LIKE us on Facebook and follow our research activities! http://www.facebook.com/pages/CSUF-Kirby-Paleoclimatology-and-Paleotsunami-Laboratory/200490163340101

What's New?

1. January 2012: NSF-SGP Funded Grant! Title: Search for a Paleotsunami Record in the Wetlands of Southern California...with Dr. Brady Rhodes (CSUF). We are looking for a new MSc student to begin Fall 2012. If you are interested in joining this exciting project, call or write me or Brady.

2. December 2011: Lower Bear Lake paper submitted in review at Quaternary Science Reviews. Title? A 9170-Year Record of Centennial-to-Multi Centennial Scale Pluvial Events From Coastal Southwest North America: A Role for Atmospheric Rivers

3. June 2011: Ms. Joanna Fantozzi successfully defended her MSc thesis titled: "RECONSTRUCTION OF HYDROLOGIC VARIABILITY AT LAKE ELSINORE, CALIFORNIA, DURING THE LATE-GLACIAL TO HOLOCENE TRANSITION". Paper in prep for Fall 2011 journal submission. Joanna's thesis represents the first, high resolution, well dated, continous record of terrestrial deglaciation from coastal southwestern North America. The results are both exciting and somewhat unexpected! Stay tuned...

4. June 2011: Collected a new 8.3 meter sediment core from Silver Lake, CA (terminal basin for the Mojave River - at least most of the time). This new core spans the late-Glacial to Holocene transition according to prior work in the basin by Wells et al. (2003). Collaborators include: Dr. William "Desert Yeti" Anderson (FIU) and Dr. Ed Knell (CSUF). Our objective to improve chronological control across this important climate boundary and use various physical, chemical, and biological analyses to reconstruct past hydrologic and ecologic change in the Silver Lake basin.

5. March 2011: New Thailand sediment cores! Wow! We recovered a whole suite of very cool sediment cores from Koh Phra Thong Island. These cores contain evidence for event sedimentation (e.g. tsunami) as well as a paleoclimate story in between the event units. Interested? Send me an email or phone call.

6. October 2010: NSF-P2C2 Funded Grant! Title: 4,500 years of Hydrological Variability from Zaca Lake, close to the Santa Barbara Basin...with Dr. Sarah Feakins at the University of Southern California. I am looking for a new MSc student to begin Fall 2012. If you are interested in joining this exciting project, call or write me.

7. June 2010: A new Lake Elsinore glacial-age 20m, 10-30kyr sediment core! Are you interested in working on the highest resolution glacial-age terrestrial record from coastal southwest North America? If yes, the possibilites are limitless and promise to generate exciting new insights to glacial terrestrial climate in the climatically sensitive and economically important region of Southern CA! Write or call me to discuss possible MSc projects beginning Fall 2012 or Fall 2013.

8. Check out the Southern California Consortium for Lake Studies (SCCLS)...a new joint venture between scientists at Cal-State Fullerton and the University of Southern California. The SCCLS supports a variety of diverse projects with excellent collaborative scientist and facility opportunities. Contact any of its members if you are interested in a BSc, MSc, or PhD project.

A Quick Overview: I research late Quaternary paleoclimates with a specific focus on the last several glacials, their transitions, and the intervening interglacials. I endeavor to use multi-proxy, multi-disciplinary research methods that use historical records of climate change as a calibration for assessing past climate states. Although my present research is concentrated in lacustrine environments, I have worked in the marine realm. I suspect that my research will ultimately involve both terrestrial and marine settings as I attempt (i.e., as do many paleoclimatologists) to deconvolve the large-scale ocean-atmosphere (and solar) relationships that drive global climate change. Recently, I have been using sediments from Thailand to reconstruct past tsunami activity and past climates.

Interested in Getting a Master's Degree in Geology? If you're interested in paleoclimate studies and becoming a member of an exciting and growing department, please contact me at the e-mail address above (or the CSUF department in general).

Curriculum Vitae and Publication Links

Research (just a list of active sites - call or write me for details or check out the publications list/links)

Laboratory

Students

Spring 2012 Classes