Faculty of Science
Department of Oceanography
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA | CANADA B3H 4R2 | +1 (902) 494-3557

Christopher Beaumont

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University
1355 Oxford Street
PO BOX 15000
Halifax NS  B3H 4R2

Room 4633 LSC

Phone: (902) 494-3779
   Fax: (902) 494-3877
Email: chris.beaumont@dal.ca
Webpage: http://geodynam.ocean.dal.ca

Education Background

  • PhD - Physics with Geophysical Research, Dalhousie University
  • BSc - Physics, School of Molecular Sciences, University of Sussex

Awards and Honours

  • Killam Professor, Dalhousie University, 2002.
  • Canada Research Chair in Geodynamics, 2001.
  • Inco Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 1994-2001.
  • J. Tuzo Wilson medal of the Canadian Geophysical Union, 1997.
  • Ernst Cloos Scholar of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 1997.
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (declined), 1985

Research Interests

  • Geodynamics of orogens
  • Formation and subsidence of rifted margin and foreland basins
  • Isostasy and flexural rheology of the lithosphere
  • Surface processes, geomorphology and sediment transport
  • 'Tilted Block' sedimentary basins and Laramide tectonics of the Rocky Mountain foreland
  • Cenozoic Tectonics of the Tien Shan
  • Thermal histories of sedimentary basins and the use of geochemical reactions and fission track dating as thermochronometers
  • North American Midcontinent Rift system
    Mechanisms of lithospheric deformation,additional details

6500.03: Graduate Seminar in Tectonics

Vanderhaeghe, O., Medvedev, S., Fullsack, P., Beaumont, C., and Jamieson, R.A. - 2003 - Evolution of orogenic wedges and continental plateaux: insights from crustal thermal-mechanical models overlying subducting mantle lithosphere - Geophysical Journal International, 153, 27-51. 

Huismans, R.S., and Beaumont, C. - 2002 - Asymmetric lithospheric extension: The role of frictional-plastic strain softening inferred from numerical experiments - Geology, 30, 211-214.

Pysklywec, R.N., Beaumont, C., and Fullsack, P. - 2002 - Lithospheric deformation during the early stages of continental collision: Numerical experiments and comparison with South Island, New Zealand. - Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, 213, doi:10.1029/2001JB000252.

Jamieson, R.A., Beaumont, C., Nguyen, M.H., and Lee, B. - 2002 - Interaction of metamorphism, deformation, and exhumation in large convergent orogens - Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 20, 9-24.

Beaumont, C., Jamieson, R.A., Nguyen, M.H., and Lee, B. - 2001 - Himalayan tectonics explained by extrusion of a low-viscosity crustal channel coupled to focussed surface denudation. - Nature, 414, 738-742.

Beaumont, C., Jamieson, R.A., Nguyen, M.H., and Lee, B. - 2001 - Mid-crustal channel flow in large hot orogens: results from coupled thermal-mechanical models. in: Cook, F., and Erdmer, P - in: Cook, F., and Erdmer, P.,Slave-Northern Cordillera Lithospheric Evolution (SNORCLE) and Cordilleran Tectronics Workshop, Lithoprobe Report 79, 112-170

Pysklywec, R.N., Beaumont, C., and Fullsack, P. - 2000 - Modeling the behaviour of the continental mantle lithosphere during plate convergence. - Geology, 28, 655-658.

Pfiffner, O.A., Ellis, S., and Beaumont, C. - 2000 - Collision tectonics in the Swiss Alps: implications from geodynamic models. - Tectonics, 19, 1065-1094.

Beaumont, C., Munoz, J.A., Hamilton, J., and Fullsack, P. - 2000 - Factors controlling the Alpine evolution of the central Pyrenees inferred from a comparison of observations and geodynamical models. - Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 8121-8145.

Beaumont, C., Kooi, H. and Willett, S. - 2000 - Coupled tectonic-surface process models with applications to rifted margins and collisional orogens. - in: Geomorphology and Global Tectonics, ed. M.A. Summerfield, 29-55, John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Issler, D.R., Willett, S.D., Beaumont, C., Donelick, R.A., and Grist, A.M. - 1999 - Paleotemperature history of two transects across the Western Canada Sedimentary basin: constraints from apatite fission track analysis. - Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 47, 475-486

Ellis, S. and Beaumont, C. - 1999 - Models of convergent boundary tectonics: implications for the interpretation of Lithoprobe data. - Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 36, 1711-1741.

Beaumont, C., Ellis, S. and Pfiffner, A. - 1999 - Dynamics of sediment subduction-accretion at convergent margins: short term modes, long-term deformation, and tectonic implications. - Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 17573-17601.

Ellis, S., Beaumont, C. and Pfiffner, A. - 1999 - Geodynamic models of crustal-scale episodic tectonic accretion and underplating in subduction zones. - Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 15169-15190.

Catuneanu, O., Beaumont, C., and Waschbusch, P. - 1999 - Reply in: Interplay of static loads and subduction dynamics in foreland basins: reciprocal stratigraphies and the 'missing' peripheral bulge: Comment and Reply. - Geology, 27, 93095

Ellis, S., Beaumont, C., Jamieson, R. and Quinlan, G. - 1998 - Continental collision including a weak zone, the vise model and its application to the Newfoundland Appalachians. - Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 35, 1323-1346.

Jamieson, R.A., Beaumont, C., Fullsack, P. and Lee, B. - 1998 - Barrovian regional metamorphism: Where's the heat? - in: What Controls Metamorphism and Metamorphic Reactions? eds. P. Treloar and P. O'Brien, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 138, 23-51.

Waschbusch, P., Batt, G. and Beaumont, C. - 1998 - Subduction zones retreat and recent tectonics of the south island of New Zealand. - Tectonics, 17, 267-284.

Catuneanu, O., Beaumont, C., and Waschbusch, P. - 1997 - Interplay of static loads and subduction dynamics in foreland basins: reciprocal stratigraphies and the 'missing' peripheral bulge. - Geology, 25, 1087-1090.

Willett, S.D., Issler, D.R., Beaumont, C., Donelick, R.A., and Grist, A.M. - 1997 - Inverse modeling of annealing of fission tracks in apatite 2: Application to the thermal history of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. - American Journal of Science, 297, 970-1011.

Escher, A. and Beaumont, C. - 1997 - Formation, burial and exhumation of basement nappes at crustal scale: a geometric model based on the Western Swiss-Italian Alps. - Jour. Structural Geology, 19, 955-974.

Waschbusch, P. and Beaumont, C. - 1996 - Effect of retreating subduction zone on deformation in simple regions of plate convergence. - Jour. Geophysical Research, 101, 28133-28148,

Jamieson, R.A., Beaumont, C., Hamilton, J., and Fullsack, P. - 1996 - Tectonic assembly of inverted metamorphic sequences. - Geology, 24, 839-842.

Beaumont, C., Ellis, S., Hamilton, J., and Fullsack, P. - 1996 - Mechanical model for subduction - collision tectonics of Alpine-type compressional orogens. - Geology, 24, 675-678.

Mitrovica, J.X., Pysklywec, R., Beaumont, C., and Rutty, A. - 1996 - The Devonian to Permian sedimentation of the Russian platform: an example of subduction controlled long-wavelength tilting of continents. - J. Geodynamics, 22, 79-96.

Beaumont, C., Kamp, P.J.J., Hamilton, J., and Fullsack, P. - 1996 - The continental collision zone, South Island, New Zealand; Comparison of geodynamical models and observations. - Jour. Geophysical Research, 101, 3333-3359.

Kooi, H., and Beaumont, C. - 1996 - Large-scale geomorphology: classical concepts reconciled and integrated with contemporary ideas via a surface proceses model. - Jour. Geophysical Research, 101, 3361-3386.