Supervisors


Research Theme

  • Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes

Research Discipline

  • Structural Geology/Lithospheric Geodynamics

Expertise: Tectonics and Structural Geology, Thermo-/Geochronology, Petrology, and Geochemistry.

I am interested in crustal and lithospheric dynamics and how they affect our environment and planet. I like to combine field-based geological, structural, and petrological observations with geo-/thermo- chonometric and geochemical analyses to elucidate the fundamental processes that drive the tectonics that have and continue to shape our world and resources. I am interested in a range of problems from extensional to contractional tectonics and their influence on geology and geochemistry. I am also deeply interested in the application of geological techniques to other bodies in the solar system.

I currently am working on a field-based research project looking at how critical low-angle normal faulting in the Aegean back arc is to exhumation of high-pressure metamorphic rocks in a metamorphic core complex and the structural dynamics associated with Miocene extension in Greece. Focused on the islands of Andros and Tinos, this research is based on macro- and micro-structural analysis of brittle and ductile structures in metamorphic rocks and discovering the spatio-temporal evolution of those structures with geo-/thermo-chronological dating and geochemistry. I am using detrital zircon U-Pb dating on LA-ICP-MS, in situ U-Pb dating of zircon on SIMS, and zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He low-temperature thermochronology.

Current Research Projects

Contractional and extensional evolution of the Aegean tectono-metamorphic complex in Andros and Tinos Islands, Greece Supervisors: Dr. Daniel F. Stockli & Dr. Elizabeth J. Catlos ( view )

Past Research Projects

Relationships between very high pressure subduction complex assemblages and intrusive granitoids in the Tavsanli Zone, Sivrihisar Massif, central Anatolia Supervisor: Elizabeth J. Catlos

Effects of the Marmot Dam removal on grain size distribution and downstream fining in the Sandy River in Oregon Supervisor: Chuck Podolak

ConocoPhillips SPIRIT Scholarship - ConocoPhillips SPIRIT Scholars at The University of Texas at Austin (2012)

GSA Diversity Research Grant - Geological Society of America (2012)

UT Diversity Fellowship - The University of Texas at Austin Graduate School (2011 - 2012)

Pennzoil & Pogo Producing Companies, William E. Gipson Scholarship Endowment Fellowship - The University of Texas at Austin, Jackson School of Geosciences (2011 - 2012)

2nd Place Undergraduate Petrography Contest - The University of Texas at Austin, Jackson School of Geosciences (2011)

Undergraduate Research Fellowship Grant - The University of Texas (2011)

Chair, JSG Technical Sessions Best Speaker Awards Committee, Jackson School of Geosciences Technical Sessions (2011)

Field trip leader, UT Planetary Organization for Space Sciences and Exploration (UT POSSE), NASA Johnson Space Center, Lunar Science Lab (2010)

President, Co-Creator, UT Planetary Organization for Space Sciences and Exploration (UT POSSE) (2009 - 2010)

Exhumation of high-pressure rocks in the Aegean back arc: tug-of-war of titants on Andros and Tinos Islands, Geological Society of America, Charlotte, North Carolina (2012)

Relationships between very high pressure subduction complex assemblages and intrusive granitoids in the Tavsanli Zone, Sivrihisar Massif, central Anatolia, International Earth Science Colloquium on the Aegean Region IESCA 2012, Izmir, Turkey (2012)

Contractional and extensional evolution of the Aegean tectono-metamorphic complex in Andros and Tinos islands, Greece, Jackson School of Geosciences Annual Research Symposium, Jackson School of Geosciences, Austin, Texas (2012)

Constraining crustal architecture of equatorial Atlantic, Hess Corporation, Hess Corporation, Houston, Texas (2012)

Tectonic relationships between very high pressure subduction complex assemblages and co-existing granitoids in the Tavsanli Zone, Sivrihisar Massif, Turkey, Geological Society of America, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2011)

Bone Spring and Wolfcamp formations evaluation in Permian Basin West Texas, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, Houston, Texas (2010)

An investigation of geological hazards of the North Anatolian Shear Zone near Amasya, Turkey, Geological Society of America, Portland, Oregon (2009)

Effects of the Marmot Dam removal on grain size distribution and downstream fining in the Sandy River in Oregon, University of Minnesota Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2008)

Pre- to syn-tectonic garnet rotated garnet porphyroblasts in blueschist with sub-grain rotated quartz tails/ribbons as part of a S-C-C' fabric with white micas and glaucophane. Petrographic microscope photo in cross-polarized light. Large garnet is ~ 2.5 mm in diameter.

Greece 2012

Thin sections, and my fieldwork in Greece in 2012 with one of my supervisors, Danny Stockli, his family, fellow graduate student Spencer Seman, and our Greek colleagues.

Pre- to syn-tectonic garnet rotated garnet porphyroblasts in blueschist with sub-grain rotated quartz tails/ribbons as part of a S-C-C' fabric with white micas and glaucophane. Petrographic microscope photo in cross-polarized light. Large garnet is ~ 2.5 mm in diameter.Pre- to syn-tectonic garnet rotated garnet porphyroblasts in blueschist with sub-grain rotated quartz tails/ribbons as part of a S-C-C' fabric with white micas and glaucophane. Same as previous petrographic microscope photo in cross-polarized light with lambda plate in. Large garnet is ~ 2.5 mm in diameter.Pre- to syn-tectonic garnet rotated garnet delta-porphyroblast in blueschist with sub-grain rotated quartz tails/ribbons as part of a S-C-C' fabric with white micas and glaucophane. Petrographic microscope photo in cross-polarized light with lambda plate in. Garnet is ~ 2.5 mm in diameter.View from the hotel in Hermopolis, SyrosDuctily deformed calc-schists with brittle domino structure in calcite porphyroclast. Polydeformed folding in blueschist facies rocks, Syros.Thin sections, and my fieldwork in Greece in 2012 with one of my supervisors, Danny Stockli, his family, fellow graduate student Spencer Seman, and our Greek colleagues.Large-scale faultingAnno-Syros.Ductile S-C' fabric, Syros.Eclogite in repose...More eclogite...All the best outcrops are on the coast. View of both the upper and lower plates of the low-angle normal fault in NW Tinos Island. Mylonitic fabric overprinted by brittle deformation.The detachment itself. S-C-C' fabric with ankeritized cataclastic zone. Shipwreck of the SEMIRAMIS (unknown date) near the detachment on Andros Island. The SEMIRAMIS is, of course, in the lower-plate.Spencer looking at things...on Andros.Danny Stockli showing Longhorn pride while Spencer works.Stretching lineations in folding on Evia.Danny Stockli observing an oft unnoticed older shipwreck near the Andros detachment.Geology by headlight. Every structural geologist has to do this at least once... Thin sections, and my fieldwork in Greece in 2012 with one of my supervisors, Danny Stockli, his family, fellow graduate student Spencer Seman, and our Greek colleagues.Low-angle normal fault detachment in the background with brittle-domino blocks in the upper plate above the cataclastic fault zone separating it from the lower-plate mylonitic fabric.Ancient Greek amphitheater being excavated. Field assistant, Kostas Vasiliou exploring the calc-mylonitic seating.Calc-mylontic seating with dolomite sigma-clasts must not have made for very comfortable seating...Thin sections, and my fieldwork in Greece in 2012 with one of my supervisors, Danny Stockli, his family, fellow graduate student Spencer Seman, and our Greek colleagues.

 

NASA Mission: 2010 K-10 Robotic-Follow up to Human Field studies at Haughton Crater Canada
Where I worked as a scientist in a simulated Ground Science Team for robotic reconnaissance mission as a follow-up to a human mission. Josh Garber and I's mission blog post: http://www.lunarscience.nasa.gov/robots/2010/10/08/05/field-geology-front-computer

Marmot River Dam report by Chuck Podolak
My 2008 undergraduate research was part of this work by Dr. Chuck Podolak.

Shin et al. (2012): Tectonophysics
Shin, Timothy A.*, Catlos, Elizabeth J., Jacob, Lauren, Black, Karen, Relationships between very high pressure subduction complex assemblages and intrusive granitoids in the Tavsanli Zone, Sivrihisar Massif, central Anatolia, Tectonophysics (2012), doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.07.012

NSF International Research Experience for Students, Turkey
-Performed four-week field research, gathered data and rock samples of rocks and mapped geological features using GPS, and Brunton compass -Presented poster at GSA 2009: An Investigation of Geologic Hazards of the North Anatolian Shear Zone near Amasya, Turkey. Presently examine data and samples with Scanning Electron Microscope for interpretation, creating maps for journal articles, interpretation for thesis -Undergraduate Honors Research of Sivrihisar This is what prompted my previous thesis and publication.

(U-Th)/He Geo- and Thermochronometry Lab
The (U-Th)/He Geo- and Thermochronometry Lab (the "other woman") where I do most of my research. Check out the facilities and the updates!

Scanning Electron Microscope Lab (DGS)
My old friend, the Scanning Electron Microscope.