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Method Development for multi-method dating
Our group is developing new procedures to apply several dating methods on individual mineral grains. That includes any combination of laser-ablation U-Pb, (U-Th)/He, fission track and Raman dating. Combined with elemental mapping and radiation damage information these data provide an entire thermal history since the mineral formation. This research is funded through the UofC Eyes High postdoctoral fellow matching funds, NSERC Discovery Grant and USRA grant. American Chemical Society - PRF Publications: Härtel, B., Enkelmann, E., Jonckheere, R., Ludwig, T., Krause, J., Ratschbacher, L., 2024. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. *Härtel, B., Matthews, W., Enkelmann, E. 2023. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research *Pickering, J., Matthews, W., Enkelmann, E., et al, 2020. Chemical Geology. |
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Porphyry vectoring at the belt to deposit scale in British Columbia
This project is conducted in collaboration with the Mineral Deposit Reserach Unit (MDRU) at UBC under the leadership of Shaun Barker. Our group will use multi-method analysis on apatite and zircon minerals to reconstruct exhumation history on a regional scale and temperature histories on deposit scales. This research project is funded through an NSERC Alliance grant and collaboration with 15 industry partners. |
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Rock Exhumation in southeast Yukon
This new project aims to investigate the differential exhumation of rocks in southeast Yukon, located east and west of the Tintina Fault. Graduate student Joel Padgett is leading this project that is conducted in collaboration with the Yukon Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada. Our first field season was cut short due to forest fires in the area, but we are looking forward to go back next year. Funding for this project comes from the Yukon Geological Survey, Natural Resources Canada and NSERC (DG and NRS) |
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Exhumation and Erosion history of the Intermontane Belt
This project aims to investigate the erosional evolution of the southern Intermontane Belt. This area of low-relief topography is situated between the mountainous topography of the Coast Belt to the west and the Omineca Belt to the east. Kade Damant started this project and collected samples across the Intermontane Belt in southern B.C (2019) and south-central B.C. (2020). Undergraduate student Scott Tiede and Alyson McDougall analyzed apatite for (U-Th)/He. Funding for this project comes from NSERC (Discovery Grant to Enkelmann and graduate fellowship to Damant) and from Geoscience BC (graduate fellowship to Damant). |
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Thermal Evolution of sedimentary strata in southwestern Northwest Territories
This project investigates the thermal evolution of the Palaeozoic–Cenozoic sedimentary basins in western and southwestern Northwest Territories. The research is conducted in collaboration with the Energy Group of NWT Geological Survey that aims to develop a new basin model and evaluate the potential for geothermal energy production. In July 2019 we conducted fieldwork along the eastern front of the Mackenzie Mountains. Sample collection in 2020 and 2021 will focus in the south-western NWT. Graduate student Tais Fontes Pinto will work in this project using low-temperature thermochornology and thermal history modeling. Funding for this project comes from the Northwest Territories Geological Survey and the NSERC- Discovery Grant awarded to Enkelmann. |
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The longevity of hot springs
This research was funded by the Geological Society of London (to Dr. Jess) and NSERC-Discovery Grant (to Dr. Enkelmann) This project investigates how old hot springs are. This question is important to evaluate their reliability for hydrothermal explorations. We use thermal modelling and multiple low-temperature thermochronometers to estimate the the time when thermal spring activity started. There are many hot springs found across the Canadian Cordillera that coincide with the. location of major structures such as the Rocky Mountain Trench or the Columbia River Fault. This project is conducted by Dr. Scott Jess. Publications: Jess, S., Enkelmann, E., Grasby, S., Fraser, K., 2021. Determining the longevity of hydrothermal systems using thermochronology and thermal modelling. JGR-Earth Surface 126, e2021JF006286. |
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Dating the Appalachian uplift
This research was funded by E. Enkelmann’s startup grant and NSERC-DG. This project aims to define the age of the modern Appalachian topography. We used the newly developed laser ablation (U-Th)/He method on detrital apatite grains from various river sands across the Appalachians. The resulting age spectra was used to determine the timing of erosion across the region and help resolve when uplift occurred. Additionally, the detrital zircon and apatite U-Pb ages were acquired allowing us to get a better understand the sediment source within the catchments and sediment transport. Publications: Jess, S.A., Enkelmann, E., Matthews, W. 2023. JGR-Earth Surface 128, e2022JF006738. Jess, S.A., Enkelmann, E., Matthews, W. 2022. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 597, 117794. |
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Funding for this project came from NSERC-Discovery Grant awarded to Enkelmann
This project aimed to quantify the time and amount of displacement across major faults in the southeastern Canadian Cordillera such as the Rocky Mountain Trench and the Columbia River Fault. Two graduate students (Kelley Fraser and Kade Damant) and undergraduate student Ryan Grieco conducted apatite fission track and U-Th/He dating. Kade's MSc thesis won the 2022 Best Thesis Award from the Canadian Tectonics Group. Publications: *Damant, K.A., Enkelmann, E., Jess, S. 2023. Tectonophysics 229763. Video presentation *Fraser, K., Enkelmann, E., Jess, S., Gilbert, H., Grieco, R., 2021. Tectonics, 40, e2021TC006847. |
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This project was funded by Natural Resources Canada and NSERC- Discovery Grant awarded to Enkelmann.
This project was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Hadlari from the Geological Survey of Canada. We investigate the deformation history at the eastern margin of the Northern Canadian Cordillera. We conducted fieldwork in the Richardson Mountains in summer 2018 and used apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He analysis and thermal history modelling to quantify phases of deformation and erosion. This project was conducted by Ryan McKay as part of his master thesis project. Ryan graduate in summer 2020 and works now at the Silvertip mine in northern BC.. Publications: *McKay, R., Enkelmann, E., Hadlari, T., Matthews, W., Mouthereau, F. 2021. Tectonics, 40, e2020TC006582. Video presentation |
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This project was funded by the American Chemical Society - Petroleum Research Fund (start 9/2015) and conducted in collaboration with Richard Lease (USGS Alaska).
We aimed to investigate the 7 Myr long offshore sedimentary record of the Gulf of Alaska to investigate the changes in rock exhumation in southeast Alaska. We used geo- and thermochronology methods (zircon U-Pb and fission track dating) on industry borehole samples as well as bedrock dating of the coastal mountains in the Yakutat Bay Area. Publications: *Schartman, A., Enkelmann, E., Garver, J.I., Davidson, C. 2019. Lithosphere. https://doi.org/10.1130/L1011.1 *Bootes, N., Enkelmann, E.,Lease, R., 2019. Tectonics doi: 10.1029/2019TC005497 |
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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 subduction of normal oceanic crust, flat-slab subduction of a spreading ridge, and by subduction of an oceanic plateau. This 3 year project is funded by the National Science Foundation - Tectonics (start 9/2014) and a collaboration with Emily Finzel (University of Iowa)
Publications: Enkelmann, E., *Sanchez Lohff, SK., Finzel, FS 2019. GSA Bulletin Reid, MR, Finzel, E, Enkelmann, E., McClelland, WC., 2018. GSA Special Volume 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. |
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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 & Falkowski, S., 2021 Geosphere 17. Enkelmann, Piestrzeniewicz, A., Falkowski, S., et al., 2017. EPSL 457, 348–358. *Falkowski, S. & 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 expedition was funded by the National Geographics Society – Explorer Fund (2014).
Publications: Enkelmann, E., Finzel, E., Arkle, J. 2019. Deformation at the eastern margin of the Northern Canadian Cordillera: potentially related to opening of the North Atlantic. Terra Nova 31, 3. |
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