Professional Background

• Lab Director: Las Vegas Isotope Science Lab (LVIS)
• Assistant Professor of Geology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
   (2003- present)
• Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2002-2003)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City,    Panamá (2001-2002)
• Ph.D. in Paleoclimatology at Syracuse University, New York (2001)
• Fulbright Fellow to Costa Rica, for dissertation research in paleoclimatology    (2000-2001)
• M.S. in Quaternary Geology and Hydrogeology, Michigan State University    (1997)
• B.A. in Geology, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio (1995)

Research Grants and Academic Awards:

• Millennial-scale tropical rainfall variability from 100 to 20 ka: Testing     cross- isthmian water vapor transport and feedbacks on thermohaline     circulation. National Science Foundation, Paleoclimate Program. 2007.     Collaborative with Yemane Asmerom at University of New Mexico.
• Climatic instability in interior Alaska from the isotopic record of Late     Quaternary ground ice, National Science Foundation, Arctic Programs.     2007. Collaborative with Dan Lawson, CRREL, New Hampshire.
•  Acquisition of a Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for Earth Systems     Science Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 2005. National     Science Foundation, Major Research Instrumentation Program.
•  A Holocene history of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, solar variability, and     the Central American Monsoon from speleothem calcite. 2003-2005.     National Science Foundation.

International Experience

• Ongoing field research in Central and South America (Panamá, Costa Rica,    Brazil, and Mexico)
• Speaks Spanish; proficient in Portuguese

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Teaching

Undergraduate:
• GEOG 101 Physical Geography
• GEOL 110 Global Warming (Starting Spring 2009)
• GEOL 333 Principles of Geomorphology (every Spring Semester)
• GEOL 334 Environmental Geology
• GEOL 437 Paleoclimatology
• Death Valley Field Trip Photographic Highlights: 2005, 2006, 2007

Graduate:
• GEOL 637 - Paleoclimatology
• GEOL 707 - Stable Isotope Geochemistry
• GEOL 730 - Seminar in Quaternary Studies

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Research

Dr. Lachniet has an active research program in which he uses light stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry, hydrology, speleology, glacial geology, geomorphology, and the sedimentary record to answer questions of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change. His primary research areas are Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Alaska, and the Great Basin. 

His research goal is to constrain past climate changes in these regions using proxy records. He is particularly interested in generating rainfall histories for Central America and to evaluate the climate forcings of climate change and variability in the neotropics. What processes control tropical and subtropical paleoclimates? Do the tropics have a stable or unstable climate? As the 'heat engine' of the earth, do the tropics drive climate change in higher latitudes? Or do the tropics respond passively to extratropical climate perturbations? How has the El Niño/Southern Oscillation changed over time? What will be the tropical response to anthropogenic climate change? These are some of the questions he is attempting to answer with his research.

His research attempts to resolve this problem through generation of high-resolution (sub-annual to decadal), precisely dated, quantitative isotopic proxy records from speleothems (cave calcite deposits). Speleothem isotopic records will help to resolve continuing debates about tropical-extratropical teleconnections on both a regional and a global scale, and provide insight into the history and dynamics of monsoonal precipitation. Together with studies on modern stable isotope climatology and hydrology, and traditional geologic investigations such as tropical glaciation, his research is making substantial progress in elucidating neotropical Quaternary paleoclimates.

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Selected Publications

(Full Publication List)

Lachniet, M.S., Patterson, W. P., Burns, S. J., Asmerom, Y., and Polyak, V. J. (2007). Caribbean and Pacific moisture sources on the Isthmus of Panama revealed from stalagmite and surface water δ18O gradients. Geophysical Research Letters 34, doi:10.1029/2006GL028469. (PDF)

Lachniet, M.S., 2007. Glacial Geology and Geomorphology. In: J. Bundschuh and G. Alvarado (Editors), Central America: Geology, Resources, and Hazards. Taylor & Francis, London, pp. 171-182.

Lachniet, M.S. and Patterson, W.P., 2006. Use of correlation and multiple stepwise regression to evaluate the climatic controls on the stable isotope values of Panamanian surface waters. Journal of Hydrology, 324: 115-140.

Lachniet, M.S., Asmerom, Y., Burns, S., Patterson, W.P., Polyak, V. and Seltzer, G.O., 2004. Tropical Response to the 8200 yr cold event? Speleothem isotopes indicate a weakened early Holocene monsoon in Costa Rica. Geology, v. 32, p. 957-960.

Lachniet, M.S., Burns, S.J., Piperno, D.R., Asmerom, Y., Polyak, V.J., Moy, C.M. and Christenson, K., 2004. A 1500 year El Niño/Southern Oscillation and rainfall history for the Isthmus of Panama from speleothem calcite. Journal of Geophysical Research, D, Atmospheres, v. 109, doi:10.1029/2004JD004694.

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Students

• Corinne Griffing, [M.S. in progress]. Pleistocene climate in Alaska from
   stable isotopes in ice wedges
• Kevin Donahue, [M.S. in progress]. Late Quaternary paleoclimate of
   southern Nevada
• Alex Roy, [M.S. completed 2008]. Late Quaternary Glaciation of the Sierra
   Cuchumatanes, Guatemala
• April Azouz, [M.S. completed 2006]. Paleoclimatology of Costa Rica from
   speleothem proxy records
• Lindsay Burt, [M.S. completed 2005]. Paleoclimatology of Costa Rica, from
   speleothem isotopes, Barra Honda Cave, Costa Rica

*Prospective Students: Please contact me if you are interested in pursuing a   graduate degree in Paleoclimatology.

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