Qilianshan Mountains, taken from the north on the old Silk
Road in west-central China
A
long-standing component of the paleomagnetic research effort
at Santa Cruz is tectonic studies. Our approach is to combine
paleomagnetic techniques with those from other sub-disciplines,
such as structural geology, field mapping, remote sensing,
petrology, and isotope geochemistry. We have carried out
projects in transform, subduction, and collision tectonic
settings, on scales ranging from small fault blocks to cratons,
using rocks that vary in age from Quaternary to Late Precambrian
from the western U.S., Alaska, China, Papua New Guinea and,
most recently, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Tibet and California.
Questions we address include the changing configurations
of continental blocks, the accretionary histories of terranes,
and the relative contributions of oroclinal bending, indentation
tectonics, and coastwise translation to paleomagnetic rotations
in the study regions. We are also interested in the occurrence
and emplacement of flood basalts and associated rifting
of the lithosphere.
