Welcome to Becky Dorsey's Home Page

Teaching ERTH 334 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy ERTH 440-540 Sedimentary Basin Analysis ERTH 406 series Summer Geology Field Camp Sediment Gravity Flows Blue Mountains Field Trip Blue Mountains Seminar

Publications and CV

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Research Overview

My research is focused on field studies of tectonically active sedimentary basins, with the goal of understanding the complex tectonic, sedimentary, and geomorphic evolution of active regions. Stratigraphy provides unique insights into past environments and tectonic events that often cannot be gained from other disciplines. Integrated basin analysis informs us about the dynamic interplay between ancient fault systems that create sedimentary basins, and the surface processes that fill them with sediment. Stratigraphic analysis and process sedimenmtology also yield insights into the behavior of active fault zones, continental-scale rivers, and Earth-Life evolution.

Current and Recent Research Projects:

Eocene Siletzia Collision and Paleoriver Evolution (ESCAPE) - Collaborative research project in SW Oregon and the Klamath Mountains.

Trip to Italy (blog) - Notes and photos, etc. from our recent trips to Italy

Baja GeoGenomics consortium - Integrated study of geology and biology in Baja California, Mexico (see Around the O story)

Miocene-Pliocene Bouse Formation - Reconstructing the Origins of the Colorado River

San Andreas Fault Zone in the Coachella Valley, southern California

Late Miocene Coastal Sonora project

Fish Creek - Vallecito Basin - Plio-Pleistocene tectonics and paleoclimate in southern California

Older Projects, representative of my interests:

Triassic-Jurassic collisional tectonics, Blue Mountains of NE Oregon

Late Cenozoic detachment faulting in the Western Salton Trough, southern California

Quaternary San Jacinto Fault Zone, southern California

Pliocene-Quaternary Loreto Basin, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Pleistocene to Holocene Laguna Salada, southern San Andreas fault system, northern Mexico

Miocene Detachment Basins, SE California and W Arizona

Jurassic Utah-Idaho Trough, U.S. western interior

Current and Recent Graduate Students:

Rebecca Kelly - now teaching in at Johns Hopkins University

Robin Beebee - now working for HDR Alaska, Inc.

Mike Darin - now working for the Oregon Department of Geology and MIneral resources (DOGAMI)

Kevin Gardner - Ph.D. completed and defended March 2, 2026

Danilo Gonzalez - 2nd year, studying the basinal record of Eocene collision of Siletzia in SW Oregon

Mindy Homan - now working for Devon Energy, Oklahoma City

Larry Syu-Heng Lai - Ph.D.  Now doing a postdoc in the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), University of Texas 

Todd LaMaskin - now on the faculty at UNC Wilmington

Bob Lenegan - now advising Biology students at Northern Arizona University

Andy Lutz - now a senior engineering geologist at California's Dam Safety Program

James McNabb - now working for Call & Nicholas, Tucson, Arizona

Brennan O'Connell - now doing a postdoc at the University of Cambridge

Tom Peryam - now working for Devon Energy, Oklahoma City

Derek Ryter - now working for the USGS at the California Water Science Center.

A Few Other Links: