Harold Stowell

Harold Stowell

Professor

Education

  • PhD, Geology, Princeton University, 1987
  • MS, Geology, University of South Carolina, 1981
  • BS, Geology, Florida State University, 1978

Research Areas

  • Tectonics and Structural Geology
  • High-Temperature Geochemistry, Petrology, and Geochronology

Research Interests

My research focusses on understanding the growth and evolution of continental lithosphere. This work uses mineralogical, petrological, geochronological, and structural techniques to study orogenic belts. I have used these techniques on ancient and modern mountain belts including: the Cascades of Washington state, the Coast Mountains of British Columbia and Alaska, Fiordland New Zealand, the Picuris in New Mexico, the Northern and Southern Appalachians, and the mountain ranges of southern California and western Arizona.

  • Magmatic Arc processes and the Growth of Continents
  • Partial Melting and Evolution of the Mid- to Lower-Crust in Orogenic Belts
  • Nucleation and Growth of Porphyroblasts in Metamorphic Rocks
  • Duration and Rates of Tectonic and Metamorphic Processes
  • Pressure-Temperature-time Paths for Metamorphism
  • Phase Diagrams for Metamorphic Rocks
  • Garnet Sm-Nd Geochronology

 

Research Group

Connor Gregory M.S.

Dalton Bryant M.S.

Owen Meeks M.S.

Isaac Ogunrinde M.S. (graduated: 2025)

Jordan Faltys Ph.D. (graduated: 2024)

Savannah Gutapfel M.S. (graduated: 2022)

Hannah Dickson M.S. (graduated: 2022)

Ian Anderson M.S. (graduated: December 2021)

Elizabeth Bollen Ph.D. (graduated: 2020)

Rebecca Norton M.S. (graduated: 2015)

Mathew Gatewood Ph.D. (graduated: 2011)

Karen Parker M.S. (graduated: 2010)

  • Mineralogy, Field Geology, Metamorphic Petrology, Isotope Geology

Smart, S.M., Fawcett, S. E., Stowell, H., Pérez-Huerta, A., 2026. Changes in Shell and Crystal Structure from Life to Sediments: an EBSD Characterization of Subantarctic Planktic Foraminifera, G-Cubed.

Rusmore, M.E., Woodsworth, G.J., Cecil, R., Stowell, H.H., Bollen, E.M., Gehrels, G.E., Grove, M., Young, P., 2024. Modulation of Deformation by Magmatic Tempo, Coast Mountains Batholith, British Columbia, Canada, Tectonics, 43, 34 p. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024TC008318

Klepeis, K.A., Schwartz, J., Miranda, E., Lindquist, P., Jongens, R., Turnbull, R., Stowell, H., 2022. Schiffer, J.W., Robinson, D.M., Faisal, S., Stowell, H.H., 2023. Exploring the tectonostratigraphy of the Pakistan Himalaya with new detrital zircon geochronology and neodymium isotope data from the Kaghan Valley, Geoscience Frontiers, 14.The Initiation and Growth of Transpressional Shear Zones Through Continental Arc Lithosphere, Southwest New Zealand, Tectonics, 41, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021TC007097

Thigpen, J.R., Moecher, D.P., Stowell, H.H., Merschat, A., Hatcher, R.D., Jr., Powell, N.E., Spencer, B.M., Mako, C.A., Bollen, E.M., Kylander-Clark, A., 2022. Defining the timing, extent, and conditions of Paleozoic metamorphism in the southern Appalachian Blue Ridge terranes of Tennessee, North Carolina, and northern Georgia, Tectonics, 41, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022TC007406.

Stowell, H.H., Schwartz, J.J., Bollen, E., Tulloch, A., Ramezani, J., Klepeis, K., 2022. Timescales and rates of intrusive and metamorphic processes determined from zircon and garnet in migmatitic granulite, Fiordland, New Zealand, American Mineralogist, 107, 1116-1132, https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2022-7967

Bollen, E.M., Stowell, H.H., Aronoff, R., Stotter, S.V., Daniel, C.G., McFarlane, C.R.M., Vervoort, J.D., 2022. Reconciling garnet Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd, and monazite U-Pb ages for a prolonged metamorphic event, northern New Mexico, Journal of Petrology, 63, https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egac031.

Bollen, E.M., Stowell, H.H., Rusmore, M.E., Woodsworth, G.J., Cecil, R., Gehrels, G.E., 2021. The tempo of metamorphism and magmatism, Coast Mountains batholith, Canada. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 40, 601-630.

Cecil, M.R., Gehrels, G.E., Rusmore, M.E., Woodsworth, G.J., Stowell, H.H., Yokelson, I.N., Homan, E., Kitajima, K., Valley, J., 2021. Mantle control on magmatic flare-ups in the southern Coast Mountains batholith, British Columbia, Geosphere, https://doi.org/10.1130 /GES02361.1.

Carty, K., Schwartz, J., Wiesenfeld, J., Klepeis, K., Stowell, H.H., Tulloch, A., Barnes, C.G., 2021. Magma chamber geometry and melt interconnectivity in the lower crust of a continental arc, Fiordland, New Zealand, Journal of Petrology, 62, 9, 1-41.

Gatewood, M.P., Dragovic, B. Stowell, H.H., Baxter, E.F., Hirsch, D.M., Bloom, R.A., 2015. Evaluating chemical equilibrium in metamorphic rocks using major element and Sm-Nd isotopic age zoning in garnet, Townsend Dam, Vermont, USA, Chemical Geology, 401, 151-168.

Gatewood, M.P., Stowell, H.H., 2012. Linking zircon U–Pb and garnet Sm–Nd ages to date loading and metamorphism in the lower crust of a Cretaceous magmatic arc, Swakane Gneiss, WA, USA. Lithos, 146-147, 128-141.

Gatewood, M.P., Stowell, H.H., 2017. Thrust loading as a mechanism for crustal recycling: an example from the Swakane Gneiss, Cascades Crystalline Core, WA, USA, in Law, R.D., Thigpen, J.R., Merschat, A.J., and Stowell, H.H., eds., Linkages and Feedbacks in Orogenic Systems, Geological Society of America Memoir 213.

Klepeis, K.A., Schwartz, J., Stowell, H.,Tulloch, A., 2016. Gneiss domes, vertical and horizontal mass transfer, and the initiation of extension in the hot lower crustal root of a continental arc, Fiordland, New Zealand. Lithosphere, 8, 116-140.

Schwartz, J.J., Stowell, H.H., Klepeis, K., Zamora, C., Tulloch, A., Kylander-Clark, A., Hacker, B., Coble, M., 2016, Thermochronology of extensional orogenic collapse in the deep crust, Fiordland, New Zealand, Geosphere, 12, 3, 1-31.

Schwartz, J.J., Klepeis, K., Sadorski, J.F., Stowell, H.H., Tulloch, A., and Coble, M., 2017. The tempo of continental arc construction in the Mesozoic Median Batholith, Fiordland, New Zealand. Lithosphere. doi:10.1130/L610.1.

Stowell, H.H., Bollen, E., McKay, M.P., Thigpen, J.R., Dickson, H.F, Madden, J.R., Fiechtner, C., and Ionescu, A., 2021, Tectonism and metamorphism along a southern Appalachian transect across the Blue Ridge and Piedmont, USA, in Florsheim, J., Koeberl, C., McKay, M.P., and Riggs, N., eds., 2021 GSA Section Meeting Guides: Geological Society of America Field Guide 61, 1–38, https://doi.org/10.1130/2021.0061(07).

Stowell, H.H., Bulman, G.R., Tinkham, D.K., Zuluaga, C.A., 2011. Garnet growth during crustal thickening in the Cascades Crystalline Core, Washington, U.S.A. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 29, 627-647.

Stowell, H.H., Odom Parker, K., Gatewood, M.P., Tulloch, A., Koenig, A., 2014. Temporal links between pluton emplacement, garnet granulite metamorphism, partial melting, and extensional collapse in the lower crust of a Cretaceous magmatic arc, Fiordland New Zealand, Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 32, 151-175.

Stowell, H.H., Schwartz, J.J., Bollen, E., Tulloch, A., Ramezani, J., Klepeis, K., 2021. Timescales and rates of intrusive and metamorphic processes determined from zircon and garnet in migmatitic granulite, Fiordland, New Zealand, American Mineralogist, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2022-7967

Stowell, H.H., Schwartz, J.J., Ingram, S.B., III, Madden, J., Jernigan, C., Steltenpohl, M., Mueller, P., 2019. Linking metamorphism, magma generation, and synorogenic sedimentation to crustal thickening during Southern Appalachian mountain building, USA. Lithosphere, https://doi.org/10.1130/L1053.1

Stowell, H.H., Schwartz, J., Klepeis, K., Hout, C., Tulloch, A., Koenig, A., 2017. Sm-Nd garnet ages for granulite and eclogite in the Breaksea Orthogneiss and widespread granulite facies metamorphism of the lower crust, Fiordland magmatic arc, Lithosphere, doi.org/10.1130/L662.1

Stowell, H.H., Tulloch, A., Zuluaga, C.A., Koenig, A., 2010, Timing and duration of garnet granulite metamorphism in magmatic arc crust, Fiordland, New Zealand: Chemical Geology, 273, 91-110.