This site is an evolving window into our understanding of the tectonics of the western United States. At present, the main offerings are detailed presentations of selected topics in the western U.S. made by students in the "Tectonics of the Western United States" course in the fall of 1999, spring 2002, fall 2003 and 2005, spring 2010 and fall 2013. Links are at left. The student pages have only had some limited editing, mainly for browser compatibility, so caveat emptor. We are revising the site to simplify navigation and permit better indexing of pages; some navigation may be impared as this is being done but all the pages are available.
In 2016 the class examined the claim made by Robert Hildebrand that much of the western U.S. was accreted to North America as a ribbon continent at the end of the Mesozoic. Results of that are here.
Another, related resource is the photo map of the western U.S. (which used Flash, so not very useful)
Modified from Wernicke, in DNAG volume G-3, 1992
Last modified at January 23, 2021 6:42 PM