Welcome to my website. I'm a sedimentologist/stratigrapher who studies outcrop, wells, and seismic data. I get most of my satisfaction from clastic sedimentary rocks, especially deep-water and shallow marine environments, but also fluvial and lahar stratigraphy related to aquifer characterization.After spending six years in the petroleum industry for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, I was ready to take my show back to school. I have been teaching in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at California State University, Chico since 2007.
My research areas right now are several. Locally, I'm interested in the 3.5 to 1.8 Ma Tuscan Formation. It's mainly a 1500' thick volcanoclastic unit derived from the Mt. Yana volcanic center near Lake Almanor. It's also the main aquifer for the town of Chico so it has lots of regional interest. More far reaching, I'm involved in deep-water sedimentation of the Great Valley Group near the San Luis Reservoir, central California, where boulder-conglomerate submarine canyon fill is beautifully exposed making it the highest energy and thickest conglomeratic unit known in the Great Valley Group! I have also studied Miocene strata in the southern onshore Eel River basin looking at cryptic bioturbation fabrics. In addition, through the gracious donations of various vendors, I have 3-D high resolution seismic datasets of deep-water systems in the Gulf of Mexico that help to define the relationship of turbidite deposition and mass transport deposits.
During my six years as a Senior Geologist working at Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in Houston, Texas, I served as the company specialist on clastic sedimentology and stratigraphy as part of a team of subject matter experts that supported company-wide projects. Projects mainly included building deep-water facies models in the Gulf of Mexico which are very similar to the models I propose to help build for the Tuscan work. I also supported international exploration efforts and field work in The Republic of Georgia, Indonesia, Algeria, Canada, and West Africa, taught courses within the in-house training program, and represented the company in various university research consortia.