Subdisciplines Paleoclimate and Climate |
||||||||||||
Cooperating Faculty
Our faculty use a variety of techniques to better understand paleoclimate and climate. Isotope proxy records from speleothems are used to reconstruct climate, particularly rainfall histories, to evaluate climate change and variability in the neotropics. Paleotemperature proxies are also used to interpret seawater/surface temperature during times of elevated atmospheric CO2. Our faculty and students study the processes occurring in arid soils and paleosols to better understand and quantify them. Some recent topics include the study of dust emissions from Nellis Dunes, NV, and the Salton Sea, CA; the importance of microbiotic crusts and the controls on their distribution in arid landscapes, and their controls on soil formation; the genesis and distribution of salt and carbonate minerals in arid landscapes and their controls on heavy metals and radionuclide contamination, geomorphology, & paleoclimate interpretations. The earth has changed significantly over time. UNLV Geoscience faculty work on various aspects of global change, including climate records, paleosols, and weathering relevant to the Archean and early biosphere. Our faculty and students study several geomorphic topics, including the landscape evolution of arid landforms; the genesis of hyper-arid landforms in the Atacama Desert, Chile; geomorphic processes of patterned-ground formation; geomorphic and surficial maps of Nevada and their application towards flood hazard analyses & land-use planning; and interpreting the paleoclimate and landscape evolution of arid geomorphic surfaces containing petrocalcic horizons. Our faculty use stable isotopes to better understand paleoclimate and the paleoenvironment, including topics such as the role of climate change in the tropics, including rainfall histories and climate variability, the origin of the late Neoproterozoic to Cambrian carbon isotope excursions, the relationship between sea-level change and isotope excursions, and seawater and surface temperature during times of elevated atmospheric CO2. Research areas include Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Alaska, Utah, Nevada, and China.
|
Lilly
Fong Geoscience Building (LFG) 104B Phone: 702.895.3262; FAX 702.895.4064 Email: geodept@unlv.edu |
Department of Geoscience University of Nevada, Las Vegas 4505 S. Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, NV 89154-4010 |