Previously Funded Projects

QRC members lead and participate in a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research projects from the study of past earth climates and glaciations to shifts in the geographic distributions and evolution of vegetation and faunal communities, to the evolution and dispersals of the genus Homo and the increasing scales of human modification of earth environments through the Holocene. QRC provides a venue for meeting and collaborating with scholars across Quaternary disciplines. We are also fortunate to be able to provide seed funding and small grants for member research projects. We are especially happy to support grad student and junior scholar research activities, much of which leads to larger, external funding from agencies like the National Science Foundation.

9 projects in Paleoclimate All Projects
  • 2022-23 | |
    • Liam Kirkpatrick, Student
    • TJ Fudge, Faculty

    Illuminating Denali Basal Ice stratigraphy with Electrical Conductivity Measurements

    Liam Kirkpatrick Abstract: North Pacific ice cores have provided critical insights into climate in a region where paleoproxies on >1000-year timescales are difficult to acquire. The Denali ice cores have been particularly impactful, with a robust timescale and demonstrated sensitivity to many critical climate, environmental, and human processes. Until recently the analysis of this record has been limited to the past 1200 years. New data indicates the bottom 10 m of the cores may contain a whole-Holocene record of climate variability. However, developing an accurate timescale for this old and highly compressed ice remains difficult. Here we propose to employ Electrical Conductivity Measurements (ECM) to resolve stratigraphy in remaining core samples. Our goal will be to understand if irregularities in the current timescale are caused by ice folding, or if another process, like climate shifts in the early Holocene, must be responsible. In addition to contributing to the Denali project directly, this work will fit into an ice core community effort to develop techniques extending ice core timescales in basal and disturbed ice.

    Report: pending

  • 2021-22 | |
    • Tamara Aranguiz, Student
    • Alison Duvall, Faculty

    Investigating Strike-Slip Faulting in the Hyper Arid Core of the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile

    Abstract: The Salar Grande Fault (SGF) is a dextral-oblique fault system within the northern segment of the Atacama Fault Zone (AFZ), in Northern Chile. The study area is immersed in hyper-arid desert conditions (< 2 mm/year rainfall), with excellent surface preservation markers indicating strike-slip fault motion. The region sits within one of the most active subduction zones in the world, where future magnitude 9 earthquakes from the megathrust and tsunami waves up to 30 m are expected to impact the coastal towns. Reconstructing the landscape evolution of the SGF is essential to understand the role of crustal faults in subduction zone settings and the interaction between deeper tectonics and surface processes.

    This QRC fund supports two methods to provide Quaternary and Cenozoic evolution data to the study area.

    1. Optical Luminiscence Dating (OSL) techniques working with the USGS Luminescence Laboratory Facilities: We took several samples from fluvial deposits, alluvial fans and fault scarps, to date humid periods and potential paleoseismic activity in the study area. These ages contribute to build a better paleoclimatic record of the study area.
    2. Pilot study of thermochronology in apatites with the CU-Trail Facilities: we took 8 samples from a transect up to the top of the mountains of the study area. Our goal is to reveal the exhumation history of the mountain range and the role of the SGF in the uplift of the region.

    This is an essential part of my research and Ph.D. dissertation at UW and these project are both collaborations between the ESS Department and other institutions like CU Boulder and the USGS. We hope to present these results in conferences and publish at least one peer-reviewed publication from the data.

    Report: pending

  • 2018-19 | |
    • Marcos Llobera, Member

    LEIA Paleoenvironmental Pilot Project

    Abstract: The LEIA PALEOENVIRONMENTAL PILOT PROJECT aims at providing preliminary baseline paleoenvironmental information to the on-going UW LANDSCAPE, ENCOUNTERS AND IDENTITY ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT (LEIAP, HTTP://LEIAP.WEEBLY.COM/). The latter is a UW lead landscape archaeology fieldschool project that seeks to reconstruct the history of occupation and land use of the Son Servera landscape (E. Mallorca, Spain) spanning from Late Bronze Age (c. 1300 cal. BCE) to early modern times. It represents the first comprehensive landscape project ever carried out in Mallorca (and the Balearic Islands) that combines very intensive surface survey with targeted excavations aimed at collecting datable material to tie chronologically the construction, use and abandonment of known sites with landscape-wide processes. The LEIA PALEOENVIRONMENTAL PILOT PROJECT, focuses, more precisely on the collection and analysis of a series of paleo-vegetation (pollen) and anthropogenic fire cores, as well as, basic geomorphological mapping for the study area.

    A major asset of the LEIA project is the collection of large amounts of geo-located +27,000 dGPS surface collection points, roughly 10m apart (±2m SE), from which almost 28,000 artifacts (all classified by period, weighed and measured) have been retrieved. Thus, the LEIA project is ideally primed to combine this rich archaeological dataset with paleoenvironmental information to begin exploring how recurrent local practices, trade contacts and invasions may have shaped the local landscape.

    The LEIA PALEOENVIRONMENTAL PILOT PROJECT seeks to start redressing the current deficiency in paleoenvironmental information through a series of smaller projects aimed at answering specific questions:

    1. The collection of preliminary palynological information aimed at reconstructing vegetation history of our study area (Is there evidence of a vegetation shift during the mid to late fourth millennium? Did increase contact with the greater Mediterranean during the late first millennium brings upon changes in landscape exploitation?)
    2. The processing of geomorphological samples aimed at identifying and characterizing major erosion and sedimentary episodes in the Serverin landscape. (how reliable are our reconstructions of landscape occupation based on our survey results? what periods show clear evidence of human induced erosion?)
    3. The processing of field samples aimed at assessing the possible use, and impact, of anthropogenic fire through time. (how early did the use of fire for landscape management started in Mallorca? What areas in the landscape were targeted)?

    This is a collaborative project with other Spanish (Biel Servera, Jordi Hernandez-Gasch, Anton Puig) and US (Grant Snitker, Nari Miller) researchers.

    Report: [pending]

  • 2018-19 | |
    • Alex Lowe, Student
    • Caroline Strömberg, Member

    Ancient plant community and climate of the Pacific Northwest (USA) during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum: The Emerald Creek Flora of Northern Idaho

    Abstract: This study will combine plant microfossils (i.e., pollen/spores and phytoliths) and macrofossils (e.g., leaves) from the Emerald Creek flora of Idaho to reconstruct vegetation and climate during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO). The MMCO occurred ~17–14 million years ago and is one of Earth’s most recent transient warming events. Previous studies of vegetational and climatic response to the MMCO in the western U.S. have utilized different paleobotanical sources (macrofossils or phytoliths) that arrive at conflicting inferences. Understanding why these differences exist is problematic because of several potential confounding factors, including age differences, regional-specific factors (e.g., topography), and differences in what ecological information each source captures, particularly within patchy landscapes. I hypothesize that different paleobotanical sources reflect vegetation within distinct areas of the landscape and thus confound comparisons between studies using different sources when ancient vegetation was patchy. By integrating paleobotanical sources from a single fossil site and sediment horizon I will provide a spatially and temporally resolved perspective of vegetation and climate. Specifically, I predict that at Emerald Creek, macrofossils will disclose a diverse, mainly broadleaved riparian forest, while pollen and phytoliths will disclose an upland, open-habitat grassland—woodland mosaic, all existing in a warm-temperate sub-arid climate. This study will demonstrate the utility of using multiple paleobotanical sources in gaining a comprehensive view of ancient vegetation and climate and provide such a perspective for vegetation and climate in the Pacific Northwest during the MMCO.

  • 2017-18 | |
    • Julian Sachs, Faculty

    Expression of the 8.2 Kyr Event in Palau

    Abstract: The relatively stable climate of the Holocene epoch (11.7 kyr BP-present) was punctuated by a period of large and abrupt climate change ca. 8.2 kyr BP, when an outburst of glacial meltwater into the Labrador Sea drove large and abrupt climate changes across the globe. However, little is known about the response of the tropical Pacific to this event. This project seeks to characterize the climatic expression of the 8.2 Kyr Event in Palau, western tropical North Pacific by measuring hydrogen isotope (2H/1H, 2H) ratios of microalgal lipids in sediments from Jellyfish Lake on the island of Merchecher and T-Lake on the island of Ngeruktabel. Since 2H values of microalgal lipids in the marine meromictic lakes of Palau have been shown to be sensitive recorders of rainfall we propose to produce a rainfall reconstruction with decadal-to-centennial resolution for the period 9-7 kyr BP. Sediment cores for this project were collected in 2013 and 2016 and initial core descriptions and radiocarbon chronologies have been generated. We hypothesize that the tropical rain band known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) was driven south by the meltwater flood, as predicted by climate models, and that this resulted in a drying of Palau.

    Report: [pending]

  • 2016-17 | |
    • Tess Clickingbeard, Student
    • Julian Sachs, Faculty

    Investigating the disappearance of Palau’s jellyfish through Holocene climate reconstructions

    Abstract: The objectives of this work are to reconstruct the climate of Palau during the last 10,000 years, and to determine the stability of the jellyfish population in Jellyfish Lake during that time. The jellyfish population will be assessed from the abundance of hexadecanoic acid hexadecyl ester, a Mastigias jellyfish-specific biomarker which will be measured down-core in two sets of 13-meter sediment cores collected in September and October 2016, along with the hydrogen isotope composition (2H/1H, or δ2H) and concentration of lipid biomarkers. Hydrogen isotope ratios in microalgal lipids from lake sediments in Palau and elsewhere in the tropics have been shown to be excellent recorders of rainfall and hydroclimate, while the sedimentary abundance of different lipids can be used to reconstruct microbial and microalgal populations of lakes over time. This project aims to reconstruct hydroclimate variations in the West Pacific Warm Pool through the Holocene, a region and time interval that is data depauperate, but nonetheless critical in understanding the global climate system and its response to anthropogenic forcing.

    Report: Read the full report here

  • 2016-17 | |
    • Erin Gamble, Student
    • Ben Fitzhugh, Faculty

    Northern Hokkaido Cultural Chronologies and Environmental Reconstructions from Hamanaka 2, Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan

    Abstract: Excavations at Hamanaka 2, a multi-component archaeological shell-midden located in Northern Japan began in 2011 as part of the joint international efforts of Dr. Andrzej Weber at University of Alberta and Dr. Hirofumi Kato at Hokkaido University. The two main focuses of the project are the life histories of hunter-gatherers using bioarchaeological methods and the formation processes of the Ainu culture. Additionally, the project is interdisciplinary and aims to combine archaeological data with environmental reconstructions of micro-regions. During the 2014 field season, a team from Institute of Geological Sciences, Section Paleontology, Freie Universität Berlin extracted a lake sediment core and collected paleobotanical remains to reconstruct the environmental archive on Rebun Island. While the sediment core has provided 57 radiocarbon dates for analysis with paleoenvironmental data spanning the last c. 17,000 years, the stratified sediment at Hamanaka 2 did not contain enough carbon below layer III to date (Muller et al 2016). Thus leaving most of the sites occupation uncorrelated with the lake core. I propose to use Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) of sediment and pottery, respectively, from Hamanaka 2 to complete the comparison of the core analysis to the archaeological dates discovered on Rebun. My research will contribute “to understanding of late Quaternary climate changes and habitation environments of northern hunter-gatherers in the Hokkaido Region of Japan” (Muller et al 2016). This research also serves as a pilot project for my future dissertation research.

    Report: missing

  • 2016-17 | |
    • Paige Wilson, Student
    • Caroline Stromberg, Faculty
    • Greg Wilson, Faculty

    Climate Change and Plant Response through the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) Mass Extinction

    Abstract: The goal of this study is to understand how ecosystems respond to climate change using the floral record across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in the Hell Creek Area of Montana. Research has shown that the Hell Creek (HC) preserves a rich mammalian and dinosaurian fauna through the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction. This extinction event occurred 66 million years ago, and led to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs as well as many other vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant groups. Previous research has focused almost exclusively on the fauna of the HC Area in Montana, and has largely ignored the paleoflora, which can be used both as a record of vegetation change and as a proxy of environmental conditions. These records are additionally complicated by competing theories regarding the magnitude and importance of climate change as a potential cause of the K/Pg mass extinction. This study area provides an opportunity to expand our understanding of this dynamic ecosystem to test the hypothesis that observed faunal extinction coincides with regional climate changes and floral extinctions.

    This project will constitute a new line of investigation into the HC Area, applying novel techniques to test the hypothesis that observed faunal changes (e.g. increasing mammalian diversity and changes in mammal physiology) across the extinction horizon coincide with changes in local environments (such as vegetation structure and composition), and that the observed faunal diversity crisis at the K-Pg was caused by, or exacerbated by, changes in environment. A team will conduct fieldwork in NE Montana over summer 2017 to collect leaf macrofossil and sediment samples at a fine-resolution time series across the K/Pg. This work will be a first portion of ESS graduate student Paige Wilson’s PhD research, in collaboration with Drs. Caroline Strӧmberg and Greg Wilson of the Biology department. These data will help us to test whether there is a record of environmental change across the K/Pg in Montana, whether there is a concurrent record of floral extinction, and how these trends may relate to the larger HC ecosystem and patterns of recent climate change.

    Report: read the report here

  • 2015-16 | |
    • Landon Burgener, Student
    • Kate Huntington, Member

    Spatial Patterns in Terrestrial Paleoclimate Conditions of the Late Cretaceous

    Abstract: Predicting the response of Earth’s climate to elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 has become an important focus of academic and governmental research (e.g., IPCC, 2013). Development of new paleoclimate reconstruction techniques (e.g., carbonate clumped isotope thermometry) has begun to resolve some of these contradictions between proxies and models, but the application of such proxies has been largely limited to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Further work is needed to determine if these proxies and methods are applicable to other greenhouse settings. Reconstructions of Campanian paleoclimate conditions will provide an important contrast to the work done on the PETM, and provide an opportunity to compare and contrast different Greenhouse periods.

    The goal of this project is to advance our understanding of temperature seasonality and precipitation patterns under steady-state greenhouse climate conditions. The results of this project will help resolve long-standing differences between paleoclimate proxy records and model simulations of greenhouse climates. Additionally, by increasing our understanding of climate patterns during Greenhouse climates, this project will have important implications for understanding past climate variations during the Quaternary, and future changes due to anthropogenic climate change.

    Report: Read the full report here

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