CHM 1221B
Chemistry Building
8051 Regents Drive
College Park, MD 20742

montesi [at] umd [dot] edu

Geodynamics Laboratory

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My research focuses principally on understanding the patterns of deformation that we see at the surface of the planets of the solar system. I focus mainly on the formation of mountain belts, but rifting is fine too. I am interested in structures found on Earth, Mars, Venus, and the satellites of Jupiter, Ganymede and Europa.

More specifically, I study how these patterns are influenced by the formation of faults, by the localization of deformation on narrow shear zones. I have developed a model that produces regularly-spaced faults in the lithosphere of terrestrial planets and applied to different environments.