Professional Background

Dr. Michael L. Wells earned his B.S. degree in Geology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University. Between his undergraduate and graduate education, he worked for the US Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado, and in gold exploration in southern Oregon. Subsequent to graduate studies, he taught at Colgate University for one academic year as a PEW Foundation Teaching Fellow, and was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park. Dr. Wells received the Graduate College's UNLV Foundation Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award for the 1997/98 academic year. He was promoted to Professor in 2005, and elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2010.

Back to Menu

Teaching

Courses Taught:

Undergraduate:
• GEY 101 Geological Concepts
• GEY 341 Structural Geology
• GEY 348 Field Geology 1
• GEY 370 Intermediate Field Geology
• GEY 371 Advanced Field Geology
• GEY 443 Plate Tectonics

Graduate:
• GEY 643 Plate Tectonics
• GEY 745 Advanced Structural Geology
• GEY 746 Strain and Microstructural Analysis
• GEY 747 Geological Evolution of Western North America
• GEY 796 Graduate Seminar in Geology

Back to Menu

Research Interests

Dr. Wells is a structural geologist, with current research interests including: the processes of contraction and extension in the internides of mountain belts, in particular the Mesozoic Cordilleran Orogen of the western United States and; the timing and mechanisms of exhumation of mid-crustal rocks during Cenozoic extension. These studies are carried out by integrating field-structural studies with modern techniques of strain and kinematic analysis. Additionally, thermochronology is applied to structural studies to link the structural history of deformed rocks to their thermal histories, in an effort to determine the progressive deformation and kinematic trajectories within orogenic belts.

Recent Funded Research

National Science Foundation: Thermochronology of dominant thrust sheets in the Sevier fold-thrust belt, Utah and Nevada: Determining fault timing and slip rates, February 2011-January 2014 (collaborative research with Adolph Yankee at Weber State University).

National Science Foundation: Testing theories of synconvergent extension in the hinterland of the Sevier orogen, July 2006-June 2009 (collaborative research with Tom Hoisch at NAU and Jeffrey Vervoort at WSU).

National Science Foundation: Orogen Hinterland Evolution: Testing hypotheses using the Cretaceous to Eocene stratigraphic record in eastern Nevada, USA, August 2006-September 2008, A.D. Hanson (PI), Wells (Co-PI).

Back to Menu

Selected Publications (since 2000)

In Preparation:

Wells, M.L., Struthers, J.S., Snee, L.W., Walker, J.D., and Blythe, A.E., in prep., Miocene extensional reactivation of an Eocene extensional shear zone, Grouse Creek Mountains, Utah: for Geological Society of America (GSA) Bulletin.

Wells, M.L., Burgett, D.B., Spell, T.L., Hoisch, T.D., and Grove, M., in prep., Tectonic implications of the age, origin, and polarity of the Iron Mountains shear zone, southeastern California: for Tectonics.

In Review:

Kelly, E.D., Hoisch T.D., and Wells, M.L., in review, Disequilibrium garnet crystallization and implications for determining pressure-temperature paths from prograde zoning, Albion Mountains, Idaho: Journal of Metamorphic Geology.

In Press:

Gottardi, R., Teyssier, C., Mulch, A., Vennemann, T. W., Wells, M.L., in press, Preservation of an extreme transient geotherm in the Raft River detachment zone: Geology.

Published:

Kula, J., Tulloch, A.J., Spell, T.L., Wells, M.L., and Zanetti, K.A., 2009, Thermal evolution of the Sisters shear zone, southern New Zealand; Formation of the Great South Basin and onset of Pacific-Antarctic spreading, Tectonics, 28, TC5015, doi:10.1029/2008TC002368. Available .pdf

Druschke P., Hanson, A.D., Wells, M.L., 2009, Structural, stratigraphic, and geochronologic evidence for extension predating Paleogene volcanism in the Sevier hinterland, east-central Nevada: International Geology Review, v. 51, p. 743-775. Available .pdf

Druschke, P., Hanson, A.D., Wells, M.L., Rasbury, T., Stockli, D.F., and Gehrels, G., 2009, Synconvergent surface-breaking normal faults of Late Cretaceous age within the Sevier hinterland, east-central Nevada: Geology, v. 37, p. 447-450. Available .pdf

Wells, M.L., 2009, Geologic Map of the Kelton Pass Quadrangle, Box Elder County, Utah, and Cassia County, Idaho: Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 09-3, scales 1:12,000 and 1:24,000, 22 pp. Available .pdf

Hoisch, T.D., Wells, M.L., Grove, M., 2008, Age trends in garnet-hosted monazite inclusions from upper amphibolite facies schist in the northern Grouse Creek Mountains, Utah, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta doi:10.1016/j.gca.2008.08.012. Available .pdf

Wells, M.L., Hoisch, T.D., 2008, Delamination of mantle lithosphere as the cause of widespread Late Cretaceous extension and anatexis in the southwestern Cordilleran orogen: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 120, p. 515-530, doi: 10.1130/B26006.1. Available .pdf

Wells, M.L., Spell, T.L., Hoisch, T.D., Arriola, T., and Zanetti, K.A., 2008, Laserprobe 40Ar/39Ar dating of strain fringes: Mid-Cretaceous synconvergent orogen-parallel extension in the hinterland of the Sevier orogen: Tectonics, doi: 10.1029/2007TC002153. Available .pdf

Harris, C.R., Hoisch, T.D., and Wells, M.L., 2007, Construction of a composite pressure-temperature path: revealing the synorogenic burial and exhumation history of the Sevier hinterland, USA: Journal of Metamorphic Geology. Available .pdf

Kula, J.L., Tulloch, A., Spell, T.L., and Wells, M.L., 2007, Two-stage rifting of Zealandia - Australia - Antarctica: evidence from 40Ar/39ArAvailable .pdf thermochronometry of the Sisters shear zone, Stewart Island, New Zealand: Geology.

Wells, M.L., Beyene, M.A., Spell, T.L., Kula, J.L., Miller, D.M. and Zanetti, K.A., 2005, The Pinto shear zone, a Laramide synconvergent extensional shear zone in the Mojave Desert region of the southwestern United States: Journal of Structural Geology, v 27, pp 1697-1720. Available .pdf

Hoisch, T.D., Wells, M.L., and Hanson, L.M., 2002, Pressure-temperature paths from garnet zoning: Evidence for multiple episodes of thrust burial separated by exhumation in the hinterland of the Sevier orogenic belt: American Mineralogist, v. 87, p. 115-131. Available .pdf

Wells, M.L., 2001, Rheological control on the initial geometry of the Raft River detachment fault and shear zone, western United States: Tectonics, v. 20, p. 435-457.  Available .pdf

Abstracts (since 2006)

Wells, M.L., T.D. Hoisch, M.A. Beyene, J.D. Vervoort, 2011, Jurassic thrust burial in the Funeral Mountains of the Sevier retroarc: Linking P-T paths and Lu-Hf garnet geochronology, AGU Abstract, Fall meeting.

Wells, M.L., 2011, Eocene to Miocene history of the Middle Mountain shear zone system: GSA Abstracts with Programs.

Miller, D.M., Felger, T.J., Wells, M.L., Fleck, R.J., 2011, Paleogene hinterland to foreland topography: Eocene deposits of northwestern Utah: GSA Abstracts with Programs.

Langenheim, V.E., Miller, D.M., Felger, T.J., Wells, M.L., Willis, G.C., Clark, D.L., 2011, New aeromagnetic survey reveals widespread Quaternary and Neogene volcanic rocks and footwall structure in northwest Utah: GSA Abstracts with Programs.

Felger, T.J., Miller, D.M., Langenheim, V.C., Fleck, R.J., Perkins, M.E., Wells, M.L., 2011, Structural and volcanic evolution of southern Curlew Valley, northwest Utah: GSA Abstracts with Programs.

Hoisch, T.D., and Wells, M.L., 2011, An updated N-shaped pressure-temperature path from the Grouse Creek Mountains, Utah: And example of an orogenic cycle: GSA Abstracts with Programs.

Beyene, M., Wells, M.L., Stockli, D., Spell, T. L., and Hoisch, T. D., 2010, Late Cretaceous and Late Miocene motion on the Boundary Canyon Detachment Fault constrained by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and (U-Th)/He thermochronometry: Funeral Mountains, Death Valley:  Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 42, p. 459.

Kelly, E.D., Hoisch, T.D., Wells, M.L., 2009, Disequilibrium crystallization of garnet cores followed by equilibrium rim growth: Implications for determining pressure-temperature paths, Albion Mountains, Idaho: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Beyene, M.A., Wells, M.L., Hoisch, T.D., Vervoort, J.D. Styger, S., and Spell, T., 2009, Jurassic shortening and episodic extension in the Funeral Mountains core complex, Death Valley, southeastern California: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Wells, M.L., Hoisch, T.D., Cruz-Uribe, A.M., and, Vervoort, J.D., 2009, Geodynamics of synconvergent extension and tectonic mode switching: constraints from the Sevier-Laramide orogen: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Hoisch, T.D., Wells, M.L., 2008, Textural evidence from garnet schist for a major synorogenic exhumation event in the hinterland of the Sevier orogenic belt: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, p. 76.

Wells, M.L., 2008, Tectonic implications of Late Cretaceous extension and granite production in the Mojave Desert region:  Delamination of mantle lithosphere at the onset of the Laramide orogeny?: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, p. 48.

Wells, M.L., Hoisch, T.D., 2008, Multiple triggers for multiple episodes of synconvergent extension in the Sevier hinterland: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, p. 76.

Styger, S., Hoisch, T.D., and Wells, M.L., 2008, A preliminary metamorphic pressure-temperature path from the Funeral Mountains, California:  a record of thrusting and exhumation in the Sevier orogen: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, p. 94.

Druschke, P., Hanson, A.D., and Wells, M.L., 2008, Detrital zircon provenance of Cretaceous to Eocene strata in the Sevier hinterland, Central Nevada: Implications for tectonics and paleogeography: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, p. 78.

Mulch, Andreas, Chamberlain, C. Page, Teyssier, Christian, Wells, Michael L., Perkins, Michael E., 2007, Stable isotope paleoaltimetry in coupled basin-detachment systems of the North American Cordillera: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Cruz-Aribe, A., Hoisch, T.D., Wells, M.L., Vervoort, J., 2007, Adding the t to garnet P-T paths using the Lu-Hf method: Age constraints on thrusting and exhumation events in the hinterland of the Sevier orogen: AGU Annual Meeting, Abstract.

Wells, M.L., Spell, T.L., Arriola, T., and Hoisch, T.S., 2007, A mid-Cretaceous age for synconvergent orogen-parallel extension in the interior of the Sevier orogen constrained by laserprobe ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of strain fringes: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Druschke, P., Hanson, A.D., Wells, M.L., 2007, Late Cretaceous extensional collapse of the Sevier hinterland: Structural and stratigraphic evidence from the Sheep Pass Formation, east-central Nevada: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Brichau, S., Stockli, D.F., Wells, M.L., Dewane, T.J., Schroeder, J., and Hager, C., 2006, Thermochronometric constraints on the timing and geometry of extensional faulting in the Whipple and Iron Mountains, Colorado River extensional corridor: Fall AGU Meeting, Abstract.

Kula, J.L., Tulloch, A., Spell, T.L., and Wells, M.L., 2006, Thermochronometry of the Sisters shear zone, Stewart Island, New Zealand: Implications for driving mechanisms and multi-stage evolution of the breakup of Gondwana's margin: Fall AGU Meeting, Abstract.

Cosca, M.A., Mulch, A., Teyssier, C., Wells, M.L., and Chamberlain, C.P., 2006, Recovering the timing of mylonitization from coupled ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and hydrogen isotope data: 16th Annual V.M. Goldschmidt Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

Back to Menu

Students (Since 2000)

• Katrina Sauer, in progress, project to be determined [MS]

• Bryan Eleogram, in progress, Zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronometry of the Willard thrust sheet: constraints on timing and rates of thrust slip [MS]

• Michael Giallorenzo, in progress, The Application of Thermochronology to the Determination of Fault Timing in the Sevier Orogenic Belt, Western United States [PhD] ]

• Mengesha Beyene, in progress, Magnitude, timing, and rates of Mesozoic burial and Mesozoic-Cenozoic exhumation, Funeral Mountains, southeastern California [PhD]

• Tonia Arriola, 2008, Vorticity analysis of orogen-parallel flow, Grouse Creek Mountains, Utah [MS Thesis]

• Joseph Kula, 2007, Thermochronologic constraints on Mesozoic tectonism in southwest U.S. and New Zealand; and investigating muscovite stability and argon degassing behavior with implications for ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronology [PhD Dissertation]

• Jay Sheeley, 2001, Kinematics and timing of normal faulting in a metamorphic core complex, Grouse Creek Mountains, Utah [MS Thesis]

• Mengesha Beyene, 2000, Kinematics and timing of the Pinto shear zone, New York Mountains, northeastern Mojave Desert, California [MS Thesis]   

Back to Menu

External Committee Members (Since 2000)

• Alicia Cruz-Uribe (NAU), 2009, Pressure-temperature-time paths from garnet schists in the hinterland of the Sevier orogen: investigating the causes of synorogenic extension, Raft River Mountains, Utah [MS]

• Sheena Styger (NAU), 2009, Mechanisms of synconvergent extension as understood through pressure, temperature, time paths from the hinterland of the Sevier orogen, Funeral Mountains, southeastern California [MS]

• Eric Kelly (NAU), 2005, Thermochronology and P-T paths of the hanging wall to the Basin-Elba fault, Albion Mountains, southern Idaho [MS]

• Caroline Harris (NAU), 2004, Metamorphic petrology of the footwall of the Basin- Elba fault, Albion Mountains, southern Idaho [MS]

• Stephanie Dudash (NAU), 2001, Polymetamorphism of a 2.5 Ga schist in the Grouse Creek Mountains, northwestern Utah [MS]

Back to Menu