[3] Suczek's first major contribution to the scientific world of plate tectonics came in the form of her dissertation that she composed while completing her Ph.D. at Stanford University (1977).
In her dissertation, she studied the Upper Cambrian Harmony Formation in Northern Nevada, in an intent to prove if any of the plate tectonic models could be accurate.
Throughout her study, Suczek develops two models in an attempt to describe plate tectonic behaviour in connection with the Upper Cambrian Harmony Formation.
The article describes the uplifted gneissic, sedimentary and metasedimentary terrane of the western Himalayas that was produced by the closing of the ocean between India and Asia.
Part of the discussion includes references to Suczek's previous work with others where they were attempting to find data to differentiate sand weathered off orogenic belts created by continental collision.
The new data they found strongly suggests that parts of the samples show characteristics of the sands derived from collision zones as opposed to Atlantic-type margins.
[7] In 1986 and then revised in 1987, Suczek along with Paul Heller and Rowland Tabor published their paper on paleogeographic evolution of the United States Pacific Northwest during Paleogene Time in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.
To do this Suczek, Heller and Tabor looked at igneous, sedimentary and deformational histories which then allowed them to create a series of paleogeographic maps.
The Cascade Range would divert streams carrying eastern derived material, reduce sedimentation rates in the coastal basins and provide a local source of volcanic detritus.