Brandon Spencer

I received my B.S. in geology and M.S. in geology/geophysics from the University of Oklahoma, where I studied paleomagnetic signatures of unconformity surfaces in Nevada and Missouri. I spent some time in the oil and gas industry before deciding to return to my home state to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky. My Ph.D. research largely related to collisional orogenic (mountain-building) processes--specifically the processes involved in the destruction of mountain ranges after uplift has ceased. I continue to use multiple approaches in my work, including geo- and thermochronology, petrography and petrology, paleopiezometry (stress conditions during ancient times), SEM- and electron microprobe-based geochemistry, GIS-based topographic analyses, and numerical modeling to determine how fast mountains can collapse/decay and what might be the primary drivers for the processes that cause their destruction.

I have multiple ongoing research projects in both collisional and extensional tectonic environments, including in the Appalachian-Caledonian orogen (Southern Appalachians and Scotland), the Wichita Mountains (southwestern Oklahoma), the Ouachita Mountains (southeastern Oklahoma), and the Saharan Metacraton (Sudan). Additionally, I have recent and current students that are working to characterize petroleum and critical mineral resources in the Anadarko and Arkoma basins in Oklahoma and in igneous- and sedimentary-hosted economic deposits in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Research Interests:

Tectonics, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Petroleum and Economic Geology, Geo- and Thermochronology