Personal headshot; Chance in the field.

Chance Ronemus

PhD
Pronouns: He/Him

Contact information

Web presence

Location

Office: ES538

I'm looking for...

Research assistants

M.Sc. and Ph.D. positions available: Funding provided, January or September 2027 start. Please reach out. Details at chanceronemus.com/join.

Funding

Opportunities for industry collaboration and partnership, built around the relevance of my research to subsurface energy and mineral exploration.

Background

Educational Background

Ph.D. Geoscience, University of Arizona, 2025

M.S. Geology, Montana State University, 2021

B.S. Geology (Highest Honors), Montana State University, 2019

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Energy & Environment at the University of Calgary. Before joining Calgary, I was an NSF Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellow at Idaho State University, earned my Ph.D. from the University of Arizona, and held a Fulbright scholarship in Mendoza, Argentina.

My research integrates field-based sedimentology with geo/thermochronology and geochemistry to reconstruct how tectonic processes shape continental margins, from the deep crust to the surface. I work primarily in the Andes of Argentina and Chile and the northern US/Canadian Rocky Mountains. More at chanceronemus.com.

Research

Areas of Research

Tectonic evolution of Cordilleran systems

How subduction-related mountain belts in North and South America grow and evolve, from the deep crust to the surface.

Forearc and foreland basin evolution

How flexural foreland basins interact with adjacent fold-thrust belts, and what forearc records tell us about the evolution of continental margins more broadly.

Zircon Petrochronology

Zircon petrochronology as a proxy for Cordilleran arc evolution—extracting crustal thickness and oxygen fugacity information from the detrital record. 

Stable Isotope Paleotopography & Paleoclimate

Using volcanic glass and lacustrine/pedogenic carbonate stable isotopes to explore the evolution of orogenic topography and continental hydroclimate.

Awards

  • Earth Science Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, U.S. National Science Foundation. 2025
  • Fulbright Research Scholarship, U.S. Fulbright Program. 2024

Publications