In the Sedimentary Basin Studies group at WVU, we use grain-scale to basin-scale techniques to analyze sedimentary rocks for a wide array of applications, including:
-
locating, characterizing & evaluating sedimentary rocks targeted in energy resource exploration and development
-
modeling impacts of paleoclimate change on environmental systems
-
reconstructing tectonic processes that govern first-order structure and attributes of the earth's crust
Our primary tools include multi-method geochemistry, geochronology, and stratigraphic/sedimentologic analyses for both suburface strata as well as surface strata. Funding and support comes from government agencies and industry partners.
Click around to learn more about research projects in Sedimentary Basin Studies!
Abatan and Weislogel (2020): Paleohydrology and Machine-Assisted Estimation of Paleogeomorphology of Fluvial Channels of the Lower Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, Birch River, WV
Machine learning methods including multiple regression and support vector regression (SVR) algorithms were used to improve the dune height, and channel depth estimated from cross-set thickness. Results show that the channel depths of the lower Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian Stage, ∼310–306 Ma) Allegheny Formation (MPAF) exposed at Birch River, West Virginia records a transition from fluvial systems formed in a humid ever-wet climate to fluvial systems formed in less humid, seasonally wet, semi-arid climate. Paleohydrologic and paleoslope estimations indicated fluvial gradient response was not driven by the effect of tectonic subsidence or uplift and sea-level change.
Jian et al. (2019): Triassic Sedimentary Filling and Closure of the Eastern Paleo‐Tethys Ocean: New Insights From Detrital Zircon Geochronology of Songpan‐Ganzi, Yidun, and West Qinling Flysch in Eastern Tibet
Key points:
-
Amalgamation of the Songpan‐Ganzi Complex and Yidun terrane, and closure of the Ganzi‐Litang Ocean, had occurred by the Middle Triassic
-
The East Kunlun, on northern margin of the eastern Paleo‐Tethys, underwent significant exhumation and erosion during the Late Triassic
-
Deformation of the Songpan‐Ganzi and Yidun flysch strata was coeval with or predated latest Triassic shortening within Longmenshan