ANDREAS MULCH

Research Associate and Visiting Research Scholar,
Stanford University (California)

PhD, 2004, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)

Office: 200F Pillsbury Hall
Phone: (612) 626-9805
Fax: (612) 625-3819
Email: or

    The general objective of my research is to quantitatively investigate the elevation history of high mountain ranges using the stable isotope record of paleoprecipitation. Together with Christian Teyssier (Minneapolis) and C. Page Chamberlain (Stanford) I try to reconstruct the isotopic compostion of paleoprecipitation based on the stable isotope and geochronological record in detachment mylonite and syn-extensional basins of metamorphic core complexes. I also have a strong interest in determining the relationships between microstructure development and the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar record in deformed minerals.

    Provided that most of the interactions between the Earth’s crust and atmosphere occur at the very surface it appears curious to investigate processes that took place at several kilometers depth. However, through the isotopic record of paleowaters that infiltrated deep into the Earth’s crust, rocks exhumed within late-orogenic detachment systems provide the unique opportunity to directly relate the kinematic, tectonic and climate history of the orogen at the time of detachment formation.

    The approach of this research is highly interdisciplinary as it aims at combining state-of-the-art stable isotope and in situ geochronological dating techniques with the kinematic and climatic records as obtained from such diverse “geological archives” as mylonitic fault rocks or fossil bone, plant, and shell material. The main challenge is to obtain precise information on the timing of formation of the different archives with the ultimate goal to further our understanding of the relationship between climate and mountain in active mountain belts.

• Mulch, A. , Cosca, M.A., Fiebig, J., and Andresen, A. (in review) Time scales of deformation and exhumation in extensional detachment systems determined by high spatial resolution in situ ⁴⁰Ar/ ³⁹Ar dating.


• Mulch, A. , Teyssier, C., Cosca, M.A., Vanderhaeghe, O., and Vennemann, T. (2004) Reconstructing paleoelevation in eroded orogens. Geology, 32, 6, p. 525-528. (see also Science (2004), 305, p. 19).


• Mulch, A. and Cosca, M.A. (2004) Recrystallization or cooling ages? – In situ UV-laser ⁴⁰Ar/ ³⁹Ar geochronology of muscovite in mylonitic rocks. Journal of the Geological Society London 161, p. 573-582.


• Mulch, A. , Cosca, M.A., and Handy, M. R. (2002) In-situ UV-laser ⁴⁰Ar/ ³⁹Ar geochronology of a micaceous mylonite – an example of defect-enhanced argon loss. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 142, 738-752.

• Swiss National Science Foundation (Post-doctoral Fellowship) “ A new method for determining the paleoelevation of orogens”.