Research Interests:

Dr. Colleps is currently looking for motivated and enthusiastic graduate students to begin in the Fall of 2026. If interested, please do not hesitate to send along an email to discuss. 

Dr. Cody Colleps’ research is motivated by an ultimate goal to advance understandings of the mechanisms driving crustal exhumation at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and to reciprocally understand how distinct erosional events throughout deep-time have impacted elemental cycling within Earth’s dynamic system.

His primary research focus involves the application and further development of accessory mineral geo- and thermochronometry to track tectonic, climatic, and epeirogenic controls on crustal exhumation and sedimentation. He combines these techniques with field-based observations and advanced modelling approaches to assess a diverse array of geological problems, ranging from unravelling >1-billion-year burial and erosional evolutions from tectonically quiescent continental interiors, to tracking the impact of glacial erosion within modern glaciated landscapes over the past 1-10 million years.

Dr. Colleps’ ongoing geology-focused projects are on:

1. The exhumation of the Himalayas of NW India,
2. The dynamics of India-Asia collision,
3. The emplacement and erosion of the Deccan LIP,
4. The thermal histories of cratons, and
5. The erosional imprint of glaciers from the Neoproterozoic to the present.

He also maintains, and will further establish, projects on method-development, including efforts to advance techniques in:

1. ⁴He/³He thermochronology,
2. Proton/neutron irradiation of geological material,
3. Laser-ablation (U-Th)/He analyses, and
4. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating.

Dr. Colleps is always seeking new and exciting applications of these techniques—please feel free to reach out to discuss potential collaborations.

Select Publications

Colleps, C. L., van der Beek, P., Amalberti, J., Sobel, E., Tremblay, M., and Bernard, M., Evaluating the resolving power of apatite ⁴He/³He thermochronology: Insights from the Fish Canyon Tufff  (In Revision: Geology)

Bernard, M., van der Beek, P., Pedersen, V. K., and Colleps, C. L., 2025, Production and preservation of elevated low‐relief surfaces in mountainous landscapes by Pliocene‐Quaternary glaciations: AGU Advances: https://doi.org/10.1029/2024AV001610

Colleps, C. L., van der Beek, P., Amalberti, J., Denker, A., Tremblay, M. M., Bernard, M., Dittwald, A., and Bundesmann, J., 2024, Improving the efficiency of proton irradiations for ⁴He/³He Thermochronology: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GC011334

Colleps, C. L., McKenzie, N. R., Guenthner, W. R., Sharma, M., Gibson, T. M.,  and Stockli, D. F., 2021, Apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometric constraints on the northern extent of the Deccan large igneous province: Earth and Planetary Science Letters: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117087

Colleps, C. L., McKenzie, N. R., Horton, B. K., Webb, A. A. G., Ng, Y. W., and Singh, B. P., 2020, Sediment provenance of pre- and post-collisional Cretaceous-Paleogene strata from the frontal Himalaya of northwest India: Earth and Planetary Science Letters: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116079