Ann Blythe

Adjunct Professor
Department of Geology
Occidental College
Los Angeles, CA 90041
e-mail: ablythe@oxy.edu
phone: 323-259-2553

Education

B.S. Cornell U., Biology
M.S. U. of Penn., Geology
Ph.D. Cornell U., Geology

Research Interests

I am interested in studying a variety of geological problems involving tectonics, structure, and geomorphology. My research primarily focuses on projects which use low-temperature thermochronologic methods (fission-track and (U-Th)/He analyses). I have worked on projects in Alaska (the Brooks Range), the Himalaya (Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet), the Andes (Bolivia and Argentina), California (San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains and the SAFOD project), and Spitsbergen. I am currently working with Audrey Huerta of Central Washington University on a project on the formation of the Transantarctic Mountains.

Antarctica 2009 (the NIPSWAP team): from left, Occidental College undergraduates Meilani Bowman-Kamaha'o and Stephanie Kay, and PIs Audrey Huerta (CWU) and Ann Blythe.

Teaching

At Occidental College, I have taught Physical Geology, Introduction to Field Methods, Mineralogy, Geomorphology, Structural Geology, and Hydrogeology, and have advised the following Senior Research Projects:

Meilani Bowman Kamaha’o (in progress): British Columbia
Zachary Martin (in progress): San Jacinto fault strands
Elizabeth Brown (2008- 2009): Alps, Mongolia, and Colorado Plateau
Nicole Longinotti (2007-2008): Tehachapis
Sean Bowen (2006-2007): British Columbia

Publications since 2000:

Schmidt, K.L., Paterson, S.R., Blythe, A.E., and Kopf, C., in press, Mountain building across a lithospheric boundary during arc construction: the Cretaceous Peninsular Ranges batholith in the Sierra San Pedro Martir of Baja California, Mexico, Tectonics.

Blythe, A.E., Burbank, D.W., Carter, A., Schmidt, K., and Putkonen, J., 2007, Plio-Quaternary exhumation history of the central Nepalese Himalaya: 1. Apatite and zircon fission-track and apatite [U-Th]/He analyses. Tectonics, v. 26, doi:10.1029/2006TC001990.

Whipp, D., Ehlers, T., Blythe, A.E., Burbank, D., 2007, Plio-Quaternary exhumation history of the central Nepalese Himalaya: 2. Thermo-kinematic model of thermochronometer exhumation: Tectonics, v. 26, doi:10.1029/2006TC001991.

Safran, E.B., Blythe, A.E., and Dunne, T., 2006, Long-term erosion patterns in the Cordillera Real, Bolivian Andes, Journal of Geology, v. 114, p. 665-681.

Huntington, K., Blythe, A.E., and Hodges, K.V., 2006, Climate change and Late Pliocene acceleration of erosion in the Himalaya: EPSL, v. 252, 107-118.

Lee, J., McClelland, W., Wang, Y., Blythe, A.E., and McWilliams, M., 2006, Oligocene-Miocene middle crustal flow in southern Tibet: Geochronology of Mabja Dome, Geological Society of London Special Publication 268: Channel Flow, Ductile Extrusion and Exhumation in Continental Collision Zones, p. 445-470.

Grujic, D., Coutand, I., Bookhagen, B., Bonnet, S., Blythe, A., and Duncan, C., 2006, Climatic forcing of erosion, landscape, and tectonics in the Bhutan Himalayas, Geology, v. 34, p. 801-804, doi: 10.1130/G22648.1.

Sisson, V.B., Avé Lallemant, H.G., Ostos, M., Blythe, A.E., Snee, L.W., Copeland, P., Wright, J.E., Donelick, R.A., and Guth, L.R., 2005, Overview of radiometric ages of northern Venezuela: Old ones, new ones, and their impact on regional geology, submitted to: Avé Lallemant, H.G., and Sisson, V.B., Carribean/South American Plate Interactions, Venezuela, GSA Special Paper 394, p. 91-117, doi:10.1130/2005.2394(03).

Blythe, A.E., d’Alessio, M., and Bürgmann, R., 2004, Constraining the exhumation and burial history of the SAFOD pilot hole with fission track and (U-Th)/He thermochronometry. Geophysical Research Letters, v.31, L15516, doi:10.1029/2003GLO19407.

Burbank, D.W., Blythe, A.E., Putkonen, J., Pratt-Sitaula, B., Gabet, E., Oskin, M., Barros, A., and Ohja, T., 2003, Decoupling of erosion and precipitation in the Himalayas: Nature, v. 426, pp. 652-655.

d’Alessio, M., Blythe, A.E., and Bürgmann, R., 2003, No frictional heat along the San Gabriel fault, California: Evidence from fission track thermochronology: Geology, v. 31 , pp. 541-544.

Meigs, A., Yule, D., Blythe A., and Burbank, D., 2003, Implications of distributed crustal deformation for exhumation in a portion of a transpressional plate boundary, Western Transverse Ranges, southern California, Quaternary International, v. 101-102, pp. 169-177.

Blythe, A.E., House, M.A., and Spotila, J., 2002, Low-temperature thermochronology of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains, southern California: Constraining structural evolution, in Barth, A., ed., Geological Society of America Special Paper 365, ch. 11, pp. 231-250 : Boulder, Geological Society of America.

Spotila, J.A., House, M.A., Blythe, A.E., Neimi, N., and Bank, G.C., 2002, Controls on the erosion and geomorphic evolution of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, southern California, in Barth, A., ed., Geological Society of America Special Paper 365, ch. 10, pp. 205 -230: Boulder, Geological Society of America.

Grimmer, J.C., Jonckheere, R., Enkelmann, E., Ratschbacher, L., Hacker, B.R., Blythe, A.E., Wagner, G.A., Wu, Q., Liu, S., and Dong, S., 2002, Cretaceous-Cenozoic history of the southern Tan-Lu fault zone: Apatite fission-track and structural constraints from the Dabie Shan (eastern China): Tectonophysics, v. 359, p. 225-253.

Blythe, A.E., Burbank, D.W., Farley, K.A, and Fielding, E., 2000, Structural and topographic evolution of the Central Transverse Ranges, California, from apatite fission- track, (U-Th)/He and digital elevation model analyses, Basin Research, v. 12, p. 97-114.

Lee, J., Hacker, B.R., Dinklage, W.S., Wang, Y., Gans, P.B., Calvert, A., Blythe, A.E., and McClelland, W., 2000, Evolution of the Kangmar Dome, southern Tibet: Structural, petrologic, and thermochronologic constraints, Tectonics, v. 19, p. 872-895.

Wells, M.L., Snee, L., and Blythe, A.E., 2000, Dating of extensional shearing, an example from the Raft River Mountains, Basin and Range, western United States: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 105, p. 16,303-16,327.