Stephan Graham
· Welton Joseph and Maud L'Anphere Crook Professor of Applied Earth Sciences & by courtesy, of Geophysics & of Energy Science EngineeringVerifiedStanford University · Geological Sciences
Active 1970–2025
About
Stephan Graham is the Welton Joseph and Maud L'Anphere Crook Professor of Applied Earth Sciences at Stanford University, with courtesy appointments in Geophysics and Energy Science Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. in Geology from Stanford University, obtained in 1976, along with an M.S. in Geology from Stanford (1974) and a B.A. in Geology from Indiana University (1972). His research focuses on applied earth sciences, particularly within the context of basin processes and subsurface modeling. As a faculty member in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, he contributes to advancing understanding in these areas through his academic and research activities.
Research topics
- Paleontology
- Oceanography
- Geology
- Climatology
- Petrology
- Earth science
Selected publications
- RETRACTED
Marine and Petroleum Geology · 2025-02-11 · 6 citations
articleSenior author Geological Society of America Bulletin · 2025-12-18
articleAbstract Submarine progradational systems are widespread along active margins, and their deposits contain valuable insights into perturbations within their upstream systems and long-term geological evolution. However, decoding these records is often challenging due to the scarcity of well-exhumed/preserved and well age-controlled deepwater strata. This study integrates zircon U-Pb geochronology combined with detailed stratigraphy to illustrate the stratigraphic architectural evolution and drivers on the deepwater progradational strata, totaling 3.0 km in thickness, in the Xigaze forearc basin in southern Tibet. The deepwater system preserves an upward-coarsening succession, which prograded from the mid-lower fan lobe deposits, to the base of slope to proximal basin floor, to the middle- to upper-fan channel-levee deposits. Coarse-grained channel deposits are overlain by >100 m of mudstone and siltstone, which we interpret as an abandonment phase deposit. Depositional ages derived from three tuffs and maximum depositional ages from five sandstones range from 99.0 ± 0.59 Ma to 93.8 ± 0.41 Ma. Increased sediment supply induced by a Cretaceous magmatic flare-up (peak at 95 Ma), tectonic contraction by the activity of the Gangdese Retroarc Thrust Belt (beginning in the mid-Cretaceous), and expansion of drainage configuration facilitated the systematic upward change in facies architecture and depositional setting. However, a dramatic sea-level rise during the mid-Cretaceous and/or a deposystem shift interrupted these progradational processes and halted the delivery of coarse sediment into the basin. Our study highlights the linkage between detailed stratigraphic architecture and chrono-stratigraphy that provides a useful analogue for comprehending how Earth’s deepwater systems respond to allogenic controls in ancient active margin settings. Locally, this study enhances our understanding of the tectonic-sedimentary evolution of the arc-basin system that occurred along the margin of southern Tibet before the collision between the Indian and Asian blocks. Broadly, this contribution also can be employed to aid interpretations of geological processes in other regions or deepwater systems where constraining factors are limited.
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2024-01-01
articleSenior authorElsevier eBooks · 2024-01-01
book-chapterSenior authorDetrital isotopic record of a retreating accretionary orogen: An example from the Patagonian Andes
Geology · 2024-02-28 · 8 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorAbstract U-Pb zircon geochronology and isotopic records have played an influential role in our understanding of convergent margin dynamics. Orogenic cyclicity models link tectonic regimes with magmatic isotopic signatures in advancing orogens, relating compressional regimes with evolved signatures and extension with juvenile signatures; however, such frameworks may not apply for retreating orogens, which commonly produce substantial crustal heterogeneities during backarc rifting and ocean spreading. We explore the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Patagonian Andes tectonic evolution, combining U-Pb zircon ages, bulk rock εNd, and new detrital zircon εHf from the retroarc basin to understand the associated magmatic arc evolution during retreat and advance of the margin. Our results reveal a protracted phase of isotopically juvenile magmatism between 150 and 80 Ma, which began during backarc extension and persisted long after the margin switched to a contractional regime. We propose that the prolonged juvenile isotopic trend started mainly due to trenchward migration of the arc during backarc extension (150–120 Ma) and persisted due to partial melting of underthrusted juvenile attenuated and oceanic crust during backarc basin closure (120–80 Ma). This interpretation implies that tectonic stress alone does not predict isotopic trends, and factors like assimilation or the composition of underthrusted crust are important controls on magmatic isotopic composition, especially in retreating and transitional orogens.
Elsevier eBooks · 2024-01-01 · 3 citations
book-chapterSenior authorElsevier eBooks · 2024-01-01
book-chapterOpen accessGlobal Eocene-Oligocene unconformity in clastic sedimentary basins
Earth-Science Reviews · 2024-10-07 · 16 citations
articleSenior authorAbstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2024-01-01
articleSenior authorSedimentary basins of the late Mesozoic extensional domain of China and Mongolia
Elsevier eBooks · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations
book-chapter
Recent grants
NSF · $284k · 2004–2007
NSF · $165k · 2002–2004
Frequent coauthors
- 20 shared
C. Page Chamberlain
Stanford University
- 20 shared
Glenn R. Sharman
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
- 19 shared
Brian W. Romans
Virginia Tech
- 19 shared
Alan R. Carroll
- 17 shared
Andreas Mulch
Goethe University Frankfurt
- 17 shared
Theresa Schwartz
- 17 shared
Bradley D. Ritts
- 16 shared
Matthew A. Malkowski
The University of Texas at Austin
Labs
Stanford Geologic Hydrogen Industrial Affiliates ProgramPI
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