Svalbard

This project focuses on climate change in the High Arctic. Because of the ice-albedo feedback the Arctic is experiencing warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitude sites. To put these changes in a longer-term perspective we are attempting to use the varved sediment record in glacier-fed Lake Linné and we are studying what factors influence annual sedimentation in the Lake. Summer work includes work on the Linné Glacier, the sediment flux and temperature of the inflow stream and the physical and sedimentological conditions in Lake Linné.

Costa Rica 2013

Students will investigate the morphotectonic footprint of earthquake-generated uplift on the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. This project will expand upon preliminary geomorphic, geodetic, and seismologic data showing patterns of coseismic rupture and coastal uplift generated by the recent Mw7.6 Nicoya Earthquake of 5 September 2012. Project students will build upon several decades of prior research on subduction generated coastal uplift on the Nicoya Peninsula [e.g., Hare and Gardner, 1985; Marshall and Anderson, 1995; Marshall et al., 2001-2012], including a highly successful 1998 Keck project [Gardner et al., 2001]. The participating students will conduct fieldwork along the Nicoya Peninsula coastline, learning research techniques of tectonic geomorphology, paleoseismology, and GPS geodesy.

Martian Pāhoehoe Lava

This is a comparative study of inflated and disrupted pāhoehoe lava on Mars and the Earth. The project will involve fieldwork in the Zuni-Bandera Volcanic Field of New Mexico and mapping of potentially analogous lava flows within the Elysium region of Mars.

Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Investigation of spatiotemporal changes in island shorelines due to water-level changes using the mapping and analytical tools of a geographic information system (GIS). Study area is The Massasauga Provincial Park archipelago (Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Ontario).