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This project is conducted in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Canada. We will investigate the deformation history at the eastern margin of the Northern Canadian Cordillera. We conducted fieldwork in the Richardson Mountains in summer 2018. We will integrate structural geology, sedimentology, and geo-and thermochronology analyses. We will use thermochronology to quantify the sense and timing of faulting. |
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This research will investigate the 7 Myr long offshore sedimentary record of the Gulf of Alaska to investigate the changes in rates and spatial patterns of rock exhumation in southeast Alaska. We will use detrital geo- and thermochronology methods (zircon U-Pb and fission track dating) on industry borehole samples to determine the change of lag-time as a record of rock exhumation rates and the sediment provenance to record changes in spatial patterns. The project will test the hypothesis that a feedback mechanism between tectonics and surface process was triggered by climate shifts during the Pliocene and Pleistocene time. Alternatively, the project will test the hypothesis that the tectonic-surface process feedback developed as a result from the increasing uplift of the St. Elias Mountains that lead to the formation of alpine glaciers at the latest Miocene. This 2 year project is funded by the American Chemical Society - Petroleum Research Fund (start 9/2015) and a collaboration with Richard Lease (USGS Alaska). |
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The ultimate goal of this research is to better understand the dynamics of the upper plate as a result of flat-slab subduction along convergent margins, including the magmatic, topographic, erosional, and depositional response to this process. We investigate the Late Cretaceous – Cenozoic sedimentary deposits of the Cook Inlet basin in southcentral Alaska, which constitute a complete sedimentary record of forearc basin strata deposited during three different modes of subduction. Normal subduction of normal oceanic crust in the Late Cretaceous was followed by flat-slab subduction of a spreading ridge, and later by the ongoing subduction of an oceanic plateau. This study employs various analytical methods including 1) a double-dating technique that combines fission track and U-Pb geochronology on single zircon grains, 2) mudstone geochemistry, and 3) sandstone petrography. Publications: Finzel, E. & Enkelmann, E., 2017. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 18, 1739– 1760. Finzel, E., Enkelmann, E., *Falkowski, S., Hedeen, T., 2016. Tectonics, 35, 7, 1735-1759. |
This 3 year project is funded by the National Science Foundation - Tectonics (start 9/2014) and a collaboration with Emily Finzel (University of Iowa)
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This project is conducted in collaboration with Hersh Gilbert (University of Calgary) who is using seismic data to investigate the subsurface structure of the Valemount area. We will use low-temperature thermochronology to measure the time and amount of displacement across the rocky mountain trench. |
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In this project we investigated the exhumation history of the St. Elias Syntaxis region. This project is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG grant EN341/1-2, 2011-2015)
Publications: Enkelmann, E., *Piestrzeniewicz, A., *Falkowski, S., et al., 2017. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 457, 348–358. *Falkowski, S. and Enkelmann, E. 2016. Lithosphere, 8, 359–378. *Falkowski, S., Enkelmann, E. Drost, K., et al., 2016. Tectonics, 35, 447-468. Enkelmann, E., Koons, P.O., Pavlis, T.L., et al., 2015. Geophysical Research Letters, 42, 5838–5846. Enkelmann, E., Valla, P.G., Champagnac, J.-D., 2015. Quaternary Science Review, 113, 23–38. *Falkowski, S., Enkelmann, E., Ehlers, T.A. 2014. Tectonics 33, 597–616. *Grabowski, D., Enkelmann, E., Ehlers, T.A. 2013. JGR-Earth Surface, 118, 1-18. |
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In this project we used detrital apatite and zircon dating (fission track and U-Th/He dating) derived from IODP Expedition 341 borehole material to investigate the sediment transport from the St. Elias to the Gulf of Alaska. This 2 year project was funded by the National Science Foundation - Ocean Drilling Program and conducted in collaboration with Ken Ridgway (Purdue), John Jaeger (U. Florida), Sean Gulick (U. Texas), Robert Reece (Texas A&M) and Ellen Cowan (Appalachian State University).
Publications: *Dunn, C.A., Enkelmann, E., Ridgway, K.D., Allen, W.K., 2017. Source to sink evaluation of sediment routing in the Gulf of Alaska and Southeast Alaska: a thermochronometric perspective. JGR-Earth Surface, 122, 711-734. |
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The Cenozoic evolution of the Mackenzie Mountains has not been investigated because fundamental field-based observations and analytical data that can address those questions are lacking. We conducted a reconnaissance trip in July–August 2014 to the Mackenzie Mountains with the goal to collect field observations including structural and geomorphologic data, and to collect samples for various dating techniques that allow quantification of the rates and timing of surface uplift and erosion over thousand and million-year time scales. This field work was funded by the National Geographics Society – Explorer Fund (2014). |
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