Funds Support Field Studies in Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan

Dustin Villarreal, at Ph.D. student in the University of Houston’s Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, received a student grant for $1,900 from the Geological Society of America. The grant will support research on the tectonic history of the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. The research will be supervised by EAS Associate Professor Alex Robinson.

The title of Villarreal’s proposal was "Sedimentological Evidence for Early Mesozoic Crustal Shortening of the Pamir.” The funding will support mineral separation and dating of detrital zircon grains from terrigenous redbeds previously collected in the Pamir Mountains and will yield new results on tectonic history.

Following his graduation in May 2020, Dustin plans on using his experience in understanding the provenance of clastic rocks and upper crustal deformation for oil and gas exploration.