Dr. Brian Romans

Virginia Tech

STATUS

Research Focus

  • I am a sedimentary geologist interested in reconstructing tectonic evolution, climate change, and fundamental sedimentary processes from the stratigraphic record. Although my focus is in the preserved sedimentary record, I am interested in the coupling of erosional landscapes (where sediment is produced) with depositional segments to gain a comprehensive understanding of Earth surface response to environmental change from centennial to multi-million-year timescales.

Education:

  • Ph.D. Geological & Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, 2008

  • M.S. Geology, Colorado School of Mines, 2003

  • B.S. Geology, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1997

Professional Experience:

  • Associate Professor, Virginia Tech, 2017 -

  • Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech, 2011 - 2017

  • Geologist, Chevron, 2006 - 2011

Publications

Meirovitz, C., Stright, L., Hubbard, S.M., Romans, B.W., in review, The influence of inter- and intra-channel architecture on deep-water turbidite reservoir performance: Petroleum Geoscience.

https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2020-005

Daniels, B.G., Romans, B.W., Fosdick, J., Malkowski, M., Calderon, M., Matthews, W., Hubbard, S.M., in review, Andean orogenesis during continental underthrusting and its impact on the paleogeographic evolution of the Cretaceous Magallanes-Austral foreland basin, southern Patagonia (50.6-52°S), Lithosphere.

Auchter, N.C., Romans, B.W., Hubbard, S.M., Daniels, B.G., Scher, H., Buckley, W., in press, Intrabasinal sediment recycling from strontium isotope stratigraphy: Geology.

https://doi.org/10.1130/G47594.1

Hubbard, S.M., Jobe, Z.R., Romans, B.W., Covault, J.A., Sylvester, Z., Fildani, A., in press, The stratigraphic evolution of a submarine channel: Linking seafloor dynamics to depositional products: Journal of Sedimentary Research.

Bauer, D.B., Hubbard, S.M., Covault, J.A. and Romans, B.W., 2020. Inherited depositional topography control on shelf-margin oversteepening, readjustment, and coarse-grained sediment delivery to deep water, Magallanes Basin, Chile. Frontiers in Earth Science, 7, p.358.

https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00358

Jackson, A., Stright, L., Hubbard, S.M. and Romans, B.W., 2019. Static connectivity of stacked deep-water channel elements constrained by high-resolution digital outcrop models. AAPG Bulletin, 103(12), pp.2943-2973.

https://doi.org/10.1306/03061917346

Daniels, B.G., Hubbard, S.M., Romans, B.W., Malkowski, M.A., Matthews, W.A., Bernhardt, A., Kaempfe, S.A., Jobe, Z.R., Fosdick, J.C., Schwartz, T.M. and Fildani, A., 2019. Revised chronostratigraphic framework for the Cretaceous Magallanes-Austral Basin, Última Esperanza Province, Chile. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 94, p.102209.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2019.05.025

Daniels, B.G., Auchter, N.C., Hubbard, S.M., Romans, B.W., Matthews, W.A. and Stright, L., 2018. Timing of deep-water slope evolution constrained by large-n detrital and volcanic ash zircon geochronology, Cretaceous Magallanes Basin, Chile. GSA Bulletin, 130(3-4), pp.438-454.

https://doi.org/10.1130/B31757.1

Reimchen, A.P., Hubbard, S.M., Stright, L. and Romans, B.W., 2016. Using sea-floor morphometrics to constrain stratigraphic models of sinuous submarine channel systems. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 77, pp.92-115.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2016.06.003

Auchter, N.C., Romans, B.W. and Hubbard, S.M., 2016. Influence of deposit architecture on intrastratal deformation, slope deposits of the Tres Pasos Formation, Chile. Sedimentary Geology, 341, pp.13-26.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2016.05.005

Pemberton, E.A., Hubbard, S.M., Fildani, A., Romans, B. and Stright, L., 2016. The stratigraphic expression of decreasing confinement along a deep-water sediment routing system: Outcrop example from southern Chile. Geosphere, 12(1), pp.114-134.

https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01233.1

Hubbard, S.M., Covault, J.A., Fildani, A. and Romans, B.W., 2014. Sediment transfer and deposition in slope channels: Deciphering the record of enigmatic deep-sea processes from outcrop. GSA Bulletin, 126(5-6), pp.857-871.

https://doi.org/10.1130/B30996.1

Fildani, A., Hubbard, S.M., Covault, J.A., Maier, K.L., Romans, B.W., Traer, M. and Rowland, J.C., 2013. Erosion at inception of deep-sea channels. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 41, pp.48-61.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.03.006

Romans, B.W., Fildani, A., Hubbard, S.M., Covault, J.A., Fosdick, J.C. and Graham, S.A., 2011. Evolution of deep-water stratigraphic architecture, Magallanes Basin, Chile. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 28(3), pp.612-628.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.05.002

Hubbard, S.M., Fildani, A., Romans, B.W., Covault, J.A. and McHargue, T.R., 2010. High-relief slope clinoform development: insights from outcrop, Magallanes Basin, Chile. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 80(5), pp.357-375.

https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2010.042