Julia M. G. Miller

Research Assistant Professor

Ph.D. UC Santa Barbara, 1983

Sedimentary Geology

General Interests

Julia Miller’s research interests center on the relationships between sedimentation and tectonics, particularly during continental extension, and on sedimentary processes and deposits in and around glaciers.

Current Research

In eastern California and western Arizona, Julia Miller is using sedimentologic and stratigraphic data from syntectonic mid-Tertiary strata to throw light on structural questions in this highly extended region.  She and her structural geologist co-worker (Dr. B. E. John, U. Wyoming) maintain that sedimentologic and stratigraphic data corroborate with structural and thermochronologic data to demonstrate that low-angle normal faults with dips of less than 30^o moved seismogenically.  This conclusion challenges a common assumption that low-angle normal faults are aseismic.  Miller is using stratigraphic data from basins across the extended terrane to select and present the most likely structural model for the mechanics of crustal stretching.

     Miller also is a specialist in glacial sedimentology, in particular investigating sedimentary facies and depositional environments of ancient glacial rocks. She recently wrote a review chapter on Glacial Sediments for a textbook. She has worked on Permo-Carboniferous glaciogenic rocks in the central Transantarctic Mountains and on Upper Proterozoic glaciogenic rocks in southwestern Virginia and eastern California.

Selected Publications

Miller, J.M.G., and John, B.E. (1999).  Sedimentation patterns support seismogenic low-angle normal faulting, southeastern California and western Arizona.  G.S.A. Bulletin, 111:1350-1370.

Miller, J.M.G. (1996).  Glacial Sediments: In: Sedimentary Environments: Processes, Facies and Stratigraphy, Third Edition, H.G. Reading (Ed.), Blackwell Science Ltd., p. 454-484.

Miller, J.M.G. (1994).  The Neoproterozoic Konnarock Formation, southwestern Virginia, U.S.A.: Glaciolacustrine facies in a continental rift: In: Earth’s Glacial Record, M. Deynoux et al. (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, p. 47-59.

Miller, J.M.G., and *Leach, B.R. (1993).  Tertiary stratigraphy of the central Sacramento Mountains, eastern California. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 2053:115-117.

Miller, J.M.G., and John, B.E. (1993).  Tertiary stratigraphy of the Chemehuevi Mountains, southeastern California and western Arizona. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 2053:119-121.

*Fedo, C.M, and Miller, J.M.G. (1992).  Evolution of a Miocene half-graben basin, Colorado River extensional corridor, southeastern California. G.S.A. Bulletin, 104:481-493.

Miller, J.M.G., and *Waugh, B.J. (1991).  Permo-Carboniferous glacial sedimentation in the central Transantarctic Mountains and its palaeotectonic implications: In: Geological Evolution of Antarctica, M.R.A. Thomson, J.A. Crame, and J.W. Thomson (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, p. 205-208.

Miller, J.M.G. (1989).  Glacial advance and retreat sequences in a Permo-Carboniferous section, central Transantarctic Mountains. Sedimentology, 36(3):419-430.

Miller, J.M.G., and John, B.E. (1988).  Detached strata in a Tertiary low-angle normal fault terrane, southeastern California: A sedimentary record of unroofing, breaching and continued slip. Geology, 16:645-648.

Miller, J.M.G. (1987).  Paleotectonic and stratigraphic implications of the Kingston Peak-Noonday contact in the Panamint Range, eastern California. Journal of Geology, 95:75-85.

Miller, J.M.G. (1987).  Tectonic evolution of the southern Panamint Range, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties. California Geology, 40(9):212-222.

Miller, J.M.G. (1985,).  Glacial and syntectonic sedimentation: The upper Proterozoic Kingston Peak Formation, southern Panamint Range, eastern California. G.S.A. Bulletin, 96:1537-1553.

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