): Effects of lower crustal flow, JGR, 105, 5599-5613, 2000. (Read Abstract) - PDF available here  
• Roy, M., Karlstrom, K, Kelley, S., Pazzaglia, F, and S. Cather, Topographic setting of the Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Assessing the role of flexural "rift-flank uplift", submitted, NMGS Guidebook, 1999. (Read Abstract)
• Karlstrom, K, Cather, S, Kelley, S., Heizler, M, Pazzaglia, F., and M. Roy, Sandia Mountains and Rio Grande Rift: Ancestry of structures (Proterozoic to Laramide) and History of Deformation, submitted, NMGS Guidebook, 1999. (Read Abstract)
• Roy, M., Evolution of fault systems at a strike-slip plate boundary: A visco-elastic model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, p.2881-2884, 1998. (Read Abstract)  - PDF available here
• Roy, M. and C. Marone, Earthquake nucleation on model faults with rate- and state-dependent friction: Effects of inertia, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 13,919-13,932, 1996. (Read Abstract)  - PDF available here
• Roy, M., L. H. Royden, B. C. Burchfiel, Tz. Tzankov, and R. Nakov, Flexural uplift of the Stara Planina range, Central Bulgaria , Basin Reseach, 8, 143-156, 1996. (Read Abstract)

Current classes (Spring 2008):

• EPS 427/527 Physics 327 - Introduction to Solid Earth Geophysics
• EPS 433/533 - Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis

Classes taught & web resources for selected classes

• EPS 523 - Evolution and Dynamics of Continental Crust Fall 2000
• EPS 523 - Rheology of Continental Crust - in prep. for Fall 2003
• EPS 522 - Geodynamics, Fall 2002, Fall, 2004
• EPS 548 - Strength and Dynamics of Lithosphere - Spring 1999
• EPS 427/527 & PY 327 - Spring 2003, Spring 2004 - Introduction to Solid Earth Geophysics 
• EPS 101 - Sp 2001 and Sp 2003, Fa 2003, Sp 2004, Fa 2005 - Introduction to Physical Geology
• EPS 110 - Earthquakes - Spring 2003

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