John F. Dewey
University of California, Davis
|
Primary Section: 15, Geology Secondary Section: 16, Geophysics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1997)
|
Research Interests
As a field-based geologist, I have studied the way in which relative plate motions are converted into displacement, strain, and rotation in continental plate boundary zones, principally in the Appalachian/Caledonian Orogen of North America and Europe, in the Central Andes of Peru, Bolivia and Chile, in the Himalayas and Tibet and in New Zealand. I have been especially interested in oblique divergence (transtension) and oblique convergence (transpression); transtension during the late collapse of collisional orogenic belts principally in the Norwegian Caledonides, and transpression during the terminal sinistral and oblique collision in the Appalachians and British Caledonides. In the Central Andes of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, I am studying the relationship between orogenic shortening and crustal thickening and the flexural strength of the foreland lithosphere. A further strand of my research is the secular evolution of tectonic style in relation to sea level changes, ophiolitic obduction, carbonate platforms, and collisional orogens. A central area of my tectonic interests is the way in which sedimentary basin evolution, hydrocarbons, and mineral deposits can be integrated with and explained by the tectonic evolution of continental plate boundary zones.
