My project for the 2006 REU program is a kinematic study of the footwall of the low-angle detachment fault in the Pioneer Metamorphic Core Complex, Idaho. Prior to field work, I researched both the study area and general information about metamorphic core complexes, deformation mechanisms, and quantitative analysis. I also looked at thin sections of the rocks in and around the gneiss dome to get familiar with the petrologic and structural implications of the area. Research done before field work prepared me for future research while helping me to compose my project. In the field, I collected ten samples from the mylonitic zone of the footwall. The transect was perpendicular to the detachment fault and parallel to vergence in order to observe strain gradients. I measured foliation, lineation, fault surfaces and slickenlines, as well as a few axial planes and hinge lines of folds. Because the rock type is quartzo-feldspathic, strain fabrics are prominently recorded and easily observed. Therefore, I hope to find the range of vorticity throughout the transect in order to draw some conclusions about large-scale deformation during exhumation. Future identification of microstructures and measurements of quartz c-axis fabrics will supplement vorticity by contributing information on internal deformation mechanisms, while providing a larger scope of which to understand orogenic extension. Although I do not presently have significant results, I have significant field data and methods of which to approach results. This project will continue for the 2006-2007 school year and serve as my senior thesis.