Jennifer Matzel

Jenny Matzel received a BS in Geological Sciences from Saint Norbert College, DePere, WI, in 1995, an MS degree in Geological Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999 and a PhD in Geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004. Her PhD research focused on determining rates of tectonic and magmatic processes in the Cretaceous North Cascades continental magmatic arc. Her primary tools for this research were U-Pb ID-TIMS (isotope dilution – thermal ionization mass spectrometry) and 40Ar/39Ar geo- and thermochronology. This research gave new insights into the episodic nature of magma emplacement in a continental magmatic arc and investigated different mechanisms of magma chamber growth. Her research also constrained the timescales of large vertical displacements of crust within an arc setting as a result of thrusting and contractional deformation.

Her current research continues to address the timescales and mechanisms by which plutons are constructed at various depths within the crust and the consequent development of internal chemical, isotopic and rheologic contacts. With collaborators at the University of Southern California and San Jose State University, her primary field area is the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, California. Potential new aspects of this research include using the isotopic record from datable accessory minerals to track changes in magma chemistry, and comparing the detailed history of magma emplacement in a pluton with the timescales of volcanic eruption.

Deciphering the magmatic history of continental magmatic arcs, in general, and the growth history of individual intrusions, in particular, are critical to developing models that describe the complex history of magma generation, segregation and transport through the crust. The compositional heterogeneity that develops as a result of the heat and mass exchange between magmas ascending from the mantle through the filter of pre-existing crust is the principle mechanism of crustal growth. Because magmatism is an efficient heat transfer mechanism, obtaining long-term rates of magma emplacement are necessary to describe the thermal structure of an arc and to evaluate the rheological implications of heat and mass transfer processes.

Selected Publications

Papers

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., and Miller, R. B., 2006, Timescales of pluton construction at differing crustal levels: Examples from the Mount Stuart batholith and Tenpeak pluton, North Cascades, WA: GSA Bulletin, v. 118, no. 11/12, p. 1412-1430, doi:10.1130/B25923.1.

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., and Miller, R. B., 2004, Protolith age of the Swakane Gneiss, North Cascades, Washington: Evidence of rapid underthrusting of sediments beneath an arc, Tectonics, v. 23, TC6009, doi: 10.1029/2003TC001577.

Miller, R. B., Matzel, J., Paterson, S. R., and Stowell, H., 2003, Cretaceous to Paleogene Cascades Arc: Structure, metamorphism, and timescales of magmatism, burial, and exhumation of a crustal section, in Swanson, T. W., ed., Western Cordillera and Adjacent Areas: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, p. 107-135.

Farmer, G. L., Bowring, S. A., Matzel, J., Espinosa Maldonado, G., Fedo, C., and Wooden, J. L., 2005, Paleoproterozoic Mojave province in northwestern Mexico? Isotopic and U/Pb zircon geochronologic studies of Precambrian and Cambrian crystalline and sedimentary rocks, Caborca, Sonora, in Anderson, T. H., Nourse, J. A., McKee, J. W., and Steiner, M. B., eds., The Mojave-Sonora Megashear hypothesis: development, assessment, and alternatives: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, p. 183-198.

Farmer, G. L., Bowring, S. A., Williams, M. L., Christensen, N. I., Matzel, J., and Stevens, L. M., 2004, Contrasting lower crustal evolution across an Archean-Proterozoic suture: Physical, chemical and geochronologic studies of lower crustal xenoliths in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado, in Karlstrom, K. E., and Keller, R. G., eds., The Rocky Mountain Region: An Evolving Lithosphere, AGU Monograph 154.

Selected Abstracts

Matzel, J., Mundil, R., Paterson, S., Renne, P., and Nomade, S., 2005, Evaluating pluton growth models using high precision geochronology: Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, Sierra Nevada, CA, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, no. 7, p. 131.

Matzel, J., S.A. Bowring, R.B. Miller, and S.R. Paterson, 2004, Temporal evolution of mid-crustal sheeted intrusions: Evidence from U-Pb geochronology of the Tenpeak, Entiat and Seven-Fingered Jack intrusive suites, North Cascades, WA, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 36, no. 5, p. 342.

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., and Miller, R. B., 2003, Nd isotopic signatures of granitoid plutons across the crystalline core of the North Cascades, Washington: Implications for the tectonic evolution of a magmatic arc: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 35, no. 6, p. 306.

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., and Miller, R. B., 2003, Geochronologic and isotopic constraints on arc dynamics, North Cascades, WA: EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting Supplement, v. 84, p. Abstract V32F-06.

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., and Miller, R. B., 2002, Geochronologic evidence of a Late Cretaceous protolith age for the Swakane Gneiss, North Cascades, WA: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 34, p. 105.

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., and Miller, R. B., 2002, Timescales of pluton construction and the crystallization history of the Mt Stuart Batholith, North Cascades, WA: EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting Supplement, v. 83, p. T11E-09.

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., Williams, M. L., Stevens, L. M., and Farmer, G. L., 2001, Constraints on lithospheric structure from geochronology of crustal xenoliths (S. Wyoming and N. Colorado): EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting Supplement, v. 82, p. S61A-13.

Matzel, J., Bowring, S. A., Stevens, L. M., Williams, M. L., and Farmer, G. L., 2000, U-Pb geochronology of lower crustal xenoliths from across the Cheyenne Belt, S. Wyoming and N. Colorado: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 32, p. 387.