Geology Department
Faculty
| Department of
Geology, PO Box 4099 Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011 Phone#: 928-523-4561 Fax#: 928-523-9220 |
Web comments to: WebMaster |
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Dr. Jim Sample
Office:
214 Frier Hall (Building 12) Title:
AssociateProfessor |
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U.S. Postal Service
Address: Department of Geology P. O. Box 4099 Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011-4099 |
UPS or FEDEX Address:
Frier Hall, Building 12, Room 100 Knoles Drive Flagstaff, AZ 86011-4099 |
View list of graduate students and their advisors
| My research focuses on fluid flow in the upper crust in active tectonic environments. I am interested in developing new ways to investigate the record of fluid flow in fault systems in order to understand the plumbing of fluid systems and how fluid-rock interactions affect rock properties over short and long time periods. The results of this research bears on the evolution of fluid circulation in the crust, deformation mechanisms and seismicity at active margins, redistribution of elements in the marine system, and perhaps on the evolution of life in extreme environments. My students, colleagues, and I investigate these processes using a variety of analytical techniques. Each project involves a substantial component of field mapping, rock characterization, and sample collection using the good old Brunton compass, high-precision mapping, and tools for field measurement of rock permeability. We characterize the cements and fabrics of the samples using petrography and image analysis including scanning electron microscopy and associated imaging techniques. We try to unravel fluid flow histories and the evolution of fluid sources by combining petrographic studies with mass spectrometry, focusing on the trace-element, stable, and radiogenic isotope geochemistry of precipitates left behind by fluids passing through the system. My current areas of research are carbonate cements and veins preserved in active faults in the Cascadia subduction zone, deformation bands and petroleum migration along the Newport- Inglewood fault zone in southern California, a Paleocene cold seep deposit (chemoherm) on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, California, and fault systems in coarse-grained clastic rocks of the Colorado Plateau. In addition to basic scientific research, I am involved in projects to improve and increase Earth science education at the K-16 level. |