New insights into old problems in the Green Mountains from integrated 40Ar/39Ar geochronology

Dr. Laura Webb is a field-based geologist with research interests in large-scale tectonic problems that are addressed through collaborative research and focused, process-related studies. In addition to structural geology and petrology, one of her main tools is radiometric dating of rocks and minerals to quantify absolute timing of events and rates of processes. She directs the 40Ar/39Ar geochronology laboratory at UVM. She and her students integrate observations over a large range of scales from microstructures to regional geological and geophysical data sets, and employ a suite of methodologies to evaluate P-T-t-D histories and the 4D evolution of rocks and regions.

She teaches courses in geochronology, petrology, microstructural analysis and tectonics. In the classroom and in practice, she and her students integrate analytical data with observations made at microscopic to continental scales to try and understand how rocks and regions evolve in space and time and the tectonic processes that shape them.

Dr. Webb’s presentation is sponsored by the Geosciences Department and Class of 1960 Scholars Program.

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