Faculty

Jane Pedrick Dawson

Senior Lecturer
Metamorphic Petrology

153 Science I
Dept. of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
Phone: (515) 294-6302
Email: jpdawson@iastate.edu

Education
B.S. Iowa State University, 1983
M.S. Iowa State University, 1986
Ph.D. University of New Mexico, 1995
 
Research Interests
I am presently working with Carl Jacobson on tectonic problems involving the Pelona, Orocopia, and Rand Schists (POR) in California. The POR schists are thought to be part of a subduction complex accreted beneath the Mojave Desert/Transverse Ranges during low-angle subduction related to the Laramide orogeny, but the mechanisms involved in their emplacement are poorly understood. Recent ion-microprobe dating of detrital zircons in the POR schists by Jacobson and others indicates latest Cretaceous-early Tertiary ages for the protoliths, suggesting the Mojave Desert/Transverse Ranges area as a source region. This study also revealed a systematic variation in detrital zircon suites with respect to time and position, which can be used to further constrain emplacement and uplift models. Current research focuses on analyzing detrital zircons from Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary sedimentary rocks in southern and coastal California to document disruption of the arc-forearc-trench belts and evolution of drainage systems during the Laramide orogeny.

I am also evaluating the thermobarometric history of the schist of Portal Ridge from southern California, thought to be correlative with the POR schists. While POR schists typically exhibit greenschist to lower amphibolite facies metamorphism, the schist of Portal Ridge appears to have been metamorphosed at higher temperatures and may have a different emplacement history than other POR schist bodies.

I am also interested in continuing research started during my PhD, specifically understanding the Proterozoic metamorphic and tectonic evolution of the Southwest, particularly northern New Mexico. My work there involves integrating field relationships, metamorphic data, microstructural analysis, and geochronology to construct P-T-t-D histories for Proterozoic terranes. I am working with Paul Spry on the geochemistry of Proterozoic marker horizons with distinctive manganese mineralization in northern New Mexico to determine their depositional/tectonic environment.

Teaching
Geology 100 – The Earth
Geology 306/506 – Geology Field Trip
Geology 311 Lab – Mineralogy and Crystallography
Geology 355 – Structural Geology
Geology 365 Lab – Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Petrology
 
Selected Refeered Publications
Williams, M. L., Karlstrom, K. E., Lanzirotti, A., Read, A., Bishop, J. L., Lombardi, C. E., Pedrick, J. N., & Wingsted, M. B., 1999. New Mexico middle-crustal cross sections: 1.65-Ga macroscopic geometry, 1.4-Ga thermal structure, and continued problems in understanding crustal evolution. Rocky Mountain Geology, v. 34, no. 1, 53-66.

Pedrick, J. N., Karlstrom, K. E., and Bowring, S. A., 1998. Reconciliation of conflicting tectonic models for Proterozoic rocks of northern New Mexico. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 16, 687-707.

Pedrick, J. N., Thompson, A. G., and Gieselman, H. H., 1998. Anomalous tectonism and metamorphism in Proterozoic rocks at Comanche Point, Taos Range, northern New Mexico. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol. 30, no. 7, p. 96.

Daniel, C. G., Karlstrom, K. E., Williams, M. L., and Pedrick, J. N., 1995. The Reconstruction of a Middle Proterozoic Orogenic Belt in North-Central New Mexico, U.S.A., New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, vol. 46, pp. 193-200.