Craig H. Jones

Associate Professor of Geological Sciences
Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Ph.D., 1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
B.S., 1981, California Institute of Technology

Research Interests:
A longer description with links to papers and abstracts can be found at my online research page

At the orogen scale, I have been interested in aspects of continental deformation inconsistent with plate tectonics. This has led to estimation of gravitational body forces acting on the SW U.S. Carrying this into the geologic past, we have found that fairly simple estimatations of body forces can yield geologically important results. Examples include showing that the Great Basin could not be low-lying at about 30-40 Ma and have undergone "extensional collapse" and demonstrating that the substantial subsidence preceding the Laramide Orogeny was critical in localizing deformation so far east of the plate boundary.

Deformation in the mantle is also the theme of a new experiment in the north end of the South Island of New Zealand (2000-2002); we hope to see how the large strikel-slip system at the surface is manifested at depth.

At a smaller scale, I have worked several years in the southern Sierra Nevada of California. Earlier work demonstrated the absence of a crustal root; later research has attempted to determine the source of buoyancy supporting the range. A deployment of 24 broadband seismometers was made in the summer of 1997; the data from this deployment is being analyzed to try and image variations in P, S, and S-anisotropy in the upper mantle in order to try and locate different petrologic packages within the upper mantle. A multi-year deployment in the Coso Geothermal area has recently been completed and has turned up strong lateral variations in the crust just SE of the Sierra.

Ongoing work on data collected from 11 broadbands across the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin seeks to provide a first-order bound on the relative role of crust and mantle in supporting topography across this region.

Paleomagnetic investigations have been undertaken in southern Nevada, revealing that large vertical axis rotations can occur between sites that geologically might appear to be on a single "block". The structures accomodating this deformation remain cryptic, as detailed mapping has revealed few mappable faults. New work is beginning on folds in the Colorado Plateau to see if similar rotations are present there.

Courses Offered:

2000/2001:

GEOL4714/5714 Field Geophysics

1999/2000:

GEOL 4717/5717 Field Seminar in Geology and Tectonics

GEOL 4700/5700 Geologic History of the Western United States

GEOL 1020 Historical Geology (Intro Geology 2)

1998/9:

GEOL 4740/5740 Field Geophysics

GEOL 1020 Historical Geology (Intro Geology 2)

Recent Publications:

• Sonder, L. J., and C. H. Jones, Western United States extension: How the West was widened, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 27, 417-462, 1999.
• Jones, C. H., L. J. Sonder, and J. R. Unruh, Lithospheric graviational potential energy and past orogenesis: Implications for conditions of initial Basin and Range and Laramide deformation, Geology, 26, 639-642, 1998.
  
  Jones, C. H., L. J. Sonder, and J. R. Unruh, Reply to Comment on "Lithospheric gravitational potential energy and past orogenesis: Implications for conditions of initial Basin and Range and Laramide deformation", Geology, 27, 475-476, 1999.
• Jones, C.H., and Phinney, R.A., Seismic structure of the lithosphere from teleseismic converted arrivals observed at small arrays in the southern Sierra Nevada and vicinity, California, J. Geophys. Research,103, 10065-10090, 1998.
• C. H. Jones, J. R. Unruh, and L. J. Sonder, The role of gravitational potential energy in active deformation in the southwestern United States, Nature, 381 (6577), 37-41, 1996.
• Wernicke, B., R. Clayton, M. Ducea, C. H. Jones, S. Park, S. Ruppert, J. Saleeby, J. K. Snow, L. Squires, M. Fliedner, G. Jiracek, R. Keller, S. Klemperer, J. Luetgert, P. Malin, K. Miller, W. Mooney, H. Oliver, and R. Phinney, Origin of high mountains in the continents: The southern Sierra Nevada, Science, 271, 190-193, 1996.
• Sheehan, A.F., G. A. Abers, C. H. Jones, and A. L. Lerner-Lam, Crustal thickness variations across the Colorado Rocky Mountains from teleseismic receiver functions,J. Geophys. Res., 100, p. 20,391-20,404, 1995.
• Park, S. K., R. Clayton, M. Ducea, B. Wernicke, C. H. Jones, and S. Ruppert, Project combines seismic and magnetotelluric surveying to address the Sierran root question, EOS, 76 (30), 297-8, July 25, 1995.
• Jones, C. H., H. Kanamori, and S. W. Roecker, Missing roots and mantle "drips:" Regional P_n and teleseismic arrival times in the Southern Sierra Nevada and vicinity, California, J. Geophys. Res., 99 (B3), 4567-4601, 1994.
• Sonder, L. J., C. H. Jones, S. L. Salyards, and K. M. Murphy, Vertical-axis rotations in the Las Vegas Valley Shear Zone, southern Nevada: Paleomagnetic constraints on kinematics and dynamics of block rotations, Tectonics, 13 (4), 769-788, 1994.
• Wesnousky, S. G., and C. H. Jones, Slip partitioning, spatial and temporal changes in the regional stress field, and the relative strength of active faults in the Basin and Range, Geology, 22, 1031-1034, 1994.
• Savage, M. K., Li Li, J. P. Eaton, C. H. Jones, and J. N. Brune, Earthquake refraction profiles of the root of the Sierra Nevada, Tectonics, 13 (4), 803-817, 1994.
• Jones, C. H., and S. G. Wesnousky, Variations in strength and slip rate along the San Andreas Fault system, Science, 256, 83-86, 1992.
• Jones, C. H., B. P. Wernicke, G. L. Farmer, J. D. Walker, D. S. Coleman, L. W. McKenna, and F. V. Perry, Variations across and along a major continental rift: An interdisciplinary study of the Basin and Range Province, western USA, Tectonophysics, 213, 57-96, 1992.
• Magistrale, H., H. Kanamori, and C. H. Jones, Forward and inverse three-dimensional P-wave velocity models of the southern California crust, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 14,115-14,135, 1992.
  
  
  
  
  

Home page: http://cires.colorado.edu/people/jones.craig/CHJ_home.html
Email address: cjones@terra.colorado.edu

Phone: (303)492-6994

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