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

Heumann, M.J., Johnson, C.L., Webb, L.E., 2017, Plate interior polyphase fault systems and sedimentary basin evolution: Case study of the East Gobi Basin and East Gobi Fault Zone, southeastern Mongolia, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, in press.

Selected Publications

  • Webber, J.R., Klepeis, K.A., Webb, L.E., Cembrano, J., Morata, D., Mora-Klepeis, G., and Arancibia, G., 2015, Deformation and magma transport in a crystallizing plutonic complex, Coastal Batholith, central Chile, Geosphere, Vol. 11, No. 5., p. 1401-1426.
  • 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.
  • 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., Johnson, C.L., and Minjin, C., 2010, Late Triassic sinistral shear in the East Gobi Fault Zone, Mongolia, Tectonophysics, v. 495, p. 246-255, doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2010.09.033.
  • 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.
  • Webb, L.E., and Johnson, C.L., 2006, Tertiary strike-slip faulting in southeastern Mongolia and implications for Asian tectonics, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 241, p. 323–335.
Laura Webb

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.

Contact

Email:

Laura.Webb@uvm.edu

Phone:
  • (802) 656--8136
Office Location:

Delehanty Hall, Room 217

Website(s):
  1. Laura's website