| B.S., | University of California at Berkeley, 1977 |
| Ph.D., | Princeton University, 1983 |
Call For Papers!
Special Issue of Geosphere:
“Origin of the
Sierra Nevada and Walker Lane”
Keith Putirka and
Cathy Busby, editors.
“Origin of the
Sierra Nevada and Walker Lane”
Keith Putirka and
Cathy Busby, editors.
Burning Man Outreach:
NAGT 2012
National Association of Geoscience Teachers
Far Western Section
Fall Conference
September 7-9, 2012
Download the PDF
of Cathy's PowerPoint lecture.
Fall Conference
September 7-9, 2012
Download the PDF
of Cathy's PowerPoint lecture.
New Book!
My research examines the
tectonic evolution of continental margins
by combining detailed geologic mapping of
sedimentary and volcanic rocks and faults
with a variety of laboratory techniques,
including geochronology, geochemistry,
petrography and paleomagnetics.
This research is on a spectrum of topics,
including volcanology, sedimentology,
structural geology, petroleum geology,
economic geology, geochemistry, and
geothermal exploration.
My major project for the past decade
focuses on the Cenozoic trantensional rifting along the
Sierra Nevada range front and western Walker Lane belt
in California and Nevada. A second active project focuses
on the stratigraphic and structural setting of the largest
Cenozoic silicic igneous province and epithermal mineral province
on Earth: the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico.
The most continuous strand of my research (since 1978)
investigates the growth of continents at extensional arcs,
in both continental and oceanic settings. Although most
of my research funding has come from NSF, I have become
increasingly attracted to work in geothermal exploration.