Dr. Layer is head of the Geochronology Laboratory. His research focuses on use of the 40-argon/39-argon dating technique to investigate geological and geophysical problems in Alaska and elsewhere. Applications include determining the age of plutonism and tectonic events, dating of volcanoes in Alaska, and constraining the time of formation of mineral deposits. Dr. Layer is involved in international collaborative projects with scientists from Russia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Sweden and South Africa. Dr. Layer teaches courses on general and advanced geochronologic techniques and on the use of statistical methods in the geosciences. This powerful dating technique is being applied to a variety of topics at the Geochronology Laboratory at UAF.
These research projects include:
- The thermal history and evolution of Archean cratons such as the Kaapvaal Craton in southern Africa and the Superior Craton in Canada.
- The dating of metamorphism and terrane accretion in Alaska and the eastern USSR.
- Constraining the timing of emplacement of mineralization in ore deposits in Alaska and elsewhere.
- Tephrochronology and volcanostratigraphy.
- Studies of the thermal and metamorphic history of the Brooks Range.
- Paleomagnetism of Archean terranes and Precambrian plate tectonics.
- Applications of argon isotopes to igneous petrology
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