Research: Paleoenvironment Reconstruction

Paleoenvironment reconstruction research in the department investigates past climates and physical environments during Earth's history. The research involves unlocking evidence from the geologic and biologic records preserved in Earth's rocks using cutting edge field and laboratory techniques, and investigating modern sediment transport processes in the field and experimentally to better interpret these archives. The work informs on how the Earth has evolved over time and provides key insight into how climate change may impact present day conditions and future scenarios. Ongoing projects in this research cluster have implications for the prediction of natural resources (e.g., water, hydrocarbons) and for understanding how ongoing climate change impacts sedimentary systems.

Participating Faculty

Current areas of emphasis of participating faculty are:

  • Yongli Gao -- Climate and tectonic forcing mechanisms on the formation and evolution of cave systems and karst terrains in the Americas and Southeastern Asia
  • Alexis Godet -- Environmental and tectonic forcing mechanisms on the production of carbonate sediments during the Cretaceous explored using outcrops in Texas, France, and Italy
  • Judy Haschenburger -- The role of sand- and mud-sized sediment on the transport and depositional processes of gravel investigated in the San Antonio River and laboratory flume
  • Lance Lambert -- Interactions of paleontological species with other species, and with parameters of their physio-chemical habitats (applies to both paleobiology and stratigraphy)
  • Janet Vote -- Paleoenvironmental forcing factors of extinction events and their effects on ammonoid evolution across the Permo-Triassic boundary

Graduate Program requirements

  • Corrinne Gauntt, 2019, Defining the upstream limit to the backwater zone in the San Antonio River
  • Karson Moeller, 2019, Pennsylvanian conodonts and depositional environments of glacio-eustatic cyclothems, Donets Basin, Ukraine, Europe
  • Daniela Presas, 2019, Development of a rudist patch reef in central Texas during the early Aptian
  • Deashia Williams, 2019, Contribution of bank erosion to suspended load in the San Antonio River
  • Aman Gupte, 2018, Sedimentology of the Eagle Ford - Austin Chalk Groups transition in San Antonio
  • Jessica Rossler, 2016, Geologic age and depositional environment of a blind test limestone using micropaleontology

  • Christopher Ray, 2020, Late Quaternary stalagmite paleoclimate records and microclimate monitoring of Helictite Cave and Grand Caverns, VA
  • Tiffany Faller, 2019, Multi-element analysis of Gondolella (Pennsylvanian Conodonta) from glacio-eustatic highstands: One genus or two?
  • Michelle Ortiz, 2018, A method to estimate water depth of the Pennsylvanian Late Paleozoic Midcontinent Seaway in North-Central Texas using stable isotope stratigraphy
  • Owen Sitler, 2018, Channel bar development in a poorly sorted sand-bed river
  • John Cooper, 2017, The impact of tectonic and environmental changes on facies, depositional geometries, and sequence architecture within the Austin Chalk Group, South-Central Texas
  • Creighton Meyers, 2017, Development and characteristics of bedload sheets in a gravelly sand mixture
  • Lauren Reeher, 2017, Sequence Stratigraphy and Reservoir Characterization of the V17 Interval of the Vicksburg Formation (Early Oligocene), Southern Brooks County, South Texas
  • Matthew West, 2017, Holocene paleoclimate interpreted by stable carbon ad oxygen isotopes of ostracods from Xiada Co Lake on the Tibetan Plateau

Relevant Journals for Further Reading

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