Overview

Our research focuses primarily on brittle deformation of the upper crust, particularly during the last few hundred thousand to few million years. We are particularly interested in how short term deformation like earthquakes integrates over time to produce finite deformation like mountain belts. For the past twenty five years, we have used the Central Andes of South America as a natural laboratory to study these questions. Most recently, we have been using tension cracks in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile to determine whether large plate boundary earthquakes, on average, rupture the same segments each time. We are also inverting GPS velocity fields for instantaneous strain and rotation rates to compare with geological features. Such information is critical to seismic hazard evaluation. My teaching and particularly outreach are increasingly focused on communicating the perfect storm of energy and global warming bearing down on us.

Research Focus

Forearc Extension in a Strongly Coupled Subduction System, Northern Chile (NSF)

Research Focus

Co-evolution of Thin- and Thick-Skinned Deformation Associated with Flat Subduction (NSF)

Instruction Focus

Structural and Field Geology

Additional Links

• Richard Allmendinger's website

Honors, Awards and Appointments

• Sonny Yau Excellence in Teaching Award, Engineering College, Cornell University - 2003-2004

Professional Activities

• Keynote speaker, 19th Latin American Colloquium, GFZ Potsdam, Germany April 2005 - 2005
• Keynote speaker, Theory and Application of Fault-Related Folding in Foreland Basins, Beijing, China June 2005 - 2005

Selected Publications

• Allmendinger, R. W., Gonz?lez, G., Yu, J., Hoke, G. D. & Isacks, B. L. 2005. Trench-parallel shortening in the northern Chilean forearc: Tectonic & climatic implications. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117(1), 89-104.
• Allmendinger, R. W., Zapata, T. R., Manceda, R. & Dzelalija, F. 2004. Trishear kinematic modeling of structures, with examples from the Neuqu?n Basin, Argentina. In: Thrust tectonics and hydrocarbon Systems (edited by McClay, K.). AAPG Memoir 82. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, 356-371.
• Cristallini, E. O., Giambiagi, L. & Allmendinger, R. W. 2004. True 3-D trishear: A kinematic model for strike-slip and oblique-slip deformation. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 116, p. 938-952.
• Cardozo, N., Bawa-Bhalla, K., Zehnder, A. T. & Allmendinger, R. W. 2003. Mechanical models of fault propagation folds and comparison to the trishear kinematic model. Journal of Structural Geology 25(1), 1-18.
• Allmendinger, R. W. & Shaw, J. H. 2000. Estimation of fault propagation distance from fold shape: Implications for earthquake seismicity. Geology 28(12), 1099-1102.
• Allmendinger, R. W. 1998. Inverse and forward numerical modeling of trishear fault-propagation folds. Tectonics 17(4), 640-656.
• Allmendinger, R. W., Isacks, B. L., Jordan, T. E. & Kay, S. M. 1997. The evolution of the Altiplano-Puna plateau of the Central Andes. Annual Reviews of Earth Science 25, 139-174.
• Allmendinger, R. W. 1992. Chapter 13: Thrust and fold tectonics of the western United States exclusive of the accreted terranes. In: The Cordilleran orogen; Conterminous U. S. (edited by Burchfiel, B. C., Lipman, P. & Zoback, M. L.). The Geology of North America G3. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, 583-607.
• Allmendinger, R. W. 1992. Chapter 13: Thrust and fold tectonics of the western United States exclusive of the accreted terranes. In: The Cordilleran orogen; Conterminous U. S. (edited by Burchfiel, B. C., Lipman, P. & Zoback, M. L.). The Geology of North America G3. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, 583-607.
• Allmendinger, R. W., Sharp, J. W., Von Tish, D., Serpa, L., Kaufman, S., Oliver, J. & Smith, R. B. 1983b. Cenozoic and Mesozoic structure of the eastern Basin and Range Province, Utah, from COCORP seismic reflection data. Geology 11, 532-536.
• Allmendinger, R. W., Ramos, V. A., Jordan, T. E., Palma, M. & Isacks, B. L. 1983a. Paleogeography and Andean structural geometry, northwest Argentina. Tectonics 2, 1-16.

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