Our Research
Select publications we hope will provide guidance and inspire your own research.
Along-strike variations in sediment provenance within the Nanaimo basin reveal mechanisms of forearc basin sediment influx events
Basin-scale detrital zircon dating from the Nanaimo forearc basin. Sedimentation is linked to plate tectonics and along-strike variability highlighted.
Detrital zircons from the Nanaimo basin, Vancouver Island, British Columbia: An independent test of Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic northward translation
A large-scale detrital zircon study of the Nanaimo forearc basin, Insular Superterrane, B.C., Canada. High-n detrital zircon results are compared to potential source areas and rocks of similar age from Mexico to Oregon.
Latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian detrital zircon facies of western Laurentia
A large-scale detrital zircon study of basal Sauk sequence sandstones from the western Laurentian margin.
A Practical Approach for Collecting Large‐n Detrital Zircon U‐Pb Data sets by Quadrupole LA‐ICP‐MS
Paper outlining our most commonly-used measurement method for detrital zircon U-Pb dating.
Link to Matthews and Guest (2017), Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research
Assessment of widely used methods to derive depositional ages from detrital zircon populations
Methodological paper testing methods of calculating detrital zircon maximum depositional ages. Introduces the now-popular "Youngest Statistical Population" algorithm.
Thermochronology Related Publications
Laser ablation (U-Th-Sm)/He dating of detrital apatite
Paper outlining measurement method for laser-ablation (U-Th-Sm)/He dating of apatite. This method produces less biased large-n apatite thermochronological datasets from detrital samples and lower cost.
Cenozoic exhumation history of the eastern margin of the northern Canadian Cordillera
Apatite and Zircon thermochronology study of the Richardson Mountains, Yukon, Canada. Discusses tectonics of northern North America during the Cenozoic.
Exhumation of the Coastal Metamorphic Belt Above the Subduction-to-Transform Transition, in the Southeast Caribbean Plate Corner
Thermochronology study of the complex plate tectonics of the Caribbean region integrating apatite fission-track and zircon and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He methods.
Paleogene initiation of the Western Branch of the East African Rift: The uplift history of the Rwenzori Mountains, Western Uganda
Thermochronological study of the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda. Results are important to the western branch of the East African Rift.
Link to Jess et al. (2020), Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Deformation at the eastern margin of the Northern Canadian Cordillera: potentially related to opening of the North Atlantic.
An apatite (U-Th)/He transect through the eastern margin of the Mackenzie Mountains and the Mackenzie Plains. This study reveals post Cordilleran exhumation related to eastward thrusting.
Detrital zircon double-dating of forearc basin strata reveals magmatic, exhumational, and thermal history of sediment source areas
This paper combines the geo-and thermochronologic signal of detrital zircon grains to reveal sediment source regions and their thermal histories. The study is located in the forearc basin in southern Alaska.
Geochronology: Fission Track Dating
This book chapter on the Fission Track Dating method is a good source for learning about the method and application.
Link to Enkelmann and Jonckheere, (2021), Encyclopedia of Geology (Second Edition)
Uplift and Exhumation of the Russell Fiord and Boundary blocks along the northern Fairweather Transform Fault, Alaska.
This paper shows the use of low-temperature thermochronology to quantify the timing and magnitude of faulting across several reverse faults in coastal southeast Alaska. Dense sampling helped us to identify a new fault that was previously unmapped.
Source to sink evaluation of sediment routing in the Gulf of Alaska and Southeast Alaska: A thermochronometric perspective
The source of the glacial deposits in the Gulf of Alaska is investigated using detrital zircon U-Pb and fission track double dating combined with detrital apatite fission track dating. These offshore data are compared with the onland detrital and bedrock record of the St. Elias Mountains
Link to Dunn et al. (2017), Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
Building the Pamir-Tibetan Plateau-Crustal stacking, extensional collapse, and lateral extrusion in the Central Pamir: 2. Timing and rates
This collaborative work investigates the exhumation of gneiss domes in the Pamir. A wide variety of geo-and thermochornometric methods are used to quantify timing and rates of rock cooling from 700ºC to 100ºC, including apatite and zircon fission track and (U-Th)/He, Ar/Ar dating of amphibole, biotite, K-feldspar, white mica, U-Pb dating of zircon and rutile and Rb-Sr analysis.