Daniel Brennan

Education

2018—MSc, Geology, Idaho State University
2016—BSc, Geology, Hydrogeology, University of Wisconsin--Eau Clare
2023—PhD, Geosciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Biography & Research Interests

Dan is an earth scientist who pairs field-based mapping investigations with geochronology/isotopic analysis to solve tectonic debates and address other questions of geologic and societal importance. During his MSc and PhD, Dan utilized geologic mapping to study the role that western North America played in two ancient supercontinents (a term for when most of Earth's continents were assembled in single landmass) called Rodinia and Nuna/Columbia. Dan believes accurate and high-quality geologic maps are the vital foundation upon which all earth studies, including those focused on economic mineral resources, water quality, and geologic hazards, are built.

Date	Citation
4/8/2025	Brennan, D., 2025, Structural geology--Let's think Big Picture: Guest lecture given to Montana Tech GEOE 403--Structural Geology for Engineers
3/27/2025	Brennan, D., 2025, The MBMG Geologic Mapping Program: Invited lecture given to Region 1 USFS Soil Scientist Team
5/16/2024	Brennan, D., 2024, The Late Mesoproterozoic, Post-Belt, Tectonic record of Northeastern Washington and Northern Idaho: Evidence of Grenville-Age Tectonism: Presented at Geological Society of America Rocky Mountain Sectional Meeting, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 56, no. 4, 2024
2/26/2024	Brennan, D., 2024, Geologic Time: Guest lecture given to Montana Tech GEO 101--Introduction to Physical Geology
9/4/2023	Brennan, D., 2023, Grenville-age metamorphism within the Belt basin: Invited lecture given to Idaho State University Geoscience Department Colloquium
8/18/2023	Brennan, D., 2023, The 1.4 billion-year tectonothermal history of the Lewis and Clark deformation zone: Poster presentation at Geological Society of America, Penrose Conference--Developing a New Paradigm for the Late Cretaceous to Eocene North American Cordillera: A Dominantly Oblique Plate Boundary, McCall and Riggins, Idaho, USA
3/2/2023	Brennan, D., 2023, From field to map--How GIS skills turn field observations into a published Geologic Map: Guest lecture given to Montana Tech GPHY 284-Intro to GIS Cartography
2/15/2023	Brennan, D., 2023, The Earth Dynamics Research Group, lecture given to the MBMG tectonics seminar
7/28/2022	Barrote, V., (Host) and Brennan, D.T. (Guest), July 2022, Geological Mapping [Audio podcast episode], In Gneiss Chats, Traveling Geologist Podcast Network

Year	Citation
2025	Brennan, D., and Elliott, C.G., 2025, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology STATEMAP Program 2024: Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Fact Sheet 39, 4 p.
2024	Brennan, D.T., Box, S.E., and Eyster, A., 2024, Unscrambling the Proterozoic supercontinent record of northeastern Washington State, USA, in McFaddan, M.D., and Pritchard, C.J., eds., Proterozoic Nuna to Pleistocene Megafloods: Sharing geology of the inland northwest: Geological Society of America, p. 25-57, https://doi.org/10.1130/2024.0069(02).
2024	Brennan, D.T., Sears, J.W., and Mosolf, J.G., 2024, Geologic map of the Belmont Park Ranch 7.5' quadrangle, Madison County, Montana: Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Geologic Map 99, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000.
2024	Lever, J.P., Sundell, K.E., Pearson, D.M., and Brennan, D.T., 2024, Recently identified Mesoproterozoic strata in south‐central Idaho document late‐stage rifting of the Nuna Supercontinent in Western Laurentia: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 25, p. e2024GC011503, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GC011503.
2023	Mosolf, J.G., Brennan, D.T., and Kylander-Clark, A., 2023, LA-ICPMS U-Pb geochronology data from rock samples collected in the Dillon, Ennis, Gardiner, Hamilton, Hebgen Lake, and Wisdom 30' x 60' quadrangles, western Montana, 2022-2023: Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Analytical Dataset 5.
2023	Mosolf, J.G., Brennan, D.T., Gavillot, Y., Parker, S., and Sears, J., 2023, Major oxide and trace element analyses of rock samples collected in the Dillon and Hamilton 30' x 60' quadrangles, southwest Montana: Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Analytical Dataset 2.
2022	Brennan, D.T., Link, P.K., Li, Z.-X., Martin, L., Johnson, T., Evans, N.J., and Li, J., 2022, Closing the "North American Magmatic" Gap: Crustal evolution of the Clearwater Block from multi-isotope and trace element zircon data: Precambrian Research, v. 369, p. 106533, doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106533.
2022	Brennan, D.T., Pearson, D.M., Link, P.K., and Milton J., 2022, Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic tectono-stratigraphic framework for central Idaho: Windermere Supergroup in the northern sector of the U.S. Cordillera, in Whitmeyer, S.J., Williams, M.L., Kellet, D.A., and Tikoff, B., eds, Laurentia: Turning Points in the Evolution of a Continent: GSA Memoir, v. 220, no. 23, p.457-486, doi: 10.1130/2022.1220(23).
2021	Brennan, D.T., 2021, A short hike on the edge of Ancient North America: Out There Outdoors Magazine.
2021	Brennan, D.T., Li, Z., Rankenburg, K., Evans, N., Link, P.K., Nordsvan, A.R., Kirkland, C.L., Mahoney, J.B., Johnson, T., and McDonald, B.J., 2021, Recalibrating Rodinian rifting in the northwestern United States: Geology, doi:10.1130/G48435.1/5230844/g48435.pdf.
2021	Brennan, D.T., Mahoney, J.B., Li, Z., Link, P.K., Evans, N.J., and Johnson, T.E., 2021, Detrital zircon U-Pb and Hf signatures of Paleo-Mesoproterozoic strata in the Priest River region, northwestern USA: A record of Laurentia assembly and Nuna tenure: Precambrian Research, v. 367, p. 106445, doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106445.
2021	Brennan, D.T., Mitchell, R.N., Spencer, C.J., Murphy, J.B., and Li, Z.X., 2021, A tectonic model for the Transcontinental Arch: Progressive migration of a Laurentian drainage divide during the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Sauk Transgression: Terra Nova, doi/10.1111/ter.12528.
2020	Brennan, D.T., 2020, When the Mountains Were Made: A New Geological Discovery: Idaho Magazine.
2020	Brennan, D.T., Pearson, D.M., Link, P.K., and Chamberlain, K.R., 2020, Geologic map of the Bayhorse anticline, Custer County, Idaho: Idaho Geological Survey Technical Report 20-01, scale 1:24,000.
2020	Brennan, D.T., Pearson, D.M., Link, P.K., and Chamberlain, K.R., 2020, Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup near Bayhorse, Idaho: late‐stage Rodinian rifting was deflected west around the Belt basin: Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2020tc006145.
2020	Krohe, N.J., Brennan, D.T., Link, P.K., Pearson, D.M., and Armstrong, L.T., 2020, Geologic map of the southern portion of the Clayton Quadrangle, Custer County, Idaho: Idaho Geological Survey Technical Report 20-02, scale 24,000.
2020	Nordsvan, A.R., Kirscher, U., Kirkland, C.L., Barham, M., and Brennan, D.T., 2020, Resampling (detrital) zircon age distributions for accurate multidimensional scaling solutions: Earth-Science Reviews, v. 204, p. 103149, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103149.