Laura Webb

Associate Professor

Teaching and Research

I am a field-based geologist with research interests in large-scale tectonic problems that are addressed through collaborative research and focused, process-related studies. In addition to structural geology and petrology, one of my main tools is radiometric dating of rocks and minerals to quantify absolute timing of events and rates of processes. I direct the 40Ar/39Ar geochronology laboratory here at UVM. My students and I integrate observations over a large range of scales from microstructures to regional geological and geophysical data sets, and employ a suite of methodologies to evaluate P-T-t-D histories and the 4D evolution of rocks and regions.

I teach courses in geochronology, petrology, microstructural analysis and tectonics. In the classroom and in practice, my students and I integrate analytical data with observations made at microscopic to continental scales to try and understand how rocks and regions evolve in space and time and the tectonic processes that shape them.

Publications

Recent Publication

Klepeis, K.A., Webb, L.E., Blatchford, H.J., Jongens, R., Turnbull, R., and Schwartz, J.J., 2019, The age and origin of Miocene–Pliocene fault reactivations in the upper plate of an incipient subduction zone, Puysegur Margin, New Zealand. Tectonics, v. 38, doi.org/10.1029/2019TC005674.
Klepeis, K.A., Webb, L.E., Blatchford, H., Schwartz, J., Jongens, R., Turnbull, R., and Stowell, H., 2019, Deep slab collision during Miocene subduction causes uplift along crustal-scale reverse faults in Fiordland, New Zealand. GSA Today, v. 29. doi.org/10.1130/GSATG399A.1.
Brombin, V., Bonadiman, C., Jourdan, F., Roghi, G., Coltori, M., Webb, L.E., Callegaro, S., Bellieni, G., De Vecchi, G., Sedea, R., Marzoli, A., 2019, Intraplate magmatism at a convergent plate boundary: the case of the Cenozoic northern Adria magmatism. Earth-Science Reviews, v. 162, p. 355-378.
Webb, L.E., and Klepeis, K.A., 2019, 40Ar/39Ar constraints on the Tectonic evolution of the Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic accretionary complex of coastal Central Chile. Book chapter in Horton, B., and Folguera, A. eds. Andean Tectonics; Elsevier.

Selected Publications

Cordova, J.L., Mulcahy, S.R., Schermer, E.R., and Webb, L.E., 2018, Subduction initiation and early evolution of the Easton Metamorphic Suite, Northwest Cascades, Washington. Lithosphere, v. 11, no. 1, p. 44-58, doi.org/10.1130/L1009.1.
Webb, L.E., Baldwin, S.L. and Fitzgerald, P.G., 2014, The Early–Middle Miocene subduction complex of the Louisiade Archipelago, southern margin of the Woodlark Rift. Geophysics, Geochemistry, Geosystems, doi: 10.1002/2014GC005500.
Heumann, M.J., Johnson, C.L., Webb, L.E., Taylor, J.P., Jalbaa, U., and Minjin, C., 2014, Total and incremental left-lateral displacement across the East Gobi Fault Zone, southern Mongolia: implications for timing and modes of polyphase intracontinental deformation, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 392, p. 1-15, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.01.016.
Ashley, K.T., Webb, L.E., Spear, F.S., and Thomas, J.B., 2013, P-T-D histories from quartz: A case study of the application of the TitaniQ thermobarometer to progressive fabric development in metapelites, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 14, doi: 10.1002/ggge.20237.
Baldwin, S.L., Fitzgerald, P.G., and Webb, L.E., 2012, Tectonics of the New Guinea region, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 40, p. 495-520, doi: 10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-15254.
Webb, L.E., Baldwin, S.L., Little, T.A., and Fitzgerald, P.G., 2008, Can microplate rotation drive subduction inversion? Geology, v. 36, p. 823–826.
Hacker, B.R., Ratschbacher, L., Webb, L.E., McWilliams, M., Calvert, A., Dong, S., Wenk, H.-R., and Chateigner, D., 2000. Exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure rocks in the Dabie-Hong'an area: Late Triassic-Early Jurassic tectonic unroofing, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 105, p. 13,339–13,364.

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Tectonics and Thermochronology

Education

BS in Geology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1994.
PhD in Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, 1999.
40Ar/39Ar Laboratory Manager, Department of Mineralogy, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 1999–2000.
Syracuse University Noble Gas Isotopic Research Laboratory Manager, Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 2000–2008.
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, June 2004–2008.