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Jaime Hirtz

I am a Geologist with the Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center based in Lakewood, CO.

I am part of the National Geologic Synthesis Project currently interested in addressing societal and scientific goals and objectives through geologic research. My work involves developing digital databases of geologic maps to produce a unified geologic two- and three-dimensional map and model of the United States. This work supports research endeavors related to societal needs through land management, resource assessment, hydrology and ecology protection, infrastructure development, and natural hazard mitigation; in addition to scientific studies concerning basin analysis, landscape evolution, and paleotectonic models.

Professional Experience

  • 2022 – Present: Geologist, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO.

  • 2021 – 2022: Contractor, Geoscience and Environmental Change Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO.

  • 2019 – 2021: Graduate Teaching Assistant, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

  • 2019: Intern, National Association of Geoscience Teachers Cooperative Fellowship Program and Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO.

  • 2014 – 2018: Undergraduate Research Assistant, Non-vertebrate Paleontology Lab and Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

Education and Certifications

  • 2021: M.S. Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

  • 2019: B.S. Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

Science and Products

link
View toward Blanca Peak, Colorado

National Geologic Synthesis

The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) Strategic Plan of 2020 calls for the creation of a “variable-scale, national, integrated 2D and 3D geologic-framework model that enables the seamless construction of geologic maps within user-defined regions of interest across the United States by the year 2030” (USGS Open-File Report 2021-1013*). Congress recently directed NCGMP to “bring...
By
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
link

National Geologic Synthesis

The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) Strategic Plan of 2020 calls for the creation of a “variable-scale, national, integrated 2D and 3D geologic-framework model that enables the seamless construction of geologic maps within user-defined regions of interest across the United States by the year 2030” (USGS Open-File Report 2021-1013*). Congress recently directed NCGMP to “bring...
Learn More

Digital database of the previously published geomorphic-structural map of the Ouachita Mountains

The Ouachita Mountains record the late Paleozoic Laurentia-Gondwana orogenic event along southern Paleo-North America during Pangea supercontinent formation. This data release contains a digital compilation of geomorphic-structural information from the Ouachita Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Arkansas as previously published by Arbenz (2008). The geodatabase, presented herein,
By
Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Digital database of the previously published geologic map of the Scottsbluff 1° x 2° quadrangle, Nebraska and Colorado

This data release contains a digital compilation of geologic data from the Scottsbluff 1° x 2° quadrangle of western Nebraska and northeastern Colorado, a region predominantly characterized by Quaternary and Tertiary sedimentary and extrusive igneous rocks. This geodatabase, digitized from published resources, includes the position of volcanic ash-bed localities, structural data of inclined beds,
By
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Literature compilation of paleocurrent data from the Late Paleozoic Ouachita orogen, Oklahoma-Arkansas, U.S.A.

This digital geospatial compilation gathered paleoflow indicators from current-formed sedimentary structures throughout the Paleozoic Ozark uplift, Arkoma foreland basin, and Ouachita fold-thrust-belt of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas from existing publications. This dataset consists of unidirectional and bidirectional paleocurrents observed from a variety of bedform types represented by ap
By
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Peri-Gondwanan sediment in the Arkoma Basin derived from the north: The detrital zircon record of a uniquely concentrated non-Laurentian source signal in the late Paleozoic

During the assembly of Pangea, peri-Gondwanan terranes collided with the eastern and southern margins of Laurentia and brought with them unique detrital zircon U-Pb signatures. Discriminating between individual peri-Gondwanan terranes in the detrital record is difficult due to their similar geologic histories. However, characterization of this provenance is critical for understanding late Paleozoi
Authors
Tyson Michael Smith, Marieke Dechesne, Jaime Ann Megumi Hirtz, Glenn R. Sharman, Mark R. Hudson, Brandon Michael Lutz, Neil Patrick Griffis
By
Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Influence of inherited structure on flexural extension in foreland basin systems: Evidence from the northern Arkoma basin and southern Ozark dome, USA

Extensional faults are key components of foreland basin systems. They form within the upper crust in response to flexure of the lithosphere and accommodate subsidence within the foredeep and forebulge depozones. Such faults are excellent proxies for orogenic system evolution and control the distribution of natural resources and hazards. However, the spatiotemporal evolution of flexural extension h
Authors
Brandon Michael Lutz, Mark R. Hudson, Tyson Michael Smith, Marieke Dechesne, Leland Robson Spangler, Anne E. McCafferty, Chelsea Morgan Amaral, Neil Patrick Griffis, Jaime Ann Megumi Hirtz
By
Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Hirtz, J.A.M., Constenius, K.N., Horton, B.K., Valencia, V.A., and Pratt, B.R., 2024, Continental-scale drainage reorganization during Mesoproterozoic orogenesis: Evidence from the Belt Basin of western North America: Geosphere, v. 20, no. 4, p. 1133–1161, https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02732.1
Hirtz, J.A.M., Constenius, K.N., Horton, B.K., Valencia, V.A., and Pratt, B.R., 2023, Depositional chronology and provenance of the northeastern Belt Basin: Evidence for early Mesoproterozoic North American drainage reorganization, in Lewis, R., and English, A., 2023, Belt Symposium VI and other papers, Salmon, Idaho: Tobacco Root Geological Society Northwest Geology 52, 252 p.
Foster, W.J., Hirtz, J.A., Farrell, C., Reistroffer, M., Twitchett, R.J., and Martindale, R.C., 2022, Bioindicators of severe ocean acidification are absent from the end-Permian mass extinction: Scientific Reports, v. 12, article no. 1202. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-04991-9
Capaldi, T.N., George, S.W.M., Hirtz, J.A., Horton, B.K., and Stockli, D.F., 2019, Fluvial and Eolian Sediment Mixing During Changing Climate Conditions Recorded in Holocene Andean Foreland Deposits From Argentina (31–33°S): Frontiers in Earth Science, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00298
Foster, W.J., Lehrmann, D.J., Hirtz, J.A., White, M. ,Yu, M., Li, J., and Martindale, R.C., 2019, Early Triassic benthic invertebrates from the Great Bank of Guizhou, South China: systematic palaeontology and palaeobiology: Papers in Palaeontology. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1252

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science and Products

link
View toward Blanca Peak, Colorado

National Geologic Synthesis

The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) Strategic Plan of 2020 calls for the creation of a “variable-scale, national, integrated 2D and 3D geologic-framework model that enables the seamless construction of geologic maps within user-defined regions of interest across the United States by the year 2030” (USGS Open-File Report 2021-1013*). Congress recently directed NCGMP to “bring...
By
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
link

National Geologic Synthesis

The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) Strategic Plan of 2020 calls for the creation of a “variable-scale, national, integrated 2D and 3D geologic-framework model that enables the seamless construction of geologic maps within user-defined regions of interest across the United States by the year 2030” (USGS Open-File Report 2021-1013*). Congress recently directed NCGMP to “bring...
Learn More

Digital database of the previously published geomorphic-structural map of the Ouachita Mountains

The Ouachita Mountains record the late Paleozoic Laurentia-Gondwana orogenic event along southern Paleo-North America during Pangea supercontinent formation. This data release contains a digital compilation of geomorphic-structural information from the Ouachita Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Arkansas as previously published by Arbenz (2008). The geodatabase, presented herein,
By
Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Digital database of the previously published geologic map of the Scottsbluff 1° x 2° quadrangle, Nebraska and Colorado

This data release contains a digital compilation of geologic data from the Scottsbluff 1° x 2° quadrangle of western Nebraska and northeastern Colorado, a region predominantly characterized by Quaternary and Tertiary sedimentary and extrusive igneous rocks. This geodatabase, digitized from published resources, includes the position of volcanic ash-bed localities, structural data of inclined beds,
By
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Literature compilation of paleocurrent data from the Late Paleozoic Ouachita orogen, Oklahoma-Arkansas, U.S.A.

This digital geospatial compilation gathered paleoflow indicators from current-formed sedimentary structures throughout the Paleozoic Ozark uplift, Arkoma foreland basin, and Ouachita fold-thrust-belt of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas from existing publications. This dataset consists of unidirectional and bidirectional paleocurrents observed from a variety of bedform types represented by ap
By
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Peri-Gondwanan sediment in the Arkoma Basin derived from the north: The detrital zircon record of a uniquely concentrated non-Laurentian source signal in the late Paleozoic

During the assembly of Pangea, peri-Gondwanan terranes collided with the eastern and southern margins of Laurentia and brought with them unique detrital zircon U-Pb signatures. Discriminating between individual peri-Gondwanan terranes in the detrital record is difficult due to their similar geologic histories. However, characterization of this provenance is critical for understanding late Paleozoi
Authors
Tyson Michael Smith, Marieke Dechesne, Jaime Ann Megumi Hirtz, Glenn R. Sharman, Mark R. Hudson, Brandon Michael Lutz, Neil Patrick Griffis
By
Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Influence of inherited structure on flexural extension in foreland basin systems: Evidence from the northern Arkoma basin and southern Ozark dome, USA

Extensional faults are key components of foreland basin systems. They form within the upper crust in response to flexure of the lithosphere and accommodate subsidence within the foredeep and forebulge depozones. Such faults are excellent proxies for orogenic system evolution and control the distribution of natural resources and hazards. However, the spatiotemporal evolution of flexural extension h
Authors
Brandon Michael Lutz, Mark R. Hudson, Tyson Michael Smith, Marieke Dechesne, Leland Robson Spangler, Anne E. McCafferty, Chelsea Morgan Amaral, Neil Patrick Griffis, Jaime Ann Megumi Hirtz
By
Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Hirtz, J.A.M., Constenius, K.N., Horton, B.K., Valencia, V.A., and Pratt, B.R., 2024, Continental-scale drainage reorganization during Mesoproterozoic orogenesis: Evidence from the Belt Basin of western North America: Geosphere, v. 20, no. 4, p. 1133–1161, https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02732.1
Hirtz, J.A.M., Constenius, K.N., Horton, B.K., Valencia, V.A., and Pratt, B.R., 2023, Depositional chronology and provenance of the northeastern Belt Basin: Evidence for early Mesoproterozoic North American drainage reorganization, in Lewis, R., and English, A., 2023, Belt Symposium VI and other papers, Salmon, Idaho: Tobacco Root Geological Society Northwest Geology 52, 252 p.
Foster, W.J., Hirtz, J.A., Farrell, C., Reistroffer, M., Twitchett, R.J., and Martindale, R.C., 2022, Bioindicators of severe ocean acidification are absent from the end-Permian mass extinction: Scientific Reports, v. 12, article no. 1202. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-04991-9
Capaldi, T.N., George, S.W.M., Hirtz, J.A., Horton, B.K., and Stockli, D.F., 2019, Fluvial and Eolian Sediment Mixing During Changing Climate Conditions Recorded in Holocene Andean Foreland Deposits From Argentina (31–33°S): Frontiers in Earth Science, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00298
Foster, W.J., Lehrmann, D.J., Hirtz, J.A., White, M. ,Yu, M., Li, J., and Martindale, R.C., 2019, Early Triassic benthic invertebrates from the Great Bank of Guizhou, South China: systematic palaeontology and palaeobiology: Papers in Palaeontology. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1252

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

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