STRAIN IS HETEROGENEOUS: THE SCIENCE AND PEDAGOGY OF ERNIE DUEBENDORFER

Over his wide-ranging career, Ernie Duebendorfer has specialized in unraveling the tectonic histories of multiply deformed terranes, both recent and ancient. His research – from elucidating the kinematic role of strike-slip faulting in large-scale extensional systems to redrawing crustal province boundaries to constraining plate tectonic reconstructions of Rodinia – demonstrates the importance and continued relevance of detailed, methodical field mapping, field- and thin-section-based structural analysis, and structurally contextualized geochronology. His meticulous datasets have allowed him to contribute to the more general understanding of geologic processes like low-angle detachment faulting, craton amalgamation, fabric overprinting and transposition, and mid-crustal pluton emplacement.

Ernie’s teaching and mentorship are rooted in a coherent philosophy emphasizing empiricism and unbiased characterization as the fundamental step in scientific problem solving. Ernie has invested his time generously toward training new generations of field geologists, sharing his insights, tricks, tips, humor, and love of the blues in the great out-of-doors. He has always practiced and encouraged his students to practice the self-discipline of accepting fair criticism and transforming it into improved science. And while Ernie is humble to a fault about his own scientific contributions, his influence on both his students and his chosen discipline have been quietly profound.