Past Projects

What:  The southwest Montana project aims to characterize the protoliths, the grade and timing of metamorphism, and the intensity and nature of tectonism of metasupracrustal rocks that occur along the western flank of the Ruby Range, and to integrate these findings...

At a time of dramatic worldwide coral reef decline, much of modern coral reef science has necessarily focused on what contributes to the demise of coral reef systems. But for reef conservation and protection efforts to become significantly more effective, it is...

What: This project focuses on the tectonic evolution of the Chugach-Prince William terrane in south central Alaska, and it is a continuation of our 2011-13 Keck projects.  The Chugach-Prince William terrane is a thick accretionary complex dominated by...

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.

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.