Courses Taught

GEOS 3360 - Optical Mineralogy
GEOS 4400 - Petrology and Petrography

Field Geology in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Field Geology in the northern Rocky Mountains
Field Geology in Colorado

A variety related to the content and presentation of geology in the K-12 classrooms.

All of my research has evolved around displacements of materials and how they can be predicted or measured based on field data.In earlier days,I investigated the emplacement mechanisms for the northeastern sector of the Idaho batholith and how that emplacement affected the tectonic evolution of west-central Montana.This study involved field mapping in beautiful and rugged terrane, chemical and petrographic analyses,statistical structural analysis,and radiometric dating using U-Pb and Rb-Sr techniques.Funding came from three NSF Grants and two WMU Faculty Grants. I also studied for several years the effects of Precambrian basement-rock compositions and fabrics on the development of Mesozoic/Cenozoic, Rocky Mountain foreland folds.This study involved largely field investigations at a number of locations between Montana and New Mexico.Funding came from two NSF Grants.

Most recently, I am applying techniques of structural analysis and rock/soil mechanics to landslide problems. Current projects involve the application of new measuring and geometric reconstruction techniques,strength analysis of rocks and soil layers,and computer simulations of landslides and their structural evolution.Ongoing funding is from grants provided by the U.S.Army Research Office and the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers.

Charey, T.L., Chase, R.B., and Schmidt, C.J., 2004 Precambrian influences on the development of the Royal Gorge arch, Colorado: A thick-skinned fault-propagation fold: The Mountain Geologist, Vol. 41, No. 1, p. 17-32.

Chase, R.B., and Kehew, A.E., 2003, Ground water and slope stabilitiy contributions in, Keillor, J.P., Living on the Coast: Protecting Investments in Shore Property on the Great Lakes, University of Wisconsin, Sea Grant Advisory Services, 49 pp.

Chase, R.B., Kehew, A.E., and Montgomery, W.W., 2001, Significance of ground water in triggering cohesive bluff failures, Lake Michigan case study: Proceedings of the Coastal Zone 01 Conference, NOAA, Cleveland, OH.

Chase, R.B., Kehew, A.E., and Montgomery, W.W., 2001, Determination of slope displacements and causes using geometric models and climate data: p. 57 - 87 in, Harmon, R.S., and Doe III, W.W., (eds), Landscape Erosion and Evolution Modeling: New York, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 540 pp.

Chase, R.B., Chase, K.E., Kehew, A.E., and Montgomery, W.W., 2001, Determining the kinematics of slope movements using low-cost monitoring and cross-section balancing: Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, v. VII, No. 2, p. 193 - 203.