Field Trips

Libby Prueher Ph.D. - Trip Co-Leader - is experienced in conducting professional development programs for teachers and outreach events for the students of all ages as well as the general public. Prueher is a lecturer in earth science at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, an adjunct geology faculty member at Colorado Community Colleges Online, and an adjunct geology and geography faculty member at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton. Prueher also teaches science for pre-service elementary teachers and works to improve teaching methods for the college classroom. In addition, Prueher is the curator of geology at the Morrison Natural History Museum and a board member of the Morrison Natural History Museum Foundation. She has degrees in geology from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, University of Oregon, and the University of Michigan. Her research includes the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment of the Morrison Formation, the impact of volcanism on climate, and informal science education.

Simon A.J. Pattison, P.Geo., is professor and chair of geology at Brandon University, where he specializes in marginal- to shallow-marine clastic sedimentology, sedimentary architecture, sequence stratigraphy, and reservoir modeling. His 20+ years of experience encompasses both outcrop- and subsurface-based projects, including the Cretaceous Book Cliffs of Utah and Colorado, Cretaceous Cardium and Viking Formations of Canada, and the Tertiary Niger Delta. In addition, Pattison has over six years of direct petroleum industry experience with Esso Canada, Shell International Holland, and Shell Nigeria, where he worked as an exploration, production, and reservoir geologist. Pattison continues to actively research the Cretaceous strata in Utah, as demonstrated by recently published peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous oral/poster presentations at international conferences. He has led 28 geological field seminars to the Book Cliffs region since the early 1990s (including GSA field trips in 2005 and 2007), and has successfully trained over 500 professionals. These rocks are important outcrop analogs for fluvial, deltaic, and shoreface-to-shelf hydrocarbon reservoirs worldwide.

The co-leaders have extensive experience in the geology of porphyry Mo systems, weathering of mineralized areas, and determination of natural background in mining-affected areas. The three USGS scientists (Philip L. Verplanck, D. Kirk Nordstrom, and Geoffrey S. Plumlee) were the project leads for the USGS pre-mining study at Questa. Bruce Walker is the senior mine geologist at the Questa mine and represented Chevron Mining Inc. throughout the study.

Thad Wasklewicz is an associate professor in the Department of Geography at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He holds a B.A. from Department of Geography at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. His research interests have emphasized the importance of debris flow processes in the formation of arid and humid alluvial fans of California and Japan. Recent work has focused on the importance of debris flows events to coupled stream systems in alpine environments in Japan and Colorado. The coupled stream systems have provided theoretical and field-based knowledge Wasklewicz is currently using to assist the USGS in monitoring debris flows after wildfires in southern California. His work in recently burned watersheds specifically addresses the issue of connectivity within the drainage basin and its role in debris flow initiation. Wasklewicz is employing high-resolution geomorphic mapping techniques to capture topographic changes and changing boundary conditions to carry out the aforementioned research. At present, this mapping approach involves analyses of centimeter-scale digital terrain models gathered with the aid of terrestrial laser scanning techniques. The high-resolution geomorphic mapping approach has been evolving over the past nine years of research involving the terrestrial laser scanning techniques.

Dennis Staley is a research geologist for the USGS Landslide Hazard Program. His primary research is dedicated to understanding of the relationship between geomorphic processes and surface form. Topics within this research umbrella include analyses of the basin characteristics, meteorological conditions and physical processes that generate runoff-induced debris flows in Chalk Cliffs, and in recently burned watersheds in southern California. Through a combination of terrestrial laser scanning and airborne LiDAR, high-resolution models of topography are generated that allow for the development of physically based and empirical models of runoff generation and transition to debris flow. In addition, recent advances in terrestrial laser scanning methodologies have allowed Staley to document hillslope and channel changes at unprecedented spatial scales following storm events. Staley is also researching relationships between rainstorm characteristics and the hydrologic and geomorphic response of recently burned watersheds in southern California to refine the joint USGS/NWS Flash Flood and Debris Flow Early Warning System.

Scott McCoy is a graduate student in the geological sciences department at the University of Colorado–Boulder. McCoy’s research ranges from computational modeling of discrete granular interactions, to investigation of debris-flow mechanics at the event scale, to understanding the role debris flows play in sculpting steep landscapes over long time scales. In collaboration with scientists from the USGS and East Carolina University, McCoy has designed and maintained key components of the debris-flow monitoring program at Chalk Cliffs. McCoy received his B.S. in geology from the University of Washington.

Jason Kean is a research hydrologist with a background in civil engineering at the USGS Geologic Hazards Center in Golden. Prior to joining the group in 2006, Kean worked for ten years in the Geomorphology and Sediment Transport group of the USGS in Boulder. Kean’s current research focus is on understanding surface-water generated debris-flow processes through a combination of field monitoring and modeling. Monitoring work is seasonally split between summer-time debris-flow monitoring in the “backyard” at Chalk Cliffs and winter-time debris-flow monitoring in recently burned areas in Southern California. Kean is using the data collected from these efforts to help develop and test predictive models for debris-flow initiation by flow and sediment transport in steep channels.

Jeff Coe is a research geologist with the USGS Geologic Hazards Team in Golden. He has a B.S. in Geology from Kent State University and an M.S. in geology from the Colorado School of Mines. Coe began his career at the USGS in 1988 by working on the Yucca Mountain project. His work on the project included quantifying modern and Quaternary hillslope erosion, conducting paleoseismic investigations, and mapping and analyzing geologic structures in tunnels. In 1996, Coe joined the Landslide Hazards group in Golden. His research in the group has covered a wide variety of landslide topics in the western U.S., with an interlude of a few years to map and analyze landslides following Hurricane Mitch in Guatemala. Coe’s current research focus is on understanding initiation and growth of debris flows through field investigations and instrumental monitoring, and on the development and application of methods to quantify landslide hazards using long-term field observations and historical records. Coe began studying debris flows at Chalk Cliffs in 2004.

T.W. (Woody) Henry is a paleontologist retired from the U.S. Geological Survey and Front Range Community College, and was the Secretary of the Paleontological Society from 1994 to 1999. He received his Ph.D. from the School of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Oklahoma. Henry is co-author of Geologic Guidebook to the Goldbelt Byway, Colorado, and has led previous field trips along this route. His interests are in Paleozoic marine invertebrates and stratigraphy.

Reinhard A. (Bud) Wobus is professor of geosciences at Williams College. Wobus received his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1966 and has been studying the Proterozoic basement and Tertiary volcanic rocks of the southern Rocky Mountains for more than 40 years. He has published dozens of geologic maps and reports on the Pikes Peak region, where he has led three GSA Annual Meeting field trips and directed more than 20 week-long field seminars for college and museum groups.

Herb Meyer is the paleontologist for Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, an adjunct curator at the University of Colorado, and a research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He is the author of The Fossils of Florissant, an editor of a GSA Special Paper on Florissant, and a co-author of Geologic Guidebook to the Goldbelt Byway, Colorado. Meyer received his doctorate in paleontology from the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests are in Tertiary paleobotany, climate change, and paleoelevation, and he has led three previous GSA field trips to this area.

Lisa R. Fisher Ph.D. (ABD) is 2010 President-Elect of the Colorado Scientific Society (CSS) and chair of this CSS-sponsored field trip and related topical session at the 2010 GSA Annual Meeting. She is Executive Vice President and Director of Geoscience and Engineering for Escalante Mines Inc., a Denver-based junior mining firm focusing on exploration and development of precious and rare metals. She also serves as a volunteer research associate at the Morrison Natural History Museum, contributing in the areas of petrology, geochemistry, and education. Fisher is an internationally experienced metamorphic/igneous petrologist and an accomplished researcher specializing in Precambrian geology, Colorado Front Range geology, accretionary terranes, microscopy, economic geology, and related topics. Fisher is a seasoned science instructor and educator with experience with gifted children, university and K–12 students, the lay public, and educators, and served as visiting professor in petrology at the University of Colorado–Boulder, and career advisor/counselor at the Colorado School of Mines. She carries degrees in geology from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor and the Colorado School of Mines, where she is currently a Ph.D. Candidate. Fisher has authored or co-authored a number of guidebooks on continental accretion, Proterozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic accretionary sequences, and Laramide and Precambrian geology and tectonics of the Central Colorado Front Range. Her current research focuses on Proterozoic migmatites and constraints on regional melting processes in upper amphibolite grade terranes, and on complex porphyry-epithermal ore systems.

Thomas R. Fisher Ph.D. (ABD) is an internationally experienced clastic sedimentologist and stratigrapher, and has been a volunteer research associate with the Morrison Natural History Museum since 2005. He serves in the capacity of CEO and chair of Escalante Mines Inc., a Denver-based junior mining firm focused on exploration and development of precious and rare metals. Fisher’s research focuses on interpretation of paleo- and depositional environments, especially those of alluvial fans and braided stream deposits. He specializes in application of traditional and advanced statistical and geostatistical methods to interpretation of sedimentary processes in the search for stratabound mineral deposits and energy resources. He was educated in geology at the University of New Mexico and the Colorado School of Mines. Fisher’s research has covered interpretation of clastic sedimentary deposits from the Precambrian through the Quaternary on a worldwide basis, and has made significant contributions to multidisciplinary geoscience studies. Most recently, Fisher has concentrated on analysis of gold-bearing Paleoproterozoic quartz pebble conglomerates in paleo-fans and braided streams of West Africa, and interpretation of depositional environments of the Jurassic Morrison Formation and the Precambrian meta-sedimentary package in the Colorado Front Range. As a recognized pioneer in the development of 3- and 4-dimensional computer-based geologic modeling methods, Fisher has published numerous professional papers on this, as well as topics relating to interpretation of depositional sedimentary environments and paleontology.

Matthew Mossbrucker is a paleontologist specializing in Mesozoic vertebrates, particularly dinosaurs of the Jurassic Morrison Formation. He joined the Morrison Natural History Museum in 1996 and became Director and Chief Curator in 2006. Mossbrucker trained under famed vertebrate paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, curator of paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. He is an expert in paleontological field surveys, cryptic vertebrate ichnology, and Dinosauria, especially their osteology and taxonomy, and the history of early Dinosauria finds in the American West. Mossbrucker specializes in the dinosaur genus Stegosaurus, and has published numerous papers on this and similar topics. He was recently recognized for his work in this area as an invited guest speaker at the “Symposium on Stegosauria” sponsored by the Sauriermuseum Aathal, Aathal-Seegräben, Switzerland. He has been instrumental, along with Bakker and colleagues, in reopening of Arthur Lakes' ca. 1870's fossil quarries 5, 10, and “xyz” in the Morrison Formation near Morrison, Colorado, which supplied Yale's O. C. Marsh with numerous genotypes of Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus. With the reopening of the quarries, Mossbrucker has concentrated on interpretation of the paleogeography and paleoecology of the intervals bearing these Dinosauria genera. In addition to his training as a paleontologist, Mossbrucker is skilled in museum programming, collections and curation, exhibit creation, and field and laboratory research. He also directs and conducts public education programs for the Morrison Museum and maintains an interest in herpetology, especially as it pertains to Colorado.