Home , Go Back to faculty page CHRISTIAN TEYSSIER Professor PhD, 1986, Monash University, Australia Research Group Web Page: Structural Geology Research Group Office: 210B Pillsbury Hall Phone: (612) 624-6801 Fax: (612) 625-3819 Email: teyssier@...

    I am interested in orogenic processes, from the structures formed during crustal shortening and thickening, to the style of late-orogenic collapse. My present research emphasizes the use of geochronological techniques using a variety of methods - U/Pb, 40Ar/39Ar, Rb/Sr dating - to constrain the cooling and exhumation of metamorphic rocks. My students and I have also attempted to date deformation directly, by dating synkinematic minerals that grew below their closure temperature for the isotopic system investigated. Results are presented in the work of James Dunlap (Ph.D.'92) in central Australia, Olivier Vanderhaeghe (Ph.D.'97) and Britt Norlander (Ph.D. student) in the Canadian Cordillera, and Michelle Markley (Ph.D.'98) in the Swiss Alps.

    I am also working on the tectonics of oblique convergence-divergence. In particular, I want to constrain the deformation of the different lithospheric layers during oblique convergence and resolve the strain compatibility problem inherent in this tectonic setting. I am using seismological data to infer deformation of the lithospheric mantle, and direct geologic observations to study the behavior of the upper and lower crust. This research involves field work in SE China with Qing Zhang (Ph.D. student), and in Trinidad/Venezuela with Leonardo Cruz (Ph.D. student).

    Finally, I have had a vested interest in microstructural analysis and the study of deformation mechanisms on a grain scale. These studies build important bridges between experimental work and field-based geological research. I am interested in the behavior of quartz primarily, but am tackling microstructural studies of feldspar in an attempt to better characterize the flow laws of the lower crust, and olivine to better translate the seismic anisotropy data, collected by seismology, in terms of deformation fabrics.

Professional Society Memberships

• American Geophysical Union
• Geological Society of America
• Sigma Xi, the Research Society

• Dynamic Earth: An Intro to Geology
• Geodynamics I - The Solid Earth
• Structural Geology
• Neotectonics
• Field Methods

• 2003 University of Minnesota Distinguished Teaching Award (Award for Outstanding Contributions to Post-Baccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education)
• 2001 Best Paper Award, Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, GSA
• Chair, Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, Geological Society of America
• Fellow of the Geological Society of America - since October 1997
• McKnight Land Grant Professor, University of Minnesota, 1989-1999

Supervised Graduate Theses (last 10 years)

Masters Students:

• Kate Witthuhn:  "Fracture analysis in the Midcontinent Rift System", 1993
• Matthew Davis:  "Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and fabric analysis in granitoids:  The Cascade Lake shear zone, Sierra Nevada, California", 1996
• Ben Holtzman: "Two geologic examples of a rigid inclusion deforming in a ductile matrix: fractured pebbles and chromite pods",  1999 (co-adviser, K. Kleinspehn)
• Donald Sidman: "AMS and microfabric in the Bitterrroot shear zone, western Montana", 2001

PhD Students:
• Paul Kelso:   "A magnetic study of deep crustal rocks from the Arunta Block, Australia, and the implications for the interpretation of long-wavelength magnetic anomalies", 1993 (co-adviser, Subir Banerjee)
• Basil Tikoff:  "Transpression:  Strain theory and application to the emplacement and  deformation of granite, Sierra Nevada, California", 1994
• Olivier Vanderhaeghe:  Thesis topic on "Role of partial melting during late-orogenic collapse" 1997
• Michelle Markley:  "Propagation of deformation in the Grand St-Bernard Nappe, western  Alps:  Structural and radiometric constraints", 1998
• Britt Norlander:  "The origin and role of leucogranites in orogenic processes" defended 01/03 (co-advised with Donna Whitney)

• Aydin Aycenk:  Thesis topic on structure and metamorphism if the Sivrihisar region, Turkey (2002-present) (co-adviser, D. Whitney)
• Barbara Francis:  Thesis topic on calcite deformation in Naxos, Greece (2002-present) (co-adviser, D. Whitney)
   

• Qing Zhang: "Kinematic analysis of a the Zhangbaling belt, Tan-Lu fault system, Eastern China" to be defended in 2003
• Leonardo Cruz:  "Vertical deformation partitioning along the Caribbean-South America plate boundary" to be defended in 2004
• Seth Kruckenberg:  Thesis topic on flow of partially molten crust (2002-present) (co-adviser, D. Whitney)

• C. Teyssier, E. Ferré, D.L. Whitney, B. Norlander, O. Vanderhaeghe, and D. Parkinson (2005)  Flow of partially molten crust and origin of detachments during collapse of the Cordilleran orogen. Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London, 245, 39-64.
• B. Tikoff, M. R. Davis, C. Teyssier, M. de Saint Blanquat, G. Habert, and S. Morgan (2005)  Fabric studies within the Cascade Lake Shear zone, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Tectonophysics, 400, 209-226.
• D. Sidman, C. Teyssier, E. Ferré, and M. Jackson (2005) Magnetic fabric and microstructure of a mylonite: Example from the Bitterroot Shear Zone, western Montana. In: Hign Strain Zones, Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London. P, 245, 143-163.
• A. Mulch, C. Teyssier, M. Cosca, O. Vanderhaeghe, and K. Venneman (2004) Reconstructing paleoelevation in eroded orogens.  Geology, 32, 6, 525-528.
• Fayon, A.K., Whitney, D.L., and Teyssier, C. (2004) Exhumation of orogenic crust: diapiric ascent vs. low-angle normal faulting. In "Gneiss Domes and Orogeny"; (Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Siddoway, C., eds.), Geological Society of America Special Paper 380, 129-139.
• Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Vanderhaeghe, O. (2004) Gneiss domes and crustal flow. In "Gneiss Domes and Orogeny"; (Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Siddoway, C., eds.), Geological Society of America Special Paper 380, 15-33.
• C. Teyssier and L. Cruz (2004) Strain gradients in transpressional to transtensional attachment zones. In: Vertical Coupling and Decoupling in the Lithosphere (Grocott, J., Tikoff, B., McCaffrey, K.J.W., Taylor, G., eds), Geological Society of London Special Publication 227, 101-116.
• B. Tikoff, R. Russo, C. Teyssier, and A. Tommasi (2004) Mantle-driven deformation of orogenic zones and clutch tectonics. In: "Vertical Coupling and Decoupling in the Lithosphere", Geological Society of London Special Publication 227, 41-64.
• D.L. Whitney, C. Teyssier, and A. Fayon (2004) Isothermal decompression, partial melting, and the exhumation of deep continental crust. In: Vertical Coupling and Decoupling in the Lithosphere (Grocott, J., Tikoff, B., McCaffrey, K.J.W., Taylor, G., eds), Geological Society of London Special Publication 227.
• E. Ferré, F. Martín-Hernández, C. Teyssier, and M. Jackson (2004) Paramagnetic and ferromagnetic AMS in migmatites: Measurements in high and low fields and kinematic implications. Geophys. J. Int. 157, 1119-1129.

• NSF, Gneiss dome architecture: investigation of form and process in the Fosdick Mountains, W. Antarctica
• NSF, Field-based analysis of diapiric and channel flow of partially molten crust
• NSF, SGER: A New Method for Determining the Paleoelevation of Orogens