Nadine McQuarrie

Home Research People Publications Photos Animations

Overview

My research focuses on the kinematic evolution of mountain belts.  My interests range from evaluating the sequential accumulation of strain in fold and thrust belts that may eventually produce wide (350-350 km), high elevation plateaus to the kinematics and dynamics of diffuse continental extension.  Research projects start with structurally based field studies, typically through the creation of new geologic maps at previously unpublished scales or resolutions.  Using this high resolution geological mapping as a foundation, the projects expand to include the creation and sequential restoration of geologic cross sections (providing kinematics) as well as new mineral cooling ages to determine the distribution, magnitude and rate of deformation.   Current projects I am working on in conjunction with colleagues and students are: 1) Integrating and calculating rates of shortening across an orogen, in the Himalayas and the Andes.     2) The interaction between erosion and deformation in fold-thrust belts in Bolivia, Peru and Bhutan.  3) Documenting the similarities and differences between periods of deformation, exhumation and elevation in Bolivia and Timor.

Past projects I have worked on include the kinematics of the Arabia/Eurasia collision zone, evaluating both the development of the Zagros fold-thrust belt as well as the causes of plate motion before and after collision, and tectonic reconstructions of the North America-Pacific plate boundary over the last 36 Myr.