Dr. Jeff Marshall
Undergraduate Research Advising

 

Student:

Allison Ruotolo

Research Project:

Quaternary alluvial fan deposition and active faulting along the San Gabriel Mountain front, San Dimas and Marshall Canyons, Los Angeles County, California

 

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Allison Ruotolo and Rob Ellis presenting results of their research on uplifted alluvial fan remnants along the range front faults of southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains, Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) poster session, Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Meeting, Anchorage, Alaska  (May 2006).

Allison with her Dad, accepting Margaret Van Buskirk Scholarship, Cal Poly Pomona Geological Sciences Department Annual Picnic, Bonelli Park (2006).

Allison Ruotolo preparing her alluvial fan clast-count samples for lithologic identification, Cal Poly Pomona Geological Sciences Department Rock Prep Lab (2006).

 

Images:  Project photos and illustrations

 

Project Overview:

Allison Ruotolo and fellow student Rob Ellis are working on a joint research project investigating uplifted Pleistocene alluvial fan remnants along the active mountain front faults of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County. Their study focuses on isolated deposits of “older alluvium” that occur either as fan-head remnants or fluvial terraces along the mountain front between San Gabriel and San Antonio Canyons. This project involves field mapping of alluvial gravels, description of stratigraphic sections, clast counts to identify gravel source areas, topographic surveying across fan surfaces and potential fault traces, mapping of the gravel-basement contact based on outcrops and well logs, and morphometric analysis to evaluate active tectonic deformation. Allison and Rob presented preliminary research results in a co-written abstract and poster at the 2006 Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. They are now working on separate aspects of this study for their respective senior theses.

 

Research Abstracts:

2007 College of Science Undergraduate Research Symposium: Cal Poly Pomona University, Pomona, California, 2007

2006 GSA Cordilleran Meeting Abstract: Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, 2006

 

Senior Thesis:

Ruotolo, A., in progress, Quaternary alluvial fan deposition and active faulting along the San Gabriel Mountain front, San Dimas and Marshall Canyons, Los Angeles County, California: [B.S. Thesis] Cal Poly Pomona University, Pomona, California.

 

Honors and Awards:

·       Margaret Van Buskirk Memorial Scholarship (2006): Geological Sciences Department, Cal Poly Pomona University

·       AEG Undergraduate Research Scholarship (2006 & 2007): Inland Empire Chapter, Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists