Christian Teyssier

I am interested in tectonic processes, including subduction, collision, crustal thickening, partial melting of crust, orogenic collapse, and the development of continental and oceanic core complexes. Our research group combines structural geology, metamorphic geology, geochemical and geochronological techniques, numerical simulations, microstructural and microfabric analyses using electron backscatter diffraction, and rock and mineral experiments. Current research topics include the hydration of oceanic lithosphere in relation to oceanic core complexes and transform shear zones, the flow of partially molten crust in orogenic plateaux and metamorphic core complexes, the exhumation mechanisms of high-pressure rocks in subduction complexes, the exhumation of subducted continental crust and ultrahigh-pressure rocks, and the coupling between subducted slab dynamics and crustal-surface processes in active tectonic regions. Current field areas include the North American Cordillera, the Alpine belt in the Aegean and Anatolian domains, the Norwegian Caledonides, and the Variscan belt of western Europe.

Structure Tectonics and Metamorphic Petrology Research Group

Education

PhD, 1986, Monash University (Australia)

Currently Teaching Courses

Polar Environments: Rocks, Ice, and Human Impacts (freshman seminar)

Solid-Earth Dynamics

Structural Geology

Earth and its Environments

Graduate seminars

Honors and Awards

2003 University of Minnesota Distinguished Teaching Award for Outstanding Contributions to Post-Baccalaureate Graduate and Professional Education

2001 Best Paper Award, Geological Society of America (Structure & Tectonics Division)

Chair, Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, Geological Society of America

Fellow, Geological Society of America (elected 1997)

McKnight Land-Grant Professor, University of Minnesota, 1989-1992

Selected Publications

Nachlas*, W.O., Teyssier, C., Whitney, D.L., and Hirth. G. (2018) Geospeedometry in natural and experimental shear zones. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 498, 129-139.

Meijers, M.J.M, Brocard, G.Y., Cosca, M.A., Lüdecke, T., Teyssier, C., Whitney, D.L., and Mulch, A. (2018) Rapid Late Miocene Surface Uplift of the Central Anatolian Plateau Margin, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 497, 29-41.

Korchinski*, M., Rey, P.F., Mondy, L., Teyssier, C., Whitney, D.L. (2018) Numerical investigation of deep-crust behavior under lithospheric extension. Tectonophysics, 726, 137-146. 2017

Radwany*, M., Whitney, D.L., Brocard, G., Umhoefer, P.J., Teyssier, C. (2017) Ophiolite gabbro from source to sink: A record of tectonic and surface processes in Central Anatolia. Geosphere, 13, 1329-1358.

Rey, P.F., Mondy, L., Duclaux, G., Teyssier, C., Whitney, D.L., Bocher, M., and Prigent, C. (2017) The origin of contractional structures in extensional gneiss domes – Reply. Geology, 45, E416.

Gébelin. A., Jessup, M., Teyssier,C., Cosca, M.A., Law, R.D., Brunel, M. Mulch, A. (2017) Infiltration of meteoric water in the South Tibetan Detachment (Mt Everest, Himalaya) - When and Why? Tectonics, 36, 690-713.

Rey, P.F., Mondy, L., Duclaux, G., Teyssier, C., Whitney, D.L., Bocher, M., and Prigent, C. (2017) The origin of contractional structures in extensional gneiss domes: Geology, v. 45, p. 263– 266. 2016

Brocard, G., Anselmetti, F.S., and Teyssier, C (2016) Guatemala paleoseismicity: from Late Classic Maya collapse to recent fault creep. Scientific Reports, 6, article 36976.

Quilichini, A., Siebenaller, L., Teyssier, C., and Vennemann, T.W. (2016) Magmatic and meteoric fluid flow in the Bitterroot extensional detachment shear zone (MT, USA) from ductile to brittle conditions. Journal of Geodynamics, 101, 109-128.

Kleinspehn, K.L., and Teyssier, C. (2016) Oblique rifting and the Late Eocene-Oligocene demise of Laurasia with inception of Molloy Ridge: Deformation of Forlandsundet Basin, Svalbard, Tectonophysics, 693, 363-377.

Gordon, S.M., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Fossen, H., Kylander-Clark, A. (2016) Geochronology and geochemistry of zircon from the northern Western Gneiss Region: Insights into the Caledonian tectonic history of western Norway. Lithos, 246, 134-148.