Dr. Brent Miller

Research Interests

My principal research interests are geochronology and isotope geochemistry applied to the study of Appalachian tectonics.

• Paleozoic Tectonics of Southern Mexico
• Southern Appalachian Tectonics
• Evolution of Rheic Ocean
• Carboniferous Climate and Tectonics

Projects

• Isotopic, geochronologic, and tectonic character of the western Piedmont, Virginia - Implications for the closure of the Iapetus Ocean; collaborative with Jim Hibbard, NC State Univ.
• Carboniferous chemostratigraphy: Do epicontinental seas reflect global ocean conditions?; collaborative with Debbie Thomas, Ethan Grossman, Thomas Olszewski, Thomas Yancey, Texas A&M University
• A record of the timing, nature and geometry of the Rheic Ocean in the Appalachian Carolina and Avalon zones; collaborative with Jim Hibbard, NC State Univ.
• Tectonothermal History of the Acatlan Complex, Southern Mexico: A Record of the Closure of the Rheic Ocean?; collaborative with Damian Nance, Ohio Univ.
• Kinematics and geochronology of the Gold Hill shear zone: Implications for accretion of the peri-Gondwanan Carolina zone in the Southern Appalachians; collaborative Jim Hibbard, NC State Univ., Bill Hames, Auburn Univ.

Selected Publications

• Miller, B. V., Stewart, K. G., and Whitney, D. L., 2010, Three tectonothermal pulses recorded in eclogite and amphibolite of the Eastern Blue Ridge, Southern Appalachians: in Tollo, R. P., Bartholomew, M. J., Hibbard, J. P., and Karabinos, P. M., eds., From Rodinia to Pangea: The Lithotectonic Record of the Appalachian Region, Geological Society of America Memoir: Boulder, CO, Geological Society of America. v. 206 p. 701-724.
• Miller, B. V., Dostal, J., Keppie, Nance, R.D., Ortega-Rivera, A. and Lee, J.W.K., 2007, Ordovician calc-alkaline granitoids in the Acatlán Complex, southern México: Geochemical and geochronologic data and implications for the tectonics of the Gondwanan margin of the Rheic Ocean: in U. Linnemann, R. D. N., P. Kraft, G. Zulauf ed., The evolution of the Rheic Ocean: From Avalonian-Cadomian active margin to Alleghanian-Variscan collision: Boulder, Co, Geological Society of America v. Special Paper 423 p. 465-476.
• Miller, B. V., Barr, S. M., and Black, R. S., 2007, Neoproterozoic and Cambrian U-Pb (zircon) ages from Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick: implications for stratigraphy and northern Appalachian terrane correlations: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 44, no. 7, p. 911-923.
• Miller, B. V., Fetter, A. H., and Stewart, K. G., 2006, Plutonism in three orogenic pulses, eastern Blue Ridge Province, Southern Appalachians: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 118, no. 1-2, p. 171-184.

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• Macdonald, A. S., Barr, S. M., Miller, B. V., Reynolds, P. H., Rhodes, B. P., and Yokart, B., 2010, P-T-t constraints on the development of the Doi Inthanon metamorphic core complex domain and implications for the evolution of the western gneiss belt, northern Thailand: Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, v. 37 p. 82-104.
• Keppie, J. D., Nance, R. D., Murphy, J. B., Miller, B.V., Dostal, J., and Ortega-Rivera, A., 2009, Pressure-temperature-time evolution of high-pressure rocks of the Acatlan Complex (southern Mexico): Implications for the evolution of the Iapetus and Rheic Oceans: Comment: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 121, no. 9-10, p. 1456-1459.
• Nance, R. D., Kepie, J. D., Miller, B. V., Murphy, J. B., and Dostal, J., 2009, Palaeozoic palaeogeography of Mexico: Constraints from detrital zircon age data: in Murphy, J. B., Keppie, J. D., and Hynes, A. J., eds., Ancient Orogens and Modern Analogues.: London, Geological Society, Special Publications 327 p. 239-269.
• Keppie, J. D., Dostal, J., Miller, B. V., Ramos-Arias, M. A., Morales-Gámez, M., Nance, R. D., Murphy, J. B., Ortega-Rivera, A., Lee, J. W. K., Housh, T., and Cooper, P., 2008, Ordovician-earliest Silurian rift tholeiites in the Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico: Evidence of rifting on the southern margin of the Rheic Ocean: Tectonophysics, v. 461, no. 1-4, p. 130-156.
• Hibbard, J. P., van Staal, C. R., and Miller, B.V., 2007, Links among Carolinia, Avalonia, and Ganderia in the Appalachian peri-Gondwanan realm: Special Paper Geological Society of America, v. 433, p. 291-311.
• Keppie, J. D., Dostal, J., Miller, B.V., Ortega, R. A., Roldan, Q. J., and Lee, J. W. K., 2006, Geochronology and geochemistry of the Francisco Gneiss; Triassic continental rift tholeiites on the Mexican margin of Pangea metamorphosed and exhumed in a Tertiary core complex: International Geology Review, v. 48, no. 1, p. 1-16.
• Murphy, J. B., Keppie, J. D., Nance, R. D., Miller, B. V., Dostal, J., Middleton, M., Fernandez, S. J., Jeffries, T. E., and Storey, C. D., 2006, Geochemistry and U-Pb protolith ages of eclogitic rocks of the Asis Lithodeme, Piaxtla Suite, Acatlan Complex, southern Mexico; tectonothermal activity along the southern margin of the Rheic Ocean: Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. 163, no. 4, p. 683-695.
• Nance, R. D., Miller, B. V., Keppie, J. D., Murphy, J. B., and Dostal, J., 2006, Acatlan Complex, southern Mexico: Record spanning the assembly and breakup of Pangea: Geology (Boulder), v. 34, no. 10, p. 857-860.

Experience

• Associate Professor, TAMU, Aug. 2008- present
• Assistant Professor, TAMU, Aug. 2005 – Aug. 2008 
• Research Scientist, TAMU, Jan. 2004 – Aug. 2005
• Research Assistant Professor, Univ. North Carolina, Jan. 1999 – Jan. 2004 
• Post-Doctoral Researcher, Syracuse Univ. Dec 1997 – Jan. 1999