The College of Arts and Sciences

Edward Milde

MS Student Earth Sciences

Advisor: Paul Fitzgerald

Research and Teaching Interests

I am currently working on understanding the time-temperature history of the Totschunda fault system in south-central Alaska by studying the apatite fission track ages and (U/Th)/He ages of granitoid rocks from the region.  The Totschunda fault system is a direct ancillary fault associated with the significantly larger Denali fault system which bounds much of southeastern and south-central Alaska.  The Totschunda fault is of particular interest because very little data about the developmental, structural and temperature-related history of the system exists.  

I traveled into the Wrangell-St. Elias national park in the summer of 2012 to collect samples for my thesis from several sites located on either side of the Totschunda fault.  It is my goal to have these samples processed and dated by the end of the summer of 2013.  This project is in collaboration with Dr. Jeffrey Benowitz (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) who will be determining the K-Ar dates of several of the samples in order to develop a sufficiently comprehensive time-temperature history of the region.  

Teaching

EAR 333 Structural Geology: Earth Science Fall 2012