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John I. Garver Director of Environmental Studies Ph.D. University of Washington,1989 M.Sc. University of Washington, 1985 B.A. Middlebury College, 1983 Department
of Geology +1,
518-388-6517 (office); Email:
garverj@union.edu Fox Glacier, South Island, New Zealand |
TEACHING
I teach courses in:
(1) Stratigraphy and
Sedimentology of New York ,
(2) Tectonics,
(3) Carbonate
Sedimentology,
(4) Historical
Geology - Earth and Life through time
(5) Structural
and Tectonics
(6) Geologic Hazards: Living
on the Edge
(7) Geology of Australia and New Zealand Australia/New
Zealand Term abroad
My teaching philosophy
utilizes a hands-on, field intensive approach. Currently I serve as the
director of the Environmental
Studies program One of the major curriculum efforts of the program
has been the Ballston
Lake Initiative where we used Ballston Lake and the Mohawk River channel as
a focus to the environmental science-related courses in our program.
RESEARCH
My main research effort is on
the interaction of sedimentation and tectonics, mainly associated with
convergent margin tectonism and terrane accretion. One of my main focuses is
using the provenance of sedimentary detritus to identify source terranes and
exhumation using new approaches for provenance studies. The first avenue of
detailed provenance studies has been using fission-track dating of detrital
zircon and apatite to assess the thermal history of source terranes,
correlating strata, and dating sediment deposited along active margins. Second,
I have used the geochemistry of shale as a powerful tool to identify crustal
provenance. Preprints
and abstracts of my recent work (only fission track related work), and that
of my colleagues can be seen here.
1) Fission-track dating and Exhumation
Most of my research involves
dating detrital zircon suites to determine sediment provenance, and source rock
exhumation. Sediments eroded off orogenic systems retain an integrated view of
the tectonic evolution of mountainous regions, and understanding the long-term
evolution of mountain systems requires detailed knowledge of the relationship
between uplift, exhumation, erosion, and deposition in adjacent sedimentary
basins. Current focus areas are the Southern Alps in New Zealand,
Northern Andes (Peru), and Kamchatka (Russia). The Fission-track lab web
page has details of the lab and our research.
2) Tectonic Evolution of Kamchatka, Russia
The Olutorsky
collision represents an Upper Cretaceous island arc obducted to the leading
edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula which was, at the time, the Ukelayat basin
situated in a forearc position to the active Okhotsk-Chukotka Andean-style
continental arc to the west. The collision zone is represented by a
spectacular overthrust that places the Olutorsky arc over deformed sediments of
the Ukelayet Flysch which is entirely in the lower plate of the collision zone.
Lithologies in the flysch include non-fossiliferous turbidites with local meter
to decimeter-scale olistoliths from the upper plate. There is little
direct evidence constraining the timing of obduction, and the Ukelayet Flysch
is almost everywhere undated. Current study area in
Kamchatka. Some of our fieldwork is done using a tank.
3) Flooding and Ice Jams on the Mohawk
River
For several years we have
been looking into the long-term historical record of flooding on the Mohawk
River. This research has involved searching historical archives since
settlement of Schenectady (NY) by the Dutch in ~1650. Our major focus is
on ice jamming and how ice jams during spring breakup floods result in severe
hazards for the area. We have had specific projects focused on bridge and
historical atifacts in the river channel, the history of flooding, the recent
history of ice jamming. Work is still in progress. Click here for all for all Web pages that cover
our Mohawk River research
Recent Publications and
work in progress
Back to Fission-track home page
home page
Back to Union Geology Department
This document can be located from http://idol.union.edu/~garverj/garver/garver.htm
© Geology Department, Union College, Schenectady N.Y.
12308-3107.All rights reserved. No part of the document can be copied and/or
redistributed, electronically or otherwise, without written permission from
J.I.Garver, Geology Department, Union College, Schenectady NY, 12308-2311, USA.
(Except the Banging Head gif)
First posted: October 1996; Last updated: Jan 2003