Julie Newman
  • Professor
  • Department Head
  • Ray C. Fish Professor
  • Structural Geology and Tectonics
Research Areas
  • The Earth System & Other Planetary Bodies

Research Interests

My research is in the fields of structural geology and tectonics. My students and I carry out field and microstructural studies of crustal and upper mantle rocks to investigate the rheology, or strength and behavior, of the earth’s lithospheric layers. When studying rocks from different crustal and upper mantle environments, we investigate deformation processes, such as mechanisms of strain localization, the influence of fluid-rock interactions on deformation, and interactions between deformation and metamorphism. By combining field data and deformation microstructures with the geochemistry of deformed rocks, we can determine the conditions of deformation, including pressures, temperatures, stresses and strain-rates. 

Some of the tools we use to carry out this work include fieldwork, optical microscopy and electron microscopy, including the electron microprobe and the scanning electron microscope with electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD).

Research Focus

  • Structural Geology and Tectonics

Educational Background

  • Ph.D. University of Rochester

Awards & Honors

  • Montague – Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar, Texas A&M University (2010)

Selected Publications

  • PRODUCTS

    DATA SYSTEM

    Walker, D., Tikoff, B., Newman, J., et al.  (2018)  StraboSpot Field: Database and mobile application for structural geology field data.  https://strabospot.org/


    EDITED VOLUME

    Groshong, R.H., Kronenberg, A.K., Couzens-Schultz, B.A., Newman, J. (guest eds.)  2014.  Fluids and structures in fold and thrust belts with recognition of the work of David V. Wiltschko.  Journal of Structural Geology, v. 69.


    RECENT PUBLICATIONS

    Wells, R.K., Holyoke, C.W., Kronenberg, A.K., Newman, J. (2019) Lattice-preferred orientation development in experimental and natural fine-grained dolomite shear zones.  Journal of Structural Geology, v. 128, 103874.  doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2019.103874

    Stewart, E, Newman, J., Tikoff, B., Donnelly, S., German, L., Chatzaras, V., Lamb, W.M., Miller, B., Kruckenberg, S.  (2019) Multiple coupled tectonic and melt-migration events recording subduction initiation, Dun Mountain Ophiolite, New Zealand.  Special Volume (Palaeozoic-Mesozoic Geology of South Island, New Zealand: Subduction-related processes adjacent to SE Gondwana), ed.: Alastair Robertson. Geological Society of London. Lyell Collection.  ISBN: 978-178629-430-1

    Walker, J.D., Tikoff, B., Newman, J., Clark, R., Ash, J., Good, J. Bunse, E.G., Möller, A., Kahn, M., Williams, R., Michels, Z., Andrew, J.E., Rufledt, C. (2019) StraboSpot data system for structural geology.  Geosphere.  doi.org/10.1130/GES02039.1  

    Tikoff, B., Chatzaras, V.,  Newman, J., Roberts, N. (2019). Big data in microstructure analysis: Building a universal orientation system for thin sections. Journal of Structural Geology. Journal of Structural Geology, doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2018.09.019

    Stewart E., Lamb, W.M., Newman, J., Tikoff, B.  (2016).  The petrologic and geochemical evolution of early forearc mantle lithosophere:  an example from the Red Hills ultramafic complex, New Zealand.  Journal of Petrology.  doi: 10.1093/petrology/egw017

    Chatzaras, V., Tikoff, B., Newman, J., Withers, A.C., Drury, M.R. (2015)  Mantle strength of the San Andreas fault system and the role of mantle-crust feedbacks.  Geology, v. 43 (10); p. 891-894. doi:10.1130/G36752.1

    Wells, R.K., Newman, J., Wojtal, S.F. (2014) Microstructures and rheology of a calcite-shale thrust fault, Journal of Structural Geology (65), pp. 69-81.    doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2014.04.002.

    Holyoke, C.W.III, Kronenberg, A.K., Newman, J., Ulrich, C. (2014) Rheology of Magnesite, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 119, 6534–6557, doi:10.1002/2013JB010541. 

    Holyoke, C.W., III, Kronenberg, A.K., Newman, J. (2014) Microstructural evolution during strain localization in dolomite aggregates.  Journal of Structural Geology (69), pp. 449-464, doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2014.04.008.

    Tikoff, B, Blenkinsop, T., Kruckenberg, S.C., Morgan, S., Newman, J., Wojtal, S. (2013) A perspective on the emergence of modern structural geology: Celebrating the feedbacks between historical-based and process-based approaches, in: (ed., M.E. Bickford) Geological Society of America 125th Anniversary Special Publication, GSA Special Papers 2013, v. 500, p. 65-119. doi:  10.1130/2013.2500(03)​ . 

    Holyoke III, C.W., Kronenberg, A.K., Newman, J. (2013) Dislocation creep of polycrystalline dolomite, Tectonophysics, doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2013.01.011. 

    Kruckenberg, S.C., Tikoff, B., Toy, V.G., Newman, J., Young, L. (2013) Strain localization associated with channelized melt flow in upper mantle lithosphere: insights from the Twin Sisters ultramafic complex, Washington, USA. Journal of Structural Geology Special Issue: Deformation Localization in Rocks, v. 50, pp. 133-147. doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2012.10.009. 

    Davis, N.E., Newman, J., Wheelock, P., Kronenberg, A.K. (2011) Grain growth kinetics of dolomite and magnesite.  Physics and Chemistry of Minerals (38), pp. 123-138, doi: 10.1007/s00269-010-0389-9. 

    Tikoff, B., Larson, C.E., Newman, J., Little, T. (2010) Field-based constraints on rheology of the lithospheric mantle, Twin Sisters, Washington.  Lithosphere (2), pp. 418-422, doi: 10.1130/L97.1. 

    Newman, J., Drury, M.R. (2010) Control of shear zone location and thickness by initial grain size variations in upper mantle peridotites.  Journal of Structural Geology (32) pp. 832-842, doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2010.06.001.

    Webber, C., Newman, J.,  Holyoke, C., Little, T., Tikoff, B., (2010) Fabric development in cm-scale shear zones in ultramafic rocks, Red Hills, New Zealand. Tectonophysics (489) pp. 55-75, doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2010.04.001. 

    Toy, V., Newman, J.,  Lamb, W.M., Tikoff, B. (2010) The role of pyroxenites in formation of shear instabilities in the mantle: Evidence from an ultramafic ultramylonite, Twin Sisters Massif, Washington.  Journal of Petrology (51), pp. 55-80, doi:10.93/petrology/egp059