18 Surficial geology and neotectonics in the West: Celebrating and advancing the legacy of Kirk Bryan through field-based geomorphology studies

This session invites and examines recent field-based geomorphology studies in the West. Contributions regarding soils geomorphology, neotectonics, pediments, fluvial terraces, and landscape development are invited.

Tuesday, 19 May 2026
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alvarado A

Participants

• Chair Kevin Hobbs
• Chair Cal Ruleman

Presentations

• 8:10 AM
  Diversion of the Amazon-scale "Bell River" of North America from the Labrador Sea to the Gulf of Mexico
  James Sears, University of Montana, Missoula, Mt
  410510 (Technical Sessions)
• 8:30 AM
  New cosmogenic age constraints for classic Colorado Rocky Mountain Pleistocene deposits and the Central Colorado Icefield reveal slow neotectonic processes punctuated by <1.5 Ma episodic, rapid, glaciofluvial erosion
  Cal Ruleman, United States Geological Survey, Evergreen, CO and Adam Hudson, United States Geological Survey, Lakewood, CO and William Odom, United States Geological Survey, Reston, VA
  410521 (Technical Sessions)
• 8:50 AM
  Biblical Flood in the Rio Grande? Testing Models of Rapid Gorge Incision and River Integration in the Birth of the Rio Grande
  Cameron Chavez Reed, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM and Marisa Repasch, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
  410599 (Technical Sessions)
• 9:10 AM
  Geologic Controls on Deep-Seated Landslides along the Ninemile Fault, Missoula Valley, Western Montana Rocky Mountains
  James Sears, Department of Geosciences, Missoula, MT and Amanda Willingham, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Butte, MT and Yann Gavillot, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Butte, MT
  410545 (Technical Sessions)
• 10:10 AM
  The Influence of Late Pleistocene Climatic Variability on Landscape Evolution in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, New Mexico
  Lyman Persico, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA and Jens Suhr, Whitman College, Seattle, WA. and Leslie McFadden, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM and Grant Meyer, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
  410728 (Technical Sessions)
• 10:30 AM
  How to erode a playa by wind: Processes responsible for sand and dust generation, White Sands, New Mexico
  Mark Sweeney, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD and David Bustos, White Sands National Park, Holloman Afb, NM and Thomas Gill, University of Texas El Paso, EL PASO, TX and Steven Forman, Baylor University, Waco, TX
  410553 (Technical Sessions)
• 10:50 AM
  Gypsum Sands in Alluvial Terraces of the Animas and San Juan Rivers, New Mexico, Provide New Insights into the Quaternary Climatic and Geomorphic Evolution of the Northern San Juan Basin
  Kevin Hobbs, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM
  410682 (Technical Sessions)