Current Research Interests

My research interests lie in understanding the tectonic evolution of the crust and the geologic processes that form orogens (mountain belts) and shape landscapes on Earth. In essence, much of my research involves determining when, how and why orogenic belts form. I presently work in a variety of tectonic environments including extensional (West Antarctic rift system/Transantarctic Mountains, Basin and Range Province, Papua New Guinea) and convergent (Pyrenees, central Alaska Range) systems.

The main tool used in my research has been low temperature thermochronology, typically apatite fission track thermochronology, but now also apatite (U-Th)/He dating. These methods are used to determine exhumation histories across orogens or in extensional terranes that allows one to determine the timing, amount and rate of exhumation and to use that information to better understand fundamental geologic processes. These studies are undertaken with the collaboration of colleagues, often other thermochronologists, structural geologists and geophysicists, and of course students.

 

 

Courses

• Earth Sciences (EAR 105)
• Structural Geology (EAR 333)
• Plate Tectonics (EAR 431/631)
• Thermochronology (EAR 444/644)
• Research seminars on tectonics, thermochronology, (U-Th)/He dating, Active tectonics of New Zealand, Tectonic evolution of Antarctica, Continental extensional tectonics, Active Tectonics
• Earth sciences, exploration and extreme environments (HNR 100 Honors seminar)

 

 

Students

Perry, Stephanie (PhD) Riccio, Steve (MSc) Taylor, Josh (PhD)

 

 

Laboratory Facilities

Fission track laboratory
Includes a number of research microscopes, digital camera systems, picking microscope, Macintosh computers, PC's and a ARC-GIS dedicated PC. Grinding and polishing equipment.

Syracuse University Noble Gas Isotopic Research Laboratory
* Helium extraction line for (U-Th)/He Thermochronology

Mineral separation lab with LB-1 Frantz magnetic separator, heavy liquids, fume hoods etc.

 

 

Publications last 5 years

Fitzgerald, P. G., E. M. Duebendorfer, J. E Faulds, and P. O'Sullivan (2009), South Virgin–White Hills detachment fault system of SE Nevada and NW Arizona: Applying apatite fission track thermochronology to constrain the tectonic evolution of a major continental detachment fault, Tectonics, 28, TC2001, doi:10.1029/2007TC002194.

Miller, S.R., Fitzgerald, P.G., and Baldwin, S.L., in review. Cenozoic faulting, uplift, and denudation of the central Transantarctic Mountains near the Shackleton Glacier. Tectonics.

Swaney, Z.A., Duebendorfer, E.M., Fitzgerald, P.G., and W.C. McIntosh, in press 2009. Dismembered Core Complex Model for the Eastern Lake Mead Area, Southern Nevada and Northwestern Arizona: Geological Society of America Special Paper on Miocene extension in the Lake Mead region.

Webb, L.E., S.L. Baldwin, T.A. Little and P.G. Fitzgerald, 2008. A microplate rotation model for subduction eversion. Geology. 36(10), p. 823–826; doi: 10.1130/G25134A.1.

Redfield, T.F., D.W. Scholl, P.G. Fitzgerald and M.E. Beck, 2007. The extrusion of Alaska, past, present and future. Geology 35(11), 1039-1042; doi: 10.1130/G23799A.1.

Fitzgerald, P.G. and S.L. Baldwin, 2007. Thermochronologic constraints on Jurassic rift flank denudation in the Thiel Mountains, Antarctica, in Antarctica: A keystone in a Changing World - Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES, edited by A. K. Cooper and C. R. Raymond et al., USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Short Research Paper 044, 4 p.; doi10.3133/of2007-1047.srp044. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1047/.

Bialas, R.W., W.R. Buck, M. Studinger and P.G. Fitzgerald,, 2007. Plateau Collapse Model for the Transantarctic Mountains / West Antarctic Rift System: Insights from Numerical Experiments. Geology 35(8), 687-690; doi: 10.1130/G23825A.

Monteleone, B.D., S.L. Baldwin, L.E. Webb, P.G. Fitzgerald, M. Grove and A.K. Schmitt, 2007. Late Miocene-Pliocene eclogite-facies metamorphism, D'Entrecastreaux Islands, SE Papua New Guinea. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 25, 245-265.

Baldwin, S.L., T. Rawling and P.G. Fitzgerald, 2006. Thermochronology of the New Caledonia high pressure terrane: Implications of mid-Tertiary plate boundary in processes in the southwest Pacific, in Convergent Margin Terranes and Associated Regions: A Tribute to W.G. Ernst, Geological of America Special Paper 419, Editors M. Cloos, W. D. Carlson, M. C. Gilbert, J. G. Liou, and S. S. Sorensen, p. 117-134.

Little, T.A., S.L. Baldwin, P.G. Fitzgerald and B. Monteleone, 2007. A young metamorphic core complex on Normanby Island, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, Papua New Guinea: Continental rifting processes near the Woodlark spreading ridge. Tectonics, 26, TC1002, doi: 10.1029/2005TC001911.

Studinger, M., R.E. Bell, P.G. Fitzgerald and W.R. Buck, 2006. Crustal architecture of the Transantarctic Mountains between the Scott and Reedy Glacier region and South Pole from aerogeophysical data. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 250, 182-199, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.07.035.

Fitzgerald, P.G., S.L. Baldwin, L.E. Webb and P.B. O'Sullivan, 2006. Interpretation of (U-Th)/He single grain ages from slowly cooled crustal terranes: A case study from the Transantarctic Mountains of southern Victoria Land. Chemical Geology, 225, 91-120.

Gallagher, K., J. Stephenson, R, Brown, C. Holmes and P.G. Fitzgerald, 2005. Low temperature thermochronology and modeling strategies for multiple samples 1: Vertical profiles. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 237, p. 193-208.

Baldwin, S.L. B. Monteleone, L.E. Webb, P.G. Fitzgerald, M. Grove and E.J. Hill, 2004. Pliocene eclogite exhumation at plate tectonic rates in eastern Papua New Guinea, Nature. 431, 263-267.

Batt, G.E., S.L. Baldwin, Cottam, P.G. Fitzgerald and M. Brandon, 2004. Cenozoic plate boundary evolution in the South Island of New Zealand: New thermochronological constraints, Tectonics, 23(4), TC4001, 10.1029/2003TC001527.

Siddoway, C.S., S.L. Baldwin, P.G. Fitzgerald, C.M. Fanning and B.P. Luyendyk, 2004. Ross Sea mylonites and the timing of intracontinental extension within the West Antarctic rift system: Geology, 32(1), 57-60.

Selected papers from earlier years

Fitzgerald, P.G., 2002. Tectonics and landscape evolution of the Antarctic plate since Gondwana breakup, with an emphasis on the West Antarctic rift system and the Transantarctic Mountains. In: Gamble, J.A.; Skinner, D.N.B.; Henrys, S. Eds., Antarctica at the close of a Millennium. Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Science. The Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin 35: p. 453-469.

Fitzgerald, P.G., J.A. Muñoz, P.J. Coney and S.L. Baldwin, 1999. Asymmetric exhumation across the Pyrenean orogen: implications for the tectonic evolution of collisional orogens, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 173, 157-170.

Fitzgerald, P. G., and E. Stump, 1997. Cretaceous and Cenozoic episodic denudation of the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica: New Constraints from apatite fission track thermochronology in the Scott Glacier region, Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 7747-7765.

Fitzgerald P.G. and S.L. Baldwin, 1997. Detachment Fault Model for the Evolution of the Ross Embayment. In: Ricci C.A. (ed.), The Antarctic Region: Geological Evolution and Processes, Terra Antartica Publication, Siena, 555-564.

Fitzgerald, P.G., R.B. Sorkhabi, T.F. Redfield and E. Stump, 1995. Uplift and denudation of the central Alaska Range: A case study in the use of apatite fission-track thermochronology to determine absolute uplift parameters, Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, 20175-20191.

Fitzgerald, P.G, 1994. Thermochronologic constraints on post-Paleozoic tectonic evolution of the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica, Tectonics, 13, 818-836.

Fitzgerald, P.G., S.J. Reynolds, E. Stump, D.A. Foster and A.J.W. Gleadow, 1994. Thermochronologic evidence for timing of denudation and rate of crustal extension of the South Mountains metamorphic core complex and Sierra Estrella, Arizona, Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements, 21, 555-563.

Redfield, T.F. and P.G. Fitzgerald, 1993. The Denali fault system of southern Alaska: An interior strike-slip structure responding to opposing inter-plate relative motions Tectonics, 12, 1195-1208.

Fitzgerald, P.G., E. Stump and T.F. *Redfield, 1993. Late Cenozoic uplift of Denali and its relation to relative plate motion and fault morphology. Science, 259, 497-499.

Fitzgerald, P.G., and E. Stump, 1992. Early Cretaceous uplift in the southern Sentinel Range, Ellsworth Mountains, West Antarctica. in Recent Progress in Antarctic Earth Science, Y. Yoshida, K. Kaminuma and K. Shiraishi (Editors), pp. 331-340, TERRAPUB, Tokyo.

Fitzgerald, P.G., 1992. The Transantarctic Mountains in southern Victoria Land: The application of apatite fission track analysis to a rift-shoulder uplift. Tectonics, 11, 634-662.

Paul, T. A., and P.G. Fitzgerald, 1992. Transmission electron microscopy investigation of fission tracks in fluorapatite: American Mineralogist, 77, 336-344.

Stump, E., and P.G. Fitzgerald, 1992. Episodic uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains. Geology, 20, 161-164.

Fitzgerald, P.G., and E. Stump, 1991. Early Cretaceous uplift in the Ellsworth Mountains of West Antarctica. Science 254, 92-94.

Fitzgerald, P.G., J.E. Fryxell and B.P. Wernicke, 1991. Miocene crustal extension and uplift in southeastern Nevada: Constraints from apatite fission track analysis. Geology, 19, 1013-1016.

Fitzgerald, P.G. and A.J.W. Gleadow, 1990. New approaches in fission track geochronology as a tectonic tool: Examples from the Transantarctic Mountains. Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements, 17, 351-357.

Fitzgerald, P.G. and A.J.W. Gleadow, 1988. Fi

ssion track geochronology, tectonics and structure of the Transantarctic Mountains in Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, Isotope Geoscience, 73, 169-198. Gleadow, A.J.W. and P.G. Fitzgerald, 1987. Tectonic history and structure of the Transantarctic Mountains: New evidence from fission track dating in the Dry Valleys area of southern Victoria Land, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 82, 1-14.

Fitzgerald, P.G., M. Sandiford, P.J. Barrett and A.J.W. Gleadow, 1986. Asymmetric extension in the Transantarctic Mountains and Ross Embayment, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 81, 67-78.

 

 

Education
1987 Ph.D., Geology, University of Melbourne, Australia
1982 B. Sc. (Hons.) Geology, First Class, First Place, V.U.W.
1981 Transitional Certificate in Geology, V. U. W.
1980 B. Sc., Zoology, Victoria University of Wellington (V.U.W.), New Zealand

Professional Experience
2008-present Professor, Syracuse University
2000-2008 Associate Professor, Syracuse University
2006 (Feb-May) Visiting Scientist, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, New York
2005 (Feb-May) Visiting Scientist, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
1998-2000 Associate Research Scientist, University of Arizona
1997-1998 Science Strategy Manager, Antarctica New Zealand
1993-1996 Associate Research Scientist, University of Arizona
1990-1993 Faculty Research Associate, Arizona State University
1988-1989 Post Doctoral Research Associate, Arizona State University
1983-1987 Research assistant, teaching assistant, Department of Geology, University of Melbourne, Australia
1982-1983 Amoco Minerals (New Zealand Limited); Geologist

Professional Affiliations
Geological Society of America (Fellow, 2005)
American Geophysical Union
New Zealand Antarctic Society
The Antarctican Society
Geological Society of New Zealand
Geochemical Society