Department of Earth Science, UC Santa Barbara
The age of a mountain belt is written in its minerals.
Our research combines structural analysis, petrology and geochronology to understand the mechanisms by which orogenic systems develop. We use field, petrologic and geochronologic methods to constrain the temporal and spatial scale of the processes that modify or produce new continental crust, with a focus on the Himalaya, Antarctica and New Zealand.
In tandem with that tectonics research, we develop laser ablation techniques to measure the ages and compositions of minerals.
Research
Dating the processes that build mountain belts
Each project pairs fieldwork with analytical work in our own laboratories, so the questions we ask in the field shape the analytical methods we develop.
Himalayan TectonicsHow the middle crust deforms, melts and is exhumed in a large, hot collisional orogen, studied through the Main Central Thrust in Nepal, the Ama Drime Massif in southern Tibet and the Leo Pargil Dome in northwest India.
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Antarctic TectonicsLamprophyres and alkaline magmatism in the Ross Orogen, used to test how the deep crust founders at the end of subduction and how the Gondwana margin evolved.
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Rare Earth Element MineralizationWhere and when rare earth phosphates form, from Joshua Tree National Park and Music Valley to the carbonatite and ultrapotassic rocks of Mountain Pass, with newer work in Colorado, Nevada and Tanzania.
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New techniques in geochronologyReference materials for monazite and allanite Th-Pb dating, and the laser ablation and mass spectrometry capabilities at UCSB, including the new LA-ICP-ToF-MS.
Read more Facilities
Analytical laboratories at UC Santa Barbara
From sample preparation to in situ isotopic analysis, the laboratories that support our research.
People
Current graduate students
We are always looking for people to join our group. If any of the projects interest you, get in touch.
Morgan AdamsonPh.D., Himalayan Tectonics
Ryan EdenPh.D., Basin and Range Tectonics
Alec BaudryPh.D., Ocean Island Geochronology
Griffin EasthouseM.Sc., Rare Earth Element Mineralization in Nevada
Brooke PryorPh.D., Alkaline Magmatism
About
Field geologist, with a laboratory attached
I am a Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Science and the Earth Research Institute at UC Santa Barbara, and Faculty Director of the UCSB Natural Reserve System. My group works out when and how continental crust is deformed, melted and rebuilt, using mapping, petrology and the ages recorded in minerals.
I trained at the University of Otago in New Zealand (B.Sc. 2000, M.Sc. 2002) and completed a D.Phil. at the University of Oxford in 2008. Most of my fieldwork since has been in the Himalaya, Antarctica and New Zealand, and I share part of it through Antarctica360.
The laboratory side matters as much to me as the field. We build laser ablation methods that measure mineral ages and compositions in place, and we use them on our own samples first.
Recognition
- 50 Under 50 Award, Geological Society of America. 2026. GSA website
- Fellow, Geological Society of America. 2023
- Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America. 2021
- 2018 Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy award. Spectroscopy Online
- Mineralogical Society of America, Distinguished Lecturer 2016-17. MSA website
- Geological Society of America Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, & Volcanology Division Early Career Award. 2016. GSA MGPV website
Contact
Join the group or collaborate on a project
Send a short note with your background and the project that caught your attention.
cottle@geol.ucsb.eduDepartment of Earth Science
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9630
Tel: (805) 893-7315