Current Student Research:
1) I am on leave for the 2023-24 academic year.
Past Student Research:
2022-2023
1) Abby Santis investigated the role of dust deposition in the formation of high-elevation soils on mountain summits in eastern Nevada.
2020-2022
1) Elsa Soderstrom compared the properties of dust at mountain sites in southern Utah and eastern Nevada to ascertain the significance of local dust sources.
2) Jackson Hawkins studied seasonal trends in chemistry and stable isotopes in water draining from a talus in the western Green Mountains.
3) Camryn Klutmeier collaborated with me and my colleague Al Handwerger using InSAR to investigate active rock glaciers in the La Sal Mountains.
2019-2020
1) Quinn Brencher worked with my colleague Al Handwerger to use InSAR to identify active rock glaciers in the Uinta Mountains.
2) Pratt Olson separated discrete size fractions of Uinta dust and analyzed their geochemistry, mineralogy, and isotopic composition.
3) Miranda Seixas worked with my colleague Erin Eggleston to study the microbial community associated with ice and freezing water in the Winter Wonderland Ice Cave in the Uinta Mountains.
2018-2019
1) Kristin Kimble studyied cryogenic cave carbonate minerals found in Winter Wonderland Cave, a high elevation cave in the Uinta Mountains of Utah.
2) Caleb Walcott used luminescence dating to develop a chronology for the regression of pluvial Lake Clover in northeastern Nevada at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.
2017-2018
1) Emmet Norris used radiogenic isotopes of Sr and Nd to evaluate the component of alpine soils in the Uinta Mountains that is derived from eolian dust.
2016-2017
1) Luna Wasson used ICP-MS and XRF analysis to identify changes in the long-term dust flux to Taylor Lake in the Uinta Mountains, Utah.
2015-2016
1) Drew Gorin studied the stable isotope record in a speleothem from the Weybridge Cave in Vermont.
2) Ryan McElroy will used geochemical evidence to reconstruct the history of post-glacial dust deposition in Bald Lake, Uinta Mountains, Utah.
3) Sam O’Keefe used geochemical evidence to reconstruct the history of post-glacial dust deposition in Marshall Lake, Uinta Mountains, Utah.
2014-2015
Riley Ebel studied the properties and origin of extremely fine (submicron) material in alpine soils and lakes of the Uinta Mountains.
2013-2014
1) Emily Attwood investigated the properties and origin of sediment observed at the surface of melting snowbanks in the Uinta Mountains, Utah.
2) Katie Schide studied alpine pedogenesis on the Monroe Flats in the Presidential Range of New Hampshire.
3) Zach Perzan researched the age and origin of clastic sediment infilling the lowest accessible levels of the Weybridge Cave, Vermont.
2012-2013
Annika Silverman reconstructed the past 25,000 years of environmental change in the Ruby Mountains from the sedimentary record in Soldier Lake.
2011-2012
I was on sabbatical during the 2011-12 academic year and did not advise student theses.
2010-2011
1) Tom Crocker, Alena Giesche, and Luke Rahlson reconstructed Holocene history of cirque glaciers in Glacier National Park, Montana using sediment cores we collected during the summer of 2010. Tom worked on the Siyeh Glacier and Cracker Lake. Alena worked on the Harrison Glacier and Harrison Lake. Luke worked on Cosley Lake and glaciers in the headwaters of the Mokowanis River system.
2009-2010
1) Matt Bigl reconstructed Holocene environmental change from a series of sediment cores we retrieved in July 2009 from Overland Lake in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada.
2008-2009
1) Spencer Paddock studied a pair of sediment cores retrieved from Upper Kintla Lake in Glacier National Park. The cores spanned the past 1000 years and provided information about past fluctuations of the Agassiz Glacier, which has retreated rapidly since AD 1860.
2) Brett Woelber conducted grain size and carbon:nitrogen analysis on the long core Chris Rodgers and I retrieved from the Nulhegan Basin in 2006. His results indicated a period of rapidly varying hydroclimate in the early Holocene.
3) Simi Hamilton studied changes in grain size distribution, mineralogy, and biogenic silica content during the interval ~5000-4000 BP in multiple lake sediment cores from the Uinta Mountains. Many of these cores feature a pronounced low in LOI centered around 4200 BP, and Simi showed that other sedimentary properties varied at the same time, although not always in consistent ways.
2007-2008
1) Logan Duran studied the distribution of rock glaciers in the Uinta Mountains, of Utah. His results suggest that rock glaciers in the Uinta Mountains are preferentially located above the minimum elevation threshold on slopes with aspects ranging from east to south. The abundance of south-facing rock glaciers was surprising, and underscores the importance of snow avalanching in the formation of these features.
2) Andrew Peters study the geochemistry and mineralogy of the sediment core retrieved in 2005 from Marshall Lake in the Uinta Mountains. Marshall Lake is hydrologically closed most years, suggesting that it should be sensitive to changes in moisture balance, and the LOI record from the lake reveals episodes of extreme variability in the past. Andrew’s results demonstrated changes in Marshall Lake sediment that were likely due to variations in the provenance and amount of eolian dust arriving at the lake.
3) Tim Cavanaugh tested the utility of color spectrophotometry (CSP) in the analysis of lake sediment using cores from the Uinta Mountains, Nevada, and Glacier Park. His results suggest that in some cases CSP can be used as a proxy for organic matter or carbonate content, however new models need to be constructed for each individual core.
2006-2007
1) Lee Corbett completed a multi-proxy climate reconstruction for the southeastern Uinta Mountains based on sediment cores from two subalpine lakes. She determined %LOI, C:N, bSiO2, and grain size distribution in an attempt to identify the influence of changing monsoon dynamics in this area during the Holocene. Her results reveal that runoff into the two lakes was highest in the early Holocene, consistent with an enhanced monsoon at this time.
2) Chris Rodgers conducted high-resolution loss-on-ignition analyses of two sediment cores collected from lakes in northeastern Vermont in an attempt to determine the range of Holocene climate variability in this region. His results indicate that that climate of the late Holocene has been remarkably constant compared with that of previous millennia. His records also demonstrate strong centennial-scale cyclicity, as well as a 1500-yr cycle that may be similar to what has been reported from the North Atlantic.
2005-2006
I was on sabbatical during the 2005-2006 academic year and did not advise any thesis students.
2004-2005
1) Gianina Farrugia studied alpine pedogenesis on the West Chin of Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest mountain. Her project was aimed at determining the nature of the parent material for these soils.
2003-2004
1) Will Roush studied historic changes in alpine treeline in Glacier National Park through comparison of paired photographs. His fieldwork during July and August 2002 was funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. After graduation, Will received a Watson Fellowship to continue his studies of recent glacier and treeline fluctuations through rephotography in the Canadian Rockies, New Zealand, and Norway.
2) Colin Rodgers investigated a short sediment core we retrieved from Water Lily Lake in the Uinta Mountains with the help of Katrina Moser from the University of Western Ontario. His work included quantification of sediment properties including organic matter content, grain size distribution, and clay mineralogy in an effort to better understand the sedimentary environment in this pristine lake over the past few centuries.
2002-2003
1) Jeremy Shakun mapped the southern half of the Lake Fork Mountain quadrangle for the USGS EDMAP program, and reconstructed the valley glaciers of the southern Uinta Mountains during the Last Glacial Maximum.
2) Daniela Salaverry applied GIS-based photogrammetry of LANDSAT imagery to quantify the magnitude of glacier recession in the Tanggula Shan of western China over the past three decades.
2001-2002
1) Holly Carlson studied mineral tracers in surficial sediments in Vermont in an attempt to determine ice-flow directions. Her results contribute to an old debate regarding whether or not Laurentide ice entered Vermont from the northeast.
2) Fred Coriell reconstructed paleofloods over the past few decades in the Middlebury River Gorge using tree-scars as flood stage indicators. Because the Middlebury River is ungaged, his work provided information on flood magnitudes through this confined bedrock channel.
3) Anna Cotton studied the sedimentology and stratigraphy of a large alluvial fan south of Hancock, along the Main Branch of the White River. She determined the main sedimentary processes responsible for formation of this fan and, through comparison with other fans in the vicinity, determined the factors that allowed this fan to grow so large.
4) Jamie Laidlaw studied one of the lacustrine cores I retrieved from a subalpine lake in northeastern Utah. The core contains abundant charcoal, and his work quantifying the charcoal abundance produced a record of relative fire frequency over the past 5500 years.