Impact of Relict Basins on Collisional Mountain Building
Continental collisions result in the highest topography on Earth and exert a first-order influence on erosion, biodiversity, magmatism, and mantle dynamics. Although both ancient and modern collisions contain similar structural components, their evolution is also strongly controlled by features that are specific to individual mountain belts, including the pre-collisional basins that are closed during mountain building. My observational research on collisional mountain belts focuses on using the rock record, including geochemical and geochronlogic tools, to reconstruct now-closed basins and assess their impact on mountain belt evolution in locations ranging from the Greater Caucasus to the Moroccan Atlas and Appalachians.
Selected Publications
Vasey, D.A., Gouiza, M., Pomeroy, J.T., and VanTongeren, J.A., in review, The Western Moroccan Meseta as a transient intra-rift high within the Central Atlantic rift system: Tectonics
Vasey, D.A., Cowgill, E., VanTongeren, J.A., and Anderson, C.O., 2025, Relict back-arc basin crustal structure in the western Greater Caucasus, Georgia: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 25, no. 5, e2024GC012036, doi:10.1029/2024GC012036
Vasey, D.A., Garcia, L., Cowgill, E., Trexler, C.C., and Godoladze, T., 2024, Episodic evolution of a protracted convergent margin revealed by detrital zircon geochronology in the Greater Caucasus: Basin Research, v. 36, no. 1, e12825, doi:10.1111/bre.12825
Bridging Geodynamic Models and Geologic Observations
Geodynamic numerical models have greatly increased in sophistication in recent years and allow quantitative, high-resolution simulation of tectonic processes at temporal and spatial scales that are otherwise inaccessible. However, the applicability of such models to real-world settings is hampered by the difficulty of validating the many unconstrained model parameters against observational data. My research uses geodynamic numerical models of collisional mountain building on million-year timescales, outputs the thermal evolution and surface processes active within the model mountain belt, and predicts synthetic datsets (e.g., thermochronometric ages, sedimentary basins, structural architecture, melting) that can be directly compared with real-world data to validate the geodynamic inputs for the models.
Selected Publications
Vasey, D.A., Scully, P.M., Naliboff, J.B., and Brune, S., 2026, Technical note: Geodynamic Thermochronology (GDTchron) – A Python package to calculate low-temperature thermochronometric ages from geodynamic numerical models. Geochronology, v. 8, 209–222, doi:10.5194/gchron-8-209-2026
Vasey, D.A., Naliboff, J.B., Cowgill, E., Brune, S., Glerum, A., and Zwaan, F., 2024, Impact of rift history on the structural style of intracontinental rift-inversion orogens. Geology, v. 52, no. 6, 429–434, doi:10.1130/G51489.1
Mountain Building and Geologic Resources
Redistribution of mass and changes in pressure and temperature during collisional mountain building present ideal conditions for the chemical reactions and fluid flow needed to concentrate resources of economic value. However, while numerous resources are recognized in such mountain belts, the tectonic controls on their formation still remain poorly understood. My research seeks to use observational and modeling approaches to better understand where resources ranging from graphite to natural hydrogen would be expected to concentrate depending on the structural and thermal evolution of mountain belts.
Selected Publications
Zwaan, F., Brune, S., Glerum, A., Vasey, D.A., Naliboff, J.B., Manatschal, G., and Gaucher, E., 2026, The impact of erosion efficiency on rift-inversion orogen evolution: Implications for serpentinization-derived natural H2 resources. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, v. 131, no. 5, e2025JB033255, doi:10.1029/2025JB033255
Zwaan, F., Brune, S., Glerum, A., Vasey, D.A., Naliboff, J.B., Manatschal, G., and Gaucher, E., 2025, Rift-inversion orogens are potential hotspots for natural H2 generation. Science Advances, v. 11, no. 8, eadr3418, doi:10.1126/sciadv.adr3418
Yao, J., Castro, A., Roberts, N.M., Wolfe, O., Brunet, I., and Vasey, D.A., 2023, Phase equilibria evidence for intermediate P/T metamorphism in the Nashoba terrane and implications for Acadian tectonics in Ganderia. Lithosphere. v. 2023, no. 1, lithosphere_2023_105, doi:10.2113/2023/lithosphere_2023_105.