SpencerÌýZeigler
- Ph.D. Candidate
Research
I studyÌýhow the landscape of Arctic Canada has changed over the Phanerzoic (~600 Ma-present) using apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology. I use kimberlites to figure out when the cratons (really old, thick, stable crust) that make up this region were buried by sediment and when they were eroded. Knowing the timing and magnitude of burial and erosionÌýallows me to attribute events (e.g.,Ìýmoutain building, dynamic topography)Ìýto that period of burial or erosion.
I am also developing (U-Th)/He geochronology on zircon megacrysts toÌýdate the timing of kimberlite eruptions.
I also just LOVE kimberlites (see my photo-- that's the Green Mountain kimberlite, right in our backyard!). Feel free to email me any time to talk cratons or kimberlites. :^)
Education
- B.A. University of Colorado Boulder
Undergraduate Experience
After transferring to CU-Boulder from a small school in Ohio, I decided to keep pursuing the geology major I had started at my previous school. During my undergraduate degree, I was involved in designing research, teaching, and my own coursework! All of these stand out as things I loved about being at CU.Ìý
I had always been captured by the little universes captured in a slice of rock. I got involved in research with Dr. Alexis Templeton, where I made and examined the detailed petrology of thin sections of hydrothermally-altered oceanic crust, and I then shared this research and the stories contained in those rocks at a national conference in 2018.
At CU, I was extremely lucky to take 3 different field classes. One of them was focused locally, here in Boulder, but the other two were two-week trips to the Southwest US. These trips involved camping with my classmates, deciphering the stories the rocks were telling in the field, and hiking the most gorgeous landscapes and National Parks in the US.
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