About Me

I am a graduate student at Columbia University in the Structural Geology Group. I am interested in crustal deformation, particularly in extended areas of the world.

Projects

Our group has been examining the evidence for extreme extension of the upper crust, concentrating in the Basin and Range province of Nevada, USA.

1) Mormon Mountains Field Mapping

I have remapped ~200 square kilometers of the northern Mormon Mountains of southeastern Nevada. By mapping fault interactions and collecting kinematic data I hope to distinguish between competing models for the formation of the range. Specifically I seek to determine whether an enigmatic low-angle surface exposed in the range, called the "Mormon Peak detachment", is a rooted low-angle normal fault, or the basal surface to a rootless gravity slide.
My primary research advisor is Mark Anders, with guidance and advice also being provided by Nick Christie-Blick, Chris Scholz and Roger Buck.

2) Meadow Valley Volcanic sequence

I have mapped and collected samples from the volcanic units in the northwestern Mormon Mountains. These rocks will be dated using the LDEO Ar/Ar lab run by Sidney Hemming. These results will allow the beginning and cessation of extension in the region to be more tightly constrained and help aid correlation with volcanic units from surrounding ranges. Peter Almasi assisted with mapping and collecting these samples.

3) Apatite Fission Track Uplift Dating

This powerful technique allows one to determine an uplift history for a set of samples. Certain minerals, such as Apatite and Zircon, contain Uranium isotopes in their crystal structures. These undergo radioactive decay over time. Once the crystal passes through a certain temperature, corresponding to a few kilometers depth, it is able to preserve "fission tracks" - literally scars in the crystal structure that are caused by these decays. By examining these fission tracks we are able to gain information on how long since, and how quickly the crystals came up through this depth. This then allows us to model and study the processes that caused the uplift in the first place. I am currently running samples from the Mormon Mountain region to study uplift and extension in this corner of southeastern Nevada. These samples are being processed with the help of G. I. Omar at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

Publications

2007; Walker, C.D., Anders, M.H. and Christie-Blick, N. - Kinematic evidence for downdip movement on the Mormon Peak detachment, Geology; March 2007; v. 35; no. 3; p. 259-262; DOI: 10.1130/G23396A.1

2007, Christie-Blick, N., Anders, M. H., Wills, S., Walker, C. D. and Renik, B. - Observations from the Basin and Range Province (western United States) pertinent to the interpretation of regional detachment faults, Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2007; v. 282; p. 421-441; DOI: 10.1144/SP282.17

2006; Anders, M.H., Christie-Blick, N. and Walker, C.D. - Distinguishing between rooted and rootless detachment faults: A case study from the Mormon Mountains of southeastern Nevada, Journal of Geology, 114, (6), p. 645-664.

2004; Walker, C.D., Anders, M.H., Nagel, T. and Christie-Blick, N. - Using Field Evidence To Distinguish Between Rooted And Rootless Detachment Faults In The Mormon Mountains, Southeastern Nevada, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5, p.548.

2004; Walker, C.D., Anders, M.H. and Christie-Blick, N. - Re-Examination of Field Evidence for Extreme Crustal Extension in the Mormon Mountains, Southeastern Nevada, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention, Abstracts Vol. 13, pg A144. (download poster, 1000KB pdf)

2004; Christie-Blick, N., Anders, M.H., Wills, S., Walker, C.D., and Renik, B. - Observations from the Basin and Range Province pertinent to the interpretation of regional detachment faults: InterMARGINS Workshop, Modeling the Extensional Deformation of the Lithosphere, Pontresina, Switzerland, abstract.

2004; Anders, M.H., Walker, C.D., and Christie-Blick, N. - Fault Zone Deformation: The Key To What Is A Rooted Detachment And What Is Not, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5, p.548.

2004; Anders, M.H., Walker, C.D., and Christie-Blick, N. - Fault Deformation Studies of Rootless Detachments: Implications for Assessing Regional Extension. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention, Abstracts Vol. 13, pg A6.

2001; Walker, C.D. - A Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth : Investigating The Paradox Of Low Latitude, Sea Level Glaciations In The Late Pre-Cambrian, [Masters Thesis], Oxford University, Oxford, England, 53p. (download masters thesis, 3MBpdf)

Teaching

Advanced General Geology Lab Section

(Hey guys, sorry about the poor quality -I only had time to scan in my original handouts. Maybe one day I'll have time to create a brand new PDF from the original sources...)
Minerals
Igneous Petrology
Metamorphic Petrology
Sedimentary Petrology
Guide To The Rock Forming Minerals
Important Minerals

Crustal Deformation

Solution to Problem Sheet 2

More Information

Curriculum Vitae (html)

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES) Homepage