Research Interests

My current research interests are in structural geology, specifically forward and inverse numerical modeling of fault-related folding, seismic interpretation of complex structures, and the development of growth strata associated with fault-related folding. In addition, I have field projects underway looking at regional strain in the Blue Ridge of the Appalachians and growth structures in the Catalan Coastal Ranges of Spain. My previous work in the extraction of quantitative data from remote sensing data to constrain structural interpretation and modeling, has seen its most recent manifestation in the use of ground-based lidar to augment traditional field mapping of contractional growth strata in otherwise inaccessible surfaces, such as vertical cliffs.

Publications

Hardy, Stuart and Christopher D. Connors, 2006, A Velocity Description of Shear Fault-Bend Folding, Journal of Structural Geology, v. 28, p. 536-543. PDF

Knapp, Elizabeth P. , M. Lisa Greer, Christopher D. Connors, and David Harbor, 2006, Field-Based Instruction As Part Of A Balanced Geoscience Curriculum At Washington And Lee University, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 54, p. 103-108. PDF

Levy, S.D., P. Djalaliev, J.M. Shrestha, A. Khasymski and C. D. Connors, 2005, Cheap and Easy Parallelism for Matlab on Linux Clusters, Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems, p. 301-306. PDF

Shaw, John H., Christopher D. Connors and John Suppe, 2005, Seismic Interpretation of Contractional Fault-related Folds, An AAPG Seismic Atlas, Studies in Geology #53: Amer. Assoc. of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, OK, 156 p. INFO

Shaw, John H., Enrique Novoa and Christopher D. Connors, 2004, Structural controls on growth stratigraphy in contractional fault-related folds, in K. R. McClay, ed., Thrust Tectonics and Hydrocarbon Systems: AAPG Memoir 82, p. 400-412. PDF

Suppe, John, Christopher D. Connors and Yikun Zhang, 2004, Shear fault-bend folding, in K. R. McClay, ed., Thrust Tectonics and Hydrocarbon Systems: AAPG Memoir 82, p. 303-323. PDF

Connors, Chris and John Suppe, 2001, Constraints on magnitudes of extension on Venus from slope measurements: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 106, p. 3237-3260. PDF

Connors, Chris, 1995, Determining heights and slopes of fault scarps and other surfaces on Venus using Magellan stereo radar: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 100, p. 14361-14381. PDF

Williams, C. A., Chris Connors, F. A. Dahlen, E. J. Price, and John Suppe, 1994, Effect of the brittle-ductile transition on the topography of Compressive Mountain Belts on the Earth and Venus: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 99, p. 19947-19974. PDF

Suppe, John and Chris Connors, 1992, Critical-taper wedge mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts on Venus: initial results from magellan: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 97, p. 13545-13561. PDF