Geology of Truckee Meadows

Jim Faulds is the Nevada State Geologist, Director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG), and Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR).  NBMG is a research and public service unit of UNR and is the state geological survey of Nevada.  Faulds is a geologist with ~35 years of experience.  He has been with UNR and NBMG since 1997, first as Professor and then serving as NBMG Director since 2012.  Prior to joining UNR, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa and held Post-Doctoral positions at both UNLV and the University of Southern California. He earned his B.S. at the University of Montana, M.S. at the University of Arizona, and Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico.  He has studied crustal deformation in many parts of the world, including much of the western U.S., western Turkey, and New Zealand.  His research has focused on how fault systems initiate and evolve through time.  In recent years, he has been analyzing the favorable fault patterns for geothermal activity to identify hidden geothermal systems in the subsurface. His geothermal journeys have included short-term appointments with the BRGM in France and both GNS Science and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand (as an Erskine Teaching Fellow) while on sabbaticals.  He has published over 100 papers and dozens of geologic maps.  He has also taught courses in structural geology, tectonics, geothermal exploration, and field geology, while serving as advisor for more than 25 graduate students.