Nate Onderdonk
Active Tectonics, Structural Geology, Luminescence Dating
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CV
Nate Onderdonk
Professor and Undergraduate Advisor
PhD in Geology, UC Santa Barbara, 2003
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Classes I regularly teach:
GEOL 250 Intro to Field Methods
GEOL 339 Geomorphology
GEOL 350 Spring Field Geology
GEOL 450 Summer Field Geology
GEOL 530 Advanced Structural Geology and Tectonics
GEOL 531 Tectonic Geomorphology
CURRENT PROJECTS
CURRENT MASTERS STUDENTS
Faith Burkett (BS SDSU)- Active tectonics of the Santa Ynez fault.
Spencer Cooper (BS CSULB)- Topographic analysis of the western Transverse Ranges to determine the relative influence of rock type, uplift rate, and fault activity on overall elevation.
Adam Ketchum (BS SUNY Potsdam)- Investigating the topographic evolution of the western Transverse Ranges using fluvial terraces along Sespe Creek.
Melony Robinson-Williams (BS CSUN)- Dating and structural analysis of the Pleistocene Paso Robles formation in coastal California to evaluate episodic deformation and uplift of the California Coast Ranges.
Aaron Martin (BS CSULB)- Marine terrace ages and uplift rates of the Palos Verdes peninsula, California.
CURRENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Samantha Horne-Rivera,
Luis-Enrique Esparza
Testing marine terrace ages in Morro Bay and San Diego with luminescence dating.
PAST STUDENTS
Justin Arakaki MS 2023- Formational scale differences in styles of deformation in the Pismo-Huasna syncline and implications for oil migration and production. (now at Berry Corporation)
Patrick Miller MS 2023- Topographic development and late Quaternary tectonics of the San Rafael Mountains, southern Coast Ranges, California
Drake Kerr MS 2022- Holocene slip rates and recency of faulting along the strands of the northern San Jacinto fault zone in the Cajon Pass area, and implications for slip transfer between the San Jacinto and San Andreas faults. (now at NMG Geotechnical)
Eric Tutterow MS 2021- Timing and amount of tectonic uplift recorded by marine terraces along the southern Coast Ranges and western Transverse Ranges of California. (now at Environmental Resources Management)
Clay Kelty MS 2020- Episodic deformation along a blind thrust in the past 125 Kyr: The Santa Ynez River fault in the western Transverse Ranges of California. (now at Earth Consultants International)
Ani Pytlewski MS 2020- Quantifying regional uplift rates and slip along the Santa Ynez fault using fluvial terraces in the upper Santa Ynez River.
Ian McGregor MS 2019- Using the Orcut Formation as a marker to measure the amount, rate, and style of active folding and faulting in the western Santa Maria Basin. (now at Lettis and Associates)
Ryan Stewart MS 2019- Paleomagnetic study of Santa Catalina Island to test models of vertical-axis rotation in southern California. (now at TGR Geotechnical)
Yannick Wirtz MS 2017- Measuring the amount of shortening across the Santa Maria Basin at a variety of scales. (now at Earth Consultants International)
Andrew Farris MS 2017 Thesis= Investigating Quaternary deformation of the northern Santa Ynez Valley using fluvial terraces along Zaca Creek (now at the Army Corps. of Engineers)
Nolan Blackford MS 2016- Assessing the mechanics of rotation associated with large-magnitude extension in the central Mojave Desert using detailed structural mapping and paleomagnetic data. (now doing a PhD at Washington State Univ.)
Amar Rao MS 2016- Shallow plumbing system of the Davis-Schrimpf seep field, southern California. (now at California State Lands Commission)
Rick Lee MS 2014- Using the Paso Robles Formation to document the kinematic history of the Little Pine fault. (now at California State Lands Commission)
Cary Wicker MS 2014- Using GPS surveying, GIS, and OSL dating to investigate the rate and style of topographic development along the northern San Jacinto fault zone. (now at the California State Water Board)
Scott Kenyon MS 2014- LiDAR and field mapping of the northern San Jacinto fault zone to determine the distribution of slip and slip-per-event. (now at Chevron)
Todd Tyler MS 2013- Mapping and dating (using OSL) fluvial terraces in the Santa Ynez Valley to evaluate active deformation associated with vertical-axis rotation. (now at California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources)
Mike Cannon MS 2013- Using fault kinematics and fold characteristics to evaluate the kinematic history of the Little Pine fault. (now at California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources)
Jon Guillaume MS 2013- Using paleomagnetism to document vertical-axis rotation in the Santa Maria Basin. (now at American Geotechnical )
Ziad Sedki MS 2013- LiDAR and field mapping of the San Bernardino segment of the San Andreas fault zone to evaluate fault offset. (now teaching at Glendale Community College)
Dale Peterson MS 2012- “An application of geotechnical techniques to quantitative regional slope stability analysis, San Clemente, California”. (now at California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources)
Jack Tung MS thesis 2007- “Topographic development along the northern San Jacinto Fault Zone” (now at the California Dept. of Water Resources)
PUBLICATIONS
Western Transverse Ranges rotation and active tectonics:
Balbas, A., Konrad, K., Onderdonk, N., Castillo, P., and Behl., R. (2024) Oligocene and Miocene blowtorch volcanism within the California Borderland and it's influence on plate-boundary transition. Geology, 52 (8) https://doi.org/10.1130/G52175.1
Onderdonk, N., Garcia, A. F., Kelty, C., Farris, A., and Tyler, E., (2022) The topographic development of a compressional mountain belt, the western Transverse Ranges of California, is a combination of localized uplift along individual structures and regional uplift from deeper shortening. Geosphere, v. 18, https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02505.1
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Kelty, C., and Onderdonk, N., (2022). Episodic deformation along a blind thrust in the past 100 kyr: The Santa Ynez River fault in the western Transverse Ranges of California. Tectonics.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022TC007320
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McGregor, I., and Onderdonk, N., (2021). Late Pleistocene rates of rock uplift and faulting at the boundary between the southern Coast Ranges and the western Transverse Ranges in California from reconstruction and luminescence dating of the Orcutt formation. Geosphere, v.17, doi.org/10.1130/GES02274.1.
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Onderdonk, N. (2007). Vertical-axis rotation controlled by upper crustal stress based on force balance analysis: A case study of the western Transverse Ranges of California. Tectonophysics, doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2007.03.002
Onderdonk, N., Minor, S., Kellogg, K. (2005). Taking apart the Big Pine fault: redefining a major structural feature in southern California. Tectonics, 24, TC6002
Onderdonk, N. (2005). Structures that accommodated differential vertical-axis rotation of the western Transverse Ranges, California, Tectonics, 24, TC4018
Onderdonk, N. (2002). Identification and description of structures that accommodated vertical-axis rotation of the western Transverse Ranges, southern California. In: Structural Geomorphology, Petroleum and Water Resources of the Northwestern Transverse Ranges, Santa Barbara and Ventura County, California. South Coast Geologic Society Field Guidebook No. 30
San Jacinto fault:
Onderdonk, N., McGill, S., and Rockwell, T., (2018). A 3700 yr paleoseismic record from the northern San Jacinto and implications for joint rupture of the San Jacinto and San Andreas faults. Geosphere v. 14, n.6, doi:10.1130/GES01687.1
Onderdonk, N., McGill, S., and Rockwell, T., (2015). Short-term variations in slip rate and size of pre-historic earthquakes during the past 2000 years on the northern San Jacinto fault zone, a major plate boundary in southern California. Lithosphere v.7, n. 2, doi:10.1130/L393.1
Marliyani, G. I., Rockwell, T. K., Onderdonk, N. W., and McGill, S. F., (2013). Straightening of northern San Jacinto fault, California as seen in the fault-structure evolution of the San Jacinto Valley stepover. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v.103, n. 3. doi:10.1785/0120120232
Onderdonk, N., Rockwell, T., McGill, S., and Marliyani, G., (2013). Evidence for seven surface ruptures in the past 1600 years on the Claremont fault at Mystic Lake, northern San Jacinto fault zone, California. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America v.103, n.1, pp 519-541. ((NOTE: the 2018 publication above contains updated and additional data from the Mystic Lake site))
Onderdonk, N. (2012). The role of the Hot Springs fault in the development of the San Jacinto fault zone and uplift of the San Jacinto Mountains. In: Palms to Pines: Geological and Historical Excursions through the Palm Springs Region, Riverside County, California. San Diego Association of Geologists and South Coast Geological Society Field Trip Guidebook
Hydrothermal seeps/ mud volcanoes in the Salton Sea area:
Mazzini, A., Svensen, H., Etiope, G., Onderdonk, N., and Banks, D., (2011). Fluid origin, gas fluxes and plumbing system in the sediment-hosted Salton Sea Geothermal System (California, USA). Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. v.205, pp.67-83.
Onderdonk, N., Mazzini, A., Shafer, L., and Svensen, H., (2011). Controls on the geomorphic expression and evolution of gryphons, pools, and caldera features at hydrothermal seeps in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, southern California. Geomorphology, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.04.014
Svensen, H., Ø. Hammer, A. Mazzini, N. Onderdonk, S. Polteau, S. Planke, and Y. Y. Podladchikov (2009). Dynamics of hydrothermal seeps from the Salton Sea geothermal system (California, USA) constrained by temperature monitoring and time series analysis, Journal of Geophysical Research, 114, B09201, doi:10.1029/2008JB006247.
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Arctic geology:
Onderdonk, N., and Midtkandal, I., (2010). Mechanisms of collapse of the Cretaceous Helvetiafjellet Formation at Kvalvågen, eastern Spitsbergen. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 27, 2118-2140
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