Jaime Toro

PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, ASSOCIATE CHAIR for GEOLOGY

Zircon Geochronology of Middle Devonian (Tioga) Ash Beds in the Marcellus Shale, Tectonic Evolution of Chukotka (NE Russia), Intelligent Systems Approach to Reservoir Characterization, Fault-related gas reservoirs in the Appalachian Foreland.

Education

B.S. Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 1985
M.S. Geology, University of Arizona, 1989
Ph.D. Geology, Stanford University, 1998

Research

Recently I have been investigating the Paleozoic and Mesozoic tectonic evolution of Northern Alaska and the Arctic region in general. I enjoy exploring the geology of the remote northern mountain belts. In the last few summers I have been doing field work along the rivers that drain Alaska’s Brooks Range. With my students and collaborators, we map and sample for geochronology, thermochronology and paleothermometry in order to unravel the history of the assembly of Northern Alaska. I have also lead projects on the structure and evolution of the Appalachian fold-and-thrust-belt and the Appalachian basin. I am starting a new project in collaboration with Stockholm University and the USGS to study the evolution of the Koyukuk basin, located south of the Brooks Range.

Teaching

GEOL 341: Structural Geology
GEOL 373: Petroleum Geology
GEOL 404: Field Camp
GEOL 543: Tectonics
GEOL 645: Basin Analysis

Recent Publications

Gaschot, B.*, Toro, J., In Review, Application of Airborne Lidar to 3D Structural Mapping.

Robinson, F.A., Toro, J. and Pease, V., 2018, U-Pb and oxygen isotope characteristics of Timanian- and Caledonian-age detrital zircons from the Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska, USA. GSA Bulletin ; 131 (9-10): 1459–1479. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B35036.1

Johnson*, B.G., Strauss, J.V., Toro, J., Benowitz, J. A., Ward, W., Hourigan, J.K., 2016, Detrital geochronology of pre-Mississipian strata in the northeastern Brooks Range, Alaska: Insights into the tectonic evolution of northern Laurentia, Lithosphere, 8, 649-667, doi:10.1130/L533.1

Toro J., E.L. Miller , A.V. Prokopiev, X. Zhang & R. Veselovskiy, 2016, Mesozoic Orogens of the Arctic from Novaya Zemlya to Alaska, Journal of the Geological Society, 173 (6), 989-1006, doi:10.1144/jgs2016-083

Amato, J.M., J. Toro, V.V. Akinin, B.A. Hampton, A. S. Salnikov, and M.I. Tuchkova, 2015, Tectonic evolution of the Mesozoic South Anyui suture zone, eastern Russia: A critical component of paleogeographic reconstructions of the Arctic region, Geosphere, v. 11, n.5, p. 1- 35, doi:10.1130/GES01165.1

*Indicates J. Toro’s students.