Paul Kapp

About

Paul Kapp is a field-based geologist and continental tectonicist with expertise in geological mapping, structural-stratigraphic analysis, and the application of geo-thermochronologic methods. His research focuses on the tectonic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau and the North American Cordillera, as well as the influence of wind processes on the development of Central Asia’s deserts and the Chinese Loess Plateau. He regularly teaches courses including Physical Geology, Structural Geology, Geology Field Camp, Regional Structural Geology, and Regional Tectonics. He earned his B.S. in Geosciences with an emphasis in geophysics from the University of Arizona in 1996 and his Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA in 2001. Since 2002, he has served as a faculty member at the University of Arizona, where he is currently the Interim Department Head of the Department of Geosciences. His contributions to the field have been recognized through several awards, including the UA Geosciences Advisory Board's Outstanding Faculty Award in 2011, the Geological Society of America Fellow in 2009, the GSA Outstanding Young Scientist Award (Donath Medal) in 2008, and the University of Arizona College of Science Early-Career Teaching Award in 2004.

Research topics

• Geology
• Paleontology
• Oceanography
• Geochemistry
• Seismology
• Climatology
• Physical geography
• Geography

Selected publications

• Timing and mechanisms of Tibetan Plateau uplift

  Nature Reviews Earth & Environment · 2022 · 722 citations

  PublisherDOI

• Exhumation history of the north-central Shanxi Rift, North China, revealed by low-temperature thermochronology

  Earth and Planetary Science Letters · 2020 · 75 citations

  DOI

• Resetting Southern Tibet: The serious challenge of obtaining primary records of Paleoaltimetry

  Global and Planetary Change · 2020 · 58 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion

  Geophysical Research Letters · 2021 · 42 citations

  Abstract Central Asia hosts the most extensive and highest topography on Earth, which is the result of the feedbacks among rock uplift, atmospheric circulation and moisture transport, and erosion. Here, we analyze 2,511 published low‐temperature thermochronometric ages as a proxy of the regional‐scale erosion of Central Asia. We compare these ages to tectonic and climate proxies, and state‐of‐the‐art paleoclimate simulations to constrain the influences of climate and tectonics on the topographic…

  DOI

• Evaluating the Drivers of Quaternary Dust Fluxes to the Western North Pacific: East Asian Dustiness and Northern Hemisphere Gustiness

  Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology · 2023-08-19 · 20 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Quantifying variability in, and identifying the mechanisms behind, East Asian dust production and transport across the last several million years is essential for constraining future dust emissions and deposition. Our current understanding of East Asian dust dynamics through the Quaternary is primarily limited to low‐resolution records from the North Pacific Ocean, those from the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), and paleoenvironmental reconstructions from arid basins. All are susceptible to…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Development of Extensional Systems in Regions of Hot, Thick Crust: Insight from Tibet

  NSF · $88k · 2008–2011

• Collaborative Research: Did the Pamir Gneiss Domes and Salient form by Northward Underthrusting of India or Southward Subduction and Rollback of Asia?

  NSF · $211k · 2014–2017

• Collaborative Research: The suturing process: Insight from the India-Asia collision zone

  NSF · $1.9M · 2011–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Lin Ding

  Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research

  107 shared

• Peter G. DeCelles

  University of Arizona

  69 shared

• Alex Pullen

  Clemson University

  48 shared

• George E. Gehrels

  45 shared

• Mihai N. Ducea

  University of Bucharest

  41 shared

• Guillaume Dupont‐Nivet

  Géosciences Rennes

  38 shared

• Bárbara Carrapa

  36 shared

• Andrew K. Laskowski

  33 shared

Education

• PhD, Earth and Space Sciences

  University of California Los Angeles

  2001

• B.S., Geosciences

  University of Arizona

  1996

Awards & honors

• UA Geosciences Advisory Board's Outstanding Faculty Award (2…
• Geological Society of America, Fellow (2009)
• Geological Society of America Outstanding Young Scientist Aw…
• University of Arizona, College of Science Early-Career Teach…

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