The San Gabriel Mountains is host to exposures of Proterozoic basement, some of which are preserved as pendants in Mesozoic plutons. Numerous students from Cal Poly Pomona under Dr. Jon Nourse have worked on geologic mapping and detrital zircon geochronology of the Placerita Formation in the San Gabriel Mountains, a metamorphosed continental shelf assemblage. I was one of those students, and have decided to continue work on the Placerita Formation.

The Placerita Formation was determined to have a maximum depositional age of ~780 Ma, just before the breakup of Rodinia. Thus, the detrital zircon population have the Placerita Formation would have implications for the configuration of Rodinia. Anomalous age populations in the Placerita Formation could be sourced from exotic terranes, such as Siberia.

My research will obtain Hf-Lu isotopic ratios of these zircons to assess their geochemistry. This will allow me to better trace where these zircons came from. Additionally, I am working on obtaining Sm-Nd and Hf-Lu isotope data from the San Gabriel Mountains. This dataset will not only determine if local basement is sourcing these zircons, but provide a geochemical framework for the Proterozoic evolution of the western Laurentian margin. I am collaborating with Brian Swanson from the California Geologic Survey, who has dated Proterozoic basement in the Liebre Mountain block in the northern San Gabriel Mountains.

Relevant Publications
Recent advancements in geochronology, geologic mapping, and landslide characterization in basement rocks of the San Gabriel Mountains block