Dr. Shahin Dashtgard

Research Focus

My current research is focused in two areas: 1) resolving depositional cyclicity and evolution of convergent-margin basins (CMBs); and, 2) evaluating fluvio-tidal strata through time and space.

My work on CMBs occurs in both the Georgia Basin, Canada and the Western Foreland Basin, Taiwan. In the Georgia Basin, my students and I have developed and continue to refine a genetic stratigraphic framework for the Cretaceous, lower Nanaimo Group using outcrop exposures, subsurface cores, and detrital zircon. We have also generated paleogeographic reocnstructions for the region which bring much needed clarity to the geology of this complex basin. We are now extending our work into the subsurface and temporally into the Cenozoic with the intent of assessing the potential of the Nanaimo Group and other sedimentary strata for the long-term storgae of CO₂ (particulalry below the city of Vancouver). In the Western Foreland Basin (WFB), Taiwan we are using cyclostratigraphy, geochemistry and both outcrop and subsurface geophysical datasets through the Pliocene and Pleistocene  to resolve depositional and climatic cycles and assess the evolution of Taiwan and the adjacent strait. Our Taiwan research is being conducted in collaboration with members of the international research group, Paleoclimate Records In Shallow-Marine Strata (PRISMS).

My work on fluvio-tidal deposits includes understanding these deposits both in modern rivers and in the rock record. My research team and I have worked extensively (and continue to work) on the fluvio-tidal zone in the Fraser River, Canada, and we recently completed a major assessment of the oil sands-hosting McMurray Formation, Alberta, Canada. Int he Fraser River, we have assessed the character and distribution of sediments along the fluvio-tidal transition, and in the delta and adjacent tidal flats. For the McMurray Fm, we contributed extensively to a basin-wide sequence stratigraphic model of the Athabasca Oil Sands, and have characterized the complex, stacked fluvio-tidal strata therein.

Undergraduate Teaching

Graduate Classes Taught

EASC 610 - Petroleum Geology 

EASC 611 - Advanced Sedimentology

EASC 622 - Principles of Ichnology

EASC 707 - Special Topics - Scientific Writing

EASC 711 - Special Topics - Introduction to Sediment Geochemistry