Welcome to Becky Dorsey's Home Page

Teaching Sediment Gravity Flows - Spring, 2008 Geology 334 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy - Fall, 2007 Blue Mountains Field Trip - March, 2007 Blue Mountains Seminar - Fall, 2006 Geology 440-540 Sedimentary Basin Analysis - Spring, 2007 Summer 2003 Pictures somewhat dated but fun stuff. Geology 103 The Evolving Earth - Spring 1999

She can also be found working on alluvial fans in southern California ....

..... or roaming around the New Zealand countryside.

Research Overview

My research is focused on field studies of tectonically active sedimentary basins, with the goal of understanding the complex tectonic, sedimentary and geomorphic evolution of active regions. Stratigraphy provides unique insights into structural processes and past tectonic events that often cannot be gained from other disciplines. Integration of stratigraphic data with information from structural, geochronologic, paleontologic, isotopic, and geomorphic studies informs us about the dynamic interplay between surficial processes (erosion, transport, and deposition) and ancient fault systems that bound and create sedimentary basins. Stratigraphy also provides a useful tool for analyzing the history of slip, deformation, and related evolution of streams and geomorphology in active fault systems. I am working primarily in two areas: (1) Plio-Pleistocene evolution of basins in the Salton Trough and San Andreas fault system of southern California; and (2) Mesozoic stratigraphy and regional tectonics related to accretion and translation of oceanic terranes in central and eastern Oregon.

Current and Recent Research Projects:

Triassic-Jurassic collisional tectonics, Blue Mountains of NE Oregon

Late Cenozoic detachment faulting in the Western Salton Trough, southern California

Quaternary San Jacinto Fault Zone, southern California

Pliocene-Quaternary Loreto Basin, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Older Projects, which are representative of my interests:

Pleistocene to Holocene Laguna Salada, southern San Andreas fault system, northern Mexico

Miocene Detachment Basins, SE California and W Arizona

Jurassic Utah-Idaho Trough, U.S. western interior

A Few Current and Recent Graduate Students:

Rebecca Ambers - now teaching at Sweet Briar College, Virginia

Robin Beebee - now working for the U.S. Forset Service in Sitka, Alaska

Todd LaMaskin - working on Mesozoic stratigraphy and tectonics of eastern Oregon

Bob Lenegan - now advising Biology students at Northern Arizona University.

Andy Lutz - now working for William Lettis and Associates, San Francisco, CA.

Tom Peryam - interested in Cenozoic basins of northwestern Mexico.

Derek Ryter - now working at ASW Associates, Lincoln, Nebraska

I also help to maintain: