Tyler Grambling
Assistant Professor of Structural Geology and Tectonics
Earth and Environmental Science Department
Denison University
Granville, OH, USA
About Me
I use field mapping, microstructural and kinematic analysis, stable isotopes, and geochronology to explore regional tectonic processes and rheologic evolution of polyphase ductile shear zones.
My large-scale research at the moment focuses on the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Huayhuash subranges of the Peruvian Andes. I’m examining the interplay of slab-flattening, magmatism, crustal delamination, topographic evolution, and water-rock interaction on synconvergent extension and ductile shearing along the western edge of the Cordillera Blanca. I am currently working on a multi-stable isotope proxy-based study that uses rocks from the Cordillera Blanca as a “natural laboratory” to explore the rates of hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope exchange during meteoric fluid infiltration into crystal-plastic shear zones. Additional ongoing work in the Andes is aimed at exploring the mechanical and microstructural processes accommodating downward fluid flow near the brittle-viscous transition in quartzofeldspathic mylonites.
My past research has focused on the assembly of Laurentia during the Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic. I’m beginning to re-enter the Precambrian basement of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado with a collaborative targeting the fine timescales of orogenic processes and spatial and textural trends of deformation in the Proterozoic.
Beyond geology, I’m an avid cyclist, snowboarder, poorly disciplined runner, and still an occasional climber and mountaineer.
Updates:
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Off to an appropriately sprinting start here at Denison. We just submitted the order for a brand new Oxford Instruments C-Nano+ Expert EBSD system as an add-on to the JEOL IT500HR field emission SEM. This new detector will be paired with the existing Oxford EDS system on the SEM. Also on the way is a MiniMet polisher to ease sample prep.
Here’s to hoping both items arrive smoothly and quickly to get in-house research off the ground!
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I’ve accepted a tenure-track assistant professorship at Denison University, starting in Fall of 2025. Wahoo. More to come.
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Our paper on the sulfur cycle across the Andean orogen began from an offshoot project and spurred into a COVID opportunity. After 4 long years, it’s finally out! You can find it in Chemical Geology.
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Our new paper on the timing of intrusion in the Cordillera Blanca is out in Geosphere. This work has implications for the dispersion of zircon ages in batholithic settings and the thermal weakening of the continental lithosphere.