Dr. J. Michael Timmons

J. Michael Timmons is the Director and State Geologist at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. During his undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Mike first came to New Mexico in 1994 to map east of Albuquerque in the Sandia Park quadrangle. After finishing his undergraduate studies in 1995, Mike moved to Albuquerque for graduate work at the University of New Mexico. At UNM, Mike worked on the Late Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks of the Chuar Group in Grand Canyon during his masters thesis studies. Later during his dissertation studies, he worked on the Late Mesoproterozoic Unkar Group of the Grand Canyon and received a Ph.D. in geology in May, 2004.

In 2004, Mike was hired as a field geologist and manager of the Bureau's Geologic Mapping Program. As manager of the Bureau’s Geologic Mapping Program, he was tasked with leading one of the Nation’s most successful mapping programs. During the first 18 years of Mike's leadership, the program expanded, through soft money contracts, geologic mapping staff, and GIS staff. We remained the nation’s leading Geologic Mapping Program, securing more funding from the National Cooperative Mapping Program at the U.S.G.S than any other state survey.

Vision for the future Bureau of Geology
The Bureau of Geology, as the state’s geological survey, has a critical role to play in the future health and prosperity of the state. Some of the state’s most pressing societal challenges stem from the availability and accessibility of the state's natural resources. Whether it is understanding the quality, quantity, and distribution of the state’s fresh and brackish water resources, understanding the availability and potential economic value of critical and strategic minerals, or understanding the geologic framework for natural storage of carbon and hydrogen in a low carbon energy future, the bureau has the institutional knowledge, data, and research skills for evaluating all of these resources.

Beyond our ability to tackle some of the most challenging resource questions, we are an agency on the cusp of the modern digital era. The new digital data paradigm will challenge all the geosciences to make our data more accessible, interoperable with other data in a national framework, and machine-readable to open new frontiers in data visualizations and applications.

The Bureau of Geology will continue to find opportunities for research and service on the variety of resource challenges facing the state through the robust application of science, openly engage with the state’s leadership regarding natural resource issues through the robust application of science, and find new avenues for collaboration and research with partners at NMT, universities, national laboratories, state, tribal and federal agencies.

Mike and his wife (Stacy Timmons) live in Socorro, NM.

• Ph.D., 2004, Geology, University of New Mexico, Dissertation: "Mesoproterozoic Tectonic evolution of southwestern North America: protracted intracratonic deformation, sedimentation, and differential exhumation in Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountain Region"
• M.S., 1999, Geology, University of New Mexico, Thesis: "Proterozoic multistage (~1.1 and ~0.8 Ga) extension in the Grand Canyon Supergroup and establishment of northwest and north-south tectonic grains in the southwestern United States"
• B.S., 1995, Geology, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Field geology
• Structural geology
• Grand Canyon Geology
• Mid-Late Proterozoic Geology of North America
• Basement cooling histories determined from ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronologic studies
• Proterozoic ancestry of Phanerozoic deformational structures in the Southwest
• Brittle structural history of the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico
• Ancestral Rocky Mountain deformation in New Mexico and Colorado
• Proterozoic geology of New Mexico, with emphasis on structure and tectonics
• Applied sedimentology to structural problems in sedimentary rocks

• STATEMAP Program activities
• Training astronauts with NASA
• Geometry and kinematics of faults in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico.
• Timing of Proterozoic deformation and plutonism in the Northern Truchas Peaks, New Mexico.
• Advances in Understanding the Geology of Eastern Grand Canyon: results from recent 1:24,000 mapping in Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon Association Monograph.

Refereed Journals:

1. Dehler, C. A., Schmitz, M. D., Bullard, A., Blakey, R. , Timmons, J. M., Karlstrom, K. E. and Crossey, L., in review, A new CA-ID-TIMS age model for the Chuar, Uinta Mountain, and Pahrump (ChUMP) groups: Implications for Late Tonian Paleogeography of Southwestern Laurentia, Precambrian Research.
2. Ricketts, J. W.. ,Roiz, J., Karlstrom, K. E., Heizler, M. T., Guenthner, W. R., and Timmons, J. M., in review, Tectonic origin of the Great Unconformities of the Rocky Mountain region: the power of combined zircon (U/Th)-He and K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology, Geology.
3. Thurston, O. G., Guenthner, W. R., Karlstrom, K. E., Ricketts J. W., Heizler, M. T. and Timmons, J. M., in review, ZrHe thermochronology of Grand Canyon resolves both ends of the timescale: 1250 Ma unroofing at the Great Unconformity and 20 to 0 Ma canyon carving, Geology.
4. Mulder, J., Heizler, M., Pecha, M., Crossey, L., Gehrels, G., Karlstrom, K. E., Fletcher, K. and Timmons, J. M., 2017, The syn-orogenic sedimentary record of the Grenville Orogeny in southwest Laurentia, Precambrian Research.
5. Dehler, C. Dehrels, G. Porter, S., Heizler, M., Cox, G., Karlstrom, K., Crossey, L., Timmons, J.M., 2017, Synthesis of the 780-740 Ma Chuar, Uinta Mountain, and Pahrump (ChUMP) groups, western USA; implications for Laurentia-wide cratonic marine basins. Geological Society of America Bulletin, February 17, 2017, Vol. Pre-Issue Publication.
6. Kinzli, K., Shafike, N., Bauer, P., Lundahl, A., Schmidt Petersen, R., Harris, S., Lewis, G., Johnson, P., and Timmons, J.M., 2013, Quantifying river accretion in the upper Rio Grande gorge, New Mexico, by using an acoustic Doppler current profiler, River Research and Applications, Vol. 29, Issue 1, pp. 4-16.
7. Gehrels, G. E,, Blakey, R., Karlstrom, K. E., Timmons, J. M., Dickinson, B., and Pecha, M., 2011, Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of Paleozoic strata in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, Lithosphere, v. 3, n. 3, pp. 183-200.
8. Bloch, J. D., Timmons, J. M., Crossey, L. J., Gehrels, G. E., and Karlstrom, K. E., 2006, Mudstone petrology of the Mesoproterozoic Unkar Group, Grand Canyon: Provenance, weathering, and sediment transport on intracratonic Rodinia, Journal of Sedimentary Research, 76, pp. 1106-1119.
9. Cather, S. M., Read, A. S., Krainer, K., Kelley, S. A., Kues, B. S., Allen, D. B., Timmons, J. M., 2007, Analysis of proximal syntectonic Pennsylvanian deposits yields definitive evidence of major Phanerozoic slip on Picuris-Pecos Fault, north-central New Mexico, New Mexico Geology, Vol. 29, Issue 2, pp. 57.
10. Cather, S. M., Karlstrom, K. E., Timmons, J. M., and Heizler, M. T., 2006, A Palinspastic Reconstruction of Proterozoic basement-related aeromagnetic features in north-central New Mexico: Implications for Mesoproterozoic to Late Cenozoic tectonism, Geosphere, v. 2; no. 6; pp. 299-323.
11. Timmons, J. M., Karlstrom, K. E., Heizler, M. T., Bowring, S. A., Gehrels, G. E., and Crossey, L. J., 2005, Tectonic inferences from the ca. 1254 -1100 Ma Unkar Group and Nankoweap Formation, Grand Canyon: Intracratonic deformation and basin formation during protracted Grenville orogenesis, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v.117, no.11/12, p. 1573-1595.
12. Timmons, J.M., Karlstrom, K.E., Dehler, C.M., Geissman, J.W., and Heizler, M.T., 2001, Proterozoic multistage (~1.1 and ~0.8 Ga) extension in the Grand Canyon Supergroup and establishment of northwest and north-south tectonic grains in the southwestern United States, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 113, no. 2, p163-180.

Books and Edited Volumes:

1. Bauer, P.W., Zimmerer, M., Timmons, J. M., Felix, B. and Harris, S., 2021, The Rio Chama: A River Guide to the Geology and Landscapes, Field Guide, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, 134 pp.
2. Zeigler, K., Timmons, J.M., Timmons, S.S., Semken, S., 2013, Geology of Route 66 Region: Flagstaff to Grants: New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, 64th Annual Field Conference, 117 pp.
3. Timmons, J. M. and Karlstrom K. E. eds., 2012, Grand Canyon Geology: Two Billion Years of Earth’s History, Geological Society of America Special Paper 489.
4. Timmons, J.M., Bloch, J.D., Fletcher, K.E., Karlstrom, K.E., Heizler, M.T., Gehrels, G., Crossey, L.J., 2012, The Grand Canyon Unkar Group: Mesoproterozoic basin formation in the continental interior during supercontinent assembly, in Timmons, J. M. and Karlstrom K. E. eds., Grand Canyon Geology: Two Billion Years of Earth’s History, Geological Society of America Special Paper 489.
5. Dehler, C.M., Porter, S., and Timmons, J.M., 2012, The Neoproterozoic Earth System Revealed From the Chuar Group of Grand Canyon, in Timmons, J. M. and Karlstrom K. E. eds., Grand Canyon Geology: Two Billion Years of Earth’s History, Geological Society of America Special Paper 489.
6. Karlstrom, K. E. and Timmons, J. M., 2012, Many Unconformities make one Great Unconformity, in Timmons, J. M. and Karlstrom K. E. eds., Grand Canyon Geology: Two Billion Years of Earth’s History, Geological Society of America Special Paper 489.
7. Karlstrom, K. E. and Timmons, J. M., 2012, Faulting and Uplift in the Grand Canyon Region, in Timmons, J. M. and Karlstrom K. E. eds., Grand Canyon Geology: Two Billion Years of Earth’s History, Geological Society of America Special Paper 489.

Geologic Maps:

1. Aby, S. and Timmons, J. M., 2018, Geologic map of the Tierra Amarilla 7.5 minute quadrangle, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Open-file Geologic Map 268, scale 1:24,000.
2. Allen, B. D.; Timmons, J. M., Luther, A. L.; Miller, P. L.; Love, D. W., 2014, Geologic map of the Cerro Montoso 7.5-minute quadrangle, Socorro County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Open-file Geologic Map 238, scale 1:24,000.
3. Timmons, J. M., and Cikoski, C. T., 2012, Geologic map of the San Rafael quadrangle, Cibola County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Open-file Geologic Map 232, scale 1:24,000.
4. Timmons, J. M., 2010, Geologic map of the Nelson Canyon West Quadrangle, Lincoln County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Open-file Geologic Map OFGM 197, scale 1:24,000.
5. Timmons, J. M., 2008, Geologic Map of the Flying H NW 7.5-minute quadrangle, Lincoln and Chaves Counties, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Open-file Geologic Map OFGM 173, scale 1:24,000.
6. Timmons, J. M., Karlstrom, K.E., Pederson, J., and Anders, M., 2007, Geologic Map of the Butte Fault / East Kaibab Monocline Area, Eastern Grand Canyon, Arizona, Grand Canyon Association, 1:24,000.