Active Research Projects
PALEOTOPOGRAPHY AND EXTENSIONAL BASINS OF THE NORTHWESTERN U.S.
This group of projects aims to recoonstruct the Paleogene topography, basin evolution, and drainage morphology of the western US as the North American plate began to extend, through detailed sedimentologic and stratigraphic analysis, detrital zircon (U-Th)/(He-Pb), and stable isotope and geochemical analyses of multiple proxies. We work across the U.S. Rockies, the Basin and Range, and the Cascades, and we have new opportunities coming up in the Sierra Nevada of CA and the Colorado Plateau in northern AZ.
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THE TBA LAB
The Tectonics & Basin Analysis Lab at the University of Idaho is outfitted for high-quality contamination-free separation of volcanic glass, sanidine, and detrital minerals. If you would like to use the facilities as part of collaborative research, or if you are interested in having glass samples prepared for stable isotope analyses or tephrochronology, please contact Dr. Cassel.
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Sample Separation
Our sample preparation facilities include a jaw crusher, disc mill, shatterbox, metal-free crushing and sieving, Gemini table, Frantz magnetic separator, acid etching and digestion hood, soil water extraction vacuum line, and multiple heavy liquid density separation apparatuses.
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Picking & PackingOur microscope lab is outfitted with petrographic and picking microscopes with HD cameras, immersion oil section equipment, a micromill for carbonate preparation, and a high-precision microbalance on a marble balance table.
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CollaborationsWe collaborate with the Light Stable Isotope Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, the U-Pb & U-Th-He lab at (UTChron) at UT - Austin, the geochemistry lab at Washington State University, the thermochronology lab at the University of Connecticut, and many more.
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Previous Research Projects