I am a doctoral student in the department of Earth & Planetary Science at the University of New Mexico. I am interested in mantle-to-surface geodynamic relationships, landscape evolution, and the structural and geomorphic aspects of mountainbuilding. My advisor, Dr. Karl Karlstrom, is a structural geologist who has worked on diverse projects from Precambrian research to the neotectonic evolution of the Colorado River. My dissertation work focuses on the role the mantle may play in shaping the southern Rocky Mountain landscape; I approach this question by looking at many diverse datasets including sedimentary records, structural data, cooling histories using AFT and AHe thermochronology, and digital data compilation and reconstruction using ArcGIS. My field work takes me to places such as the San Juan ranges of SW Colorado and the Sangre de Cristo, Naciemento and Tusas ranges in northern New Mexico.
I completed my M.S. at the University of New Mexico in 2007; my thesis work focused on the Quaternary incision history of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado. I worked to quantify incision rates along the Gunnison River and how long it too to carve that spectacular canyon, when bedrock incision began, and looked into knickpoint migration and other mechanisms that may have played a role in and/or driven such huge incision.
I did my undergraduate work at the University of Oregon, where I double majored and earned a B.S. in Geological Sciences and a B.S. in Fine Arts, with an emphasis on photography (2005). While at the U of O, I also ran cross country and indoor/outdoor track and competed nationally in all three seasons (go Ducks!).
Education:
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM: M.S., Earth & Planetary Sciences. Advisor: Dr. Karl Karlstrom
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR: B.S. Geological Sciences, B.S. Fine Arts.
Publications:
Aslan, A., Karlstrom, K., Hood, W.C., Cole, R.D. Oeslelby, T.W., Betton, C., Sandoval, M.M., Darling, A., Kelley, S., Hudson, A., Kaproth, B., Schoepfer, S., Benage, M., and Landman, R., 2008, River incision histories of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Unaweep Canyon: Interplay between late Cenozoic tectonism, climate change, and drainage integration in the western Rocky Mountains, in Raynolds, R.G., ed., Roaming the Rocky Mountains and Environs: Geological Field Trips: Geological Society of America Field Guide 10, p. 175-202.
Sandoval, M. Magdalena, 2007: Quaternary Incision History of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado: Thesis, University of New Mexico.
Karlstrom, Karl E., Kirby, Eric, Kelley, Shari, Aslan, A, Sandoval, M. Magdalena, Crow, Ryan, 2007: Neotectonic influences on the longitudinal profile of the Colorado River system in Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains. Geological Society of America Paper 71-1.
Sandoval, M. Magdalena, Karlstrom, Karl E., Aslan, Andres, Kirby, Eric, Granger, Darryl, 2006: Incision History of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, CO. Eos Trans. AGU, 87(52), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract T11A-0421.
Sandoval, M. Magdalena, Karlstrom, Karl E., Coblentz, David, Aslan, A., 2006: Incision history of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison: Update and Summary of Available Constraints and Problems. Geological Society of America: Rocky Mountain Section Paper 8-9.
Gardner, J.N., Goff, F., Reneau, S.L., Sandoval, M.M., Drakos, P.G., Katzman, D., and Goff, C.J., 2006: Geological map of the Valle Toledo quadrangle, Los Alamos and Sandoval Counties, New Mexico. New Mexico burearu of Mines and Mineral Resources Map, OF-GM 133, scale 1:24,000.