Sequence Stratigraphy

PaleoecologyTaphonomy

Extinction

Diversification

Earth System History

PSMRGMission

Departments of GeologyAnd Biological Sciences

McMicken College of Arts and SciencesUniversity of Cincinnati

The Paleontolo gy, Str atigr aphy, and Mac-roevolution R esearch Group (PSMRG) examines the evolving rel ationships of E arth systems—lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere—through the full r ange of geolo gic time, including the present day. In particul ar, we are dedi-cated to understanding E arth’s history as preserved in its paleontolo gical and str atigr aphic rec ords, and, from this, determining the ways that the physical-chemical-biolo gical history of E arth has impacted the evolutionary tr ajectories and extinction histories of life.

PALEONTOLOGY, STRATIGRAPHY, and MACROEVOLUTION RESEARCH GROUP

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Mission Statement .......................................Page 2Focal Interests of PSMRG ........................Pages 3-6PSMRG Program Research Goals ...............Page 7Recent Funding ............................................Page 8PSMRG Faculty ......................................Pages 9-15Associated Researchers .............................Page 16

Recent Theses and Dissertations .......Pages 16-17Research Laboratories ........................Pages 17-20Key Field Areas ...........................................Page 21Research Opportunities ............................Page 21Weekly Seminar..........................................Page 21Contact Information ..................................Page 22

Contents:

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Focal Interests of PSMRGEARTH SYSTEM HISTORY

UC GEOLOGY/PALEONTOLOGY

The Earth is some 4.6 billion years old and has evolved markedly through time as a result of long-

term changes to its physical dynamics and attributes, the rise of life, and contingencies such as extrater-restrial impacts and the origin of a singular species, Homo sapiens, all of which have had measureable and pronounced effects. Earth System history examines the dynamic history of the Earth and its synergistic rela-tionship with life through the full range of geologic time. Exploring fundamental themes in the study of Earth System history, PSMRG studies the connections and interactions among changes in climate, sea level, and biology across ecosystems, whole geographic re-gions, and the entire globe.

The Department of Geology at the University of Cincinnati has a long and distinguished record

of research in Paleozoic paleontology and sedimen-tary geology, the investigation of multi-scale pat-terns and process of diversification and extinction through time, and the processes responsible for the formation of fossil assemblages. Over the past decade, PSMRG has achieved and maintained national acclaim as one of the top ten programs in paleobiology in the United States as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. A unique aspect of UC’s program is the integration of empirical field-based study and theoretical approaches to paleo-biology and sedimentary geology. The outstanding outcrops of Ordovician to Pennsylvanian age within easy reach from the University provide an unparal-leled natural laboratory for study of the sedimentary geology and paleobiology of Paleozoic foreland basin and epicontinental seas. The group’s research interests also routinely carries its members around the world to investigate Earth’s geological record up close, and to directly investigate preservation, deposition and anthropogenic impacts in present-day settings. Recent additions to our faculty have extended our reach to some of the Earth’s oldest ecosystems preserved in Archean and Proterozoic rocks, as well as its youngest epochs: the Pleistocene and Anthropocene.

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Taphonomy

A theme that undergirds the entire field of paleobiology is taphonomy, the study of preservational processes and

biases in the geological record. PSMRG has long been interested in studies of ancient taphofacies and of modern taphonomic processes. Work by Profes-sor Andy Czaja has examined the preservation of fossil plant material as well as preservation and biogeochemistry of ancient Precambrian microfossils. Joshua Miller has studied how the ecologies of modern mammal communi-ties are recorded in bone accumulations and the time incorporated in such assemblages. Professor Carl Brett has developed the con-cept of taphofacies: suites of preservational features that aid in interpreting ancient en-vironments and he is continuing to apply this concept to Paleozoic marine rocks. Researchers in UC’s Geology Department have also dealt ex-tensively with modern marine environments and the potential fossil records accumulating within them; for example, Professor David Meyer has made extensive SCUBA studies of modern coral reefs; Brett is involved in on-going ex-perimental study of fossil preservation in the Gulf of Mexico and Bahamas; Professor Arnie Miller and his students have ex-amined the record of shell accumulations in modern lagoonal and sea grass bed environments in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, most recently with the goal of utilizing these accumulations to diagnose anthropogenic impacts on community composition.

Paleoecology and Ecology P aleoecology seeks to interpret the modes of life

of ancient organisms and their interactions with environments and one another. Meyer has extensively examined living crinoids and coral reefs as a means of better understanding their ancient counterparts. Professors A. Miller and Meyer have long been inter-ested in high-resolution investigation of paleoecologi-cal gradients in the famous Late Ordovician strata of the Cincinnati region. Meyer, Brett, and colleagues are engaged in a variety of paleoecological studies of Paleozoic invertebrates, including trilobites and echi-noderms, to reconstruct modes of life, behavior and ecology of these extinct organisms. Studies are also focused on ancient organism interactions such as predation, parasitism and competition and their im-portance in the evolution of ecosystems. Professors Brooke Crowley, Josh Miller, and Yurena Yanes are ac-tively studying environmental and dietary preferences and constraints of much more recent Pleistocene and Holocene terrestrial animals including primates and other mammals and land snails. Crowley and Yanes use stable isotopes to examine environmental gradi-ents (e.g., temperature, aridity) in plants and animals. A. Miller is extending the gradient approach to the present-day investigation of anthropogenic influences on plant community composition along a present-day urban-to-wildland gradient in southwestern Ohio.

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BiogeochemistryStudies of biogeochemistry have expanded with the

hiring of Diefendorf, new research professors J. Miller and Yanes, and joint hires Czaja (Geology and Chemistry) and Crowley (Geology and Anthropology). Crowley uses stable isotope values in plant and animal tissues to reconstruct the re-cent, historic, and ancient ecology of ex-tant and extinct organisms, particularly mammals. Much of her research has been focused on quantifying ecological changes following Late Holocene extinctions and anthropogenic impacts in Madagascar. She and her students are currently developing new projects in the Dominican Republic, Trin-idad and Tobago, and the Ohio River Valley. Diefendorf and Crowley are directing the department’s brand new stable isotope facility, which will be able to analyze nitrogen, oxygen, and organic and inorganic carbon in solids and liquids. This lab will serve as a crucial teaching and training facility for students. Czaja uses both organic geochemistry of kerogen and stable isotope geochemistry to study the Precambrian biosphere. He performs organic geochemical analyses of fossil plants and microorganisms in order to study the level of thermal alteration and composition of the fossil material. These analyses are performed using Raman spectroscopy in his new Precambrian Paleo-biology Laboratory, and using nuclear magnetic res-onance spectroscopy and pyrolysis gas chromatogra-phy/mass spectrometry. Czaja measures the stable iron isotope compositions of Precambrian sedimentary rocks, namely banded iron formations (BIFs), carbon-ates, and shales, in order to understand the evolution of Earth’s surface environment, and constraining the timing of the rise of various microbial metabolisms.

Evolutionary Paleoecology and PaleobiogeographyA nother theme that underlies much PSMRG

research is evolutionary paleoecology and paleo-biogeography: the stability and/or changes of ecosys-tems and paleogeographic regions in response to envi-ronmental perturbations on time scales ranging from years and millennia to hundreds of millions of years. In studying aspects of the Precambrian and Phanero-zoic record on regional to global scales PSMRG seeks to diagnose and explain patterns of fossil occurrence, and changes of those patterns throughout the strati-graphic record. A highly resolved stratigraphic record is key to un-derstanding processes in Earth System history. To this end, several PSMRG researchers conduct stratigraphic research, utilizing tools such as high-resolution bio-stratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy (Brett) bentonite event-stratigraphy (Professor Warren Huff ), and che-mostratigraphy (Professors Barry Maynard and Thom-as Algeo). Research on stratigraphic paleontology is directed toward the causes of periods of abrupt change as well as long interludes of effective taxonomic and ecological stasis, mass extinctions and recoveries.

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Global Diversity and Extinction

PSMRG has long been interested in studying large-scale patterns of biodiversity and extinction

throughout the Phanerozoic Eon. Building on his ear-lier work on the global paleogeographic dissection of a large-scale diversification event during the Ordovician period, A. Miller was part of a group that founded The Paleobiology Database (PBDB; paleodb.org). PBDB is an online catalogue of fossil occurrences worldwide that permits the investigation of broad-scale pat-terns and processes of diversification and extinction throughout the history of multicellular life. A. Miller and his colleagues have sought to better calibrate the extent of diversity increases and decreases through time, and to better understand the relationship be-tween diversification at multiple scales, ranging from the community level up to the global level. Patterns of abrupt extinction and biotic change may be related to episodes of sea level, climate change, or human impacts. Thus, Brett and Algeo study the de-tailed sequence stratigraphic and geochemical records, in tandem with the biotic record of critical intervals to better understand the mechanisms behind periods of faunal turnover and mass extinction. Still other in-sights into changing environments and primary pro-ductivity may be gained by examining the organic

geochemistry of sediments; the research of Professor Aaron Diefendorf utilizes biomarkers-chemical fos-sils in examining the record of ancient terrestrial and marine ecosystems. On a somewhat broader scale A. Miller investigates the comparative dynamics of diversification and mass extinction in ancient epi-continental seas as compared to open-ocean settings, and Algeo compares and contrasts the nature of mass extinction among regions worldwide during the larg-est extinction event in the history of life, at the end of the Permian Period, some 250 million years ago. Crowley has been investigating the causes and conse-quences of extinctions and local extirpations of ter-restrial vertebrates during the Holocene. This latter approach is but one example of the de-veloping field of conservation paleobiology, which utilizes data on taphonomy, biogeochemistry, and isotope geochemistry of Quaternary and Holocene fossil/subfossil assemblages to provide baselines for ecological conditions prior to human impacts. Pro-fessors Crowley, J. Miller and Yanes are all conduct-ing research at the forefront of this field.

PSMRG Program Research Goals

Contribute to the understanding of preservational (taphonomic) processes which alter living organisms and communities into biased, time-averaged fossil assemblages

Utilize the Quaternary and Anthropocene fossil and subfossil records to identify historical ecological baselines, diagnose anthropogenic impacts on natural ecosystems, and inform conservation and management efforts in modern environments.

Develop improved conceptual models of sequence stratigraphy and their ramifications for how we understand the geologic record of past changes in biology, sea level, sedimentation, and climate, especially in ancient cratonic settings.

Major Research Areas:

Processes and biases of fossilization in the geologic record

Ecosystem responses to environmental change

Relationships between past and current biodiversity, paleoecology, and ecological change

Physical and temporal relationships among rock strata

Origin and extinction of species

Develop high-resolution temporal and stratigraphic frameworks for examining Earth and life histories; utilizing sequence and event stratigraphy coupled with refined bio-, chemo-, and magnetostratigraphy.

Examine the geochemical history of oceans and terrestrial settings using stable isotopes, trace elements, and biomarkers for improved understanding of the origins and biogeochemical conditions of life in Earth’s diverse ecosystems through time.

Elucidate the history of life’s biodiversity, including evolutionary radiations, mass extinctions, and recoveries, and evolutionary paleoecology in relation to changing physico-chemical conditions of marine and terrestrial environments.

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PSMRG• (PI), Algeo, Thomas, Uranium Isotope Variations in Carbonates: Validating A New Paleoredox Proxy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

• (PI), Brett, Carlton, Revised Silurian Stratigraphic Cor-relation of the United States, U.S. Geological Survey.

• (Collaborator), Algeo, Thomas; Crowley, Brooke; Diefen-dorf, Aaron; Townsend-Small, Amy, Acquisition of Stable Isotope Instrumentation for Biogeochemistry Research and Teaching at the University of Cincinnati, National Science Foundation.

• (PI), Diefendorf, MRI: Acquisition of Stable Isotope Instrumentation for Biogeochemistry Research and Teach-ing at the University of Cincinnati , NSF.

• (Collaborator), Cameron, Guy; Fowler, Thaddeus; Huff, Warren; Jackson, Howard; Kukreti, Anant; Meyer, Helen; Rutz, Eugene, The Cincinnati Engineering Enhanced Mathematics and Science (CEEMS) Program, National Science Foundation.

• (PI), Miller, Arnold, Epicontinental Seas Versus Shallow Ocean-Facing Settings: Mass Extinction and Diversifica-tion in Two Different Worlds?, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

• (PI), Miller, Joshua, Antlers of the Artic Refuge: Reveal-ing Historical Caribou Calving Grounds From the Bones on the Tundra, National Geographic Society.

• (PI), Yanes, Y., Los gasteropodos terrestres de Lan-zarote y Fuerteventura como indicadores paleoambien-tales, Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Mineco)

Recent Funding

P S M R G F a c u l t y

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Carlton E. Brett (Department of Geology) :University Distinguished Professor; Undergraduate Director, Geology

Dr. Brett’s research lies at the interface between paleontology and sedimentary geology. Brett is

pursuing studies relating regional and global changes in sea level, climate, and the carbon cycle to episodes of biotic change (bioevents) and extinction, and time-specific sedimentary facies. He is especially involved in es-tablishing regional and global patterns of Paleozoic sequence stratigraphy and relating them to prolonged intervals of rela-tive biotic stability-which he termed “coordinated stasis”, and episodes of abrupt change. He also maintains active research in taphonomy, including comparative fossil preservation and modern experimental approaches, designed to test the con-cept of taphofacies. He is pursuing studies of ancient organism interactions, including organism-substrate relationships and the mid Paleozoic predator revolution, and has interests in the paleobiology of marine invertebrates, especially echinoderms and arthropods. Dr. Brett has spent four decades researching the paleontology and stratigraphy of the mid Paleozoic strata of eastern North America and is a member of the internation-al Subcommissions on Stratigraphy of the Ordovician (SOS), Silurian (SSS), and Devonian (SDS); he is presently Vice Chair of. SDS.

Brett, C.E., 2012. Coordinated stasis re-considered: A perspective at fifteen years. In Talent, J., ed., Global Biodiversity, Extinc-tion Intervals and Biogeographic Perturba-tions through Time. Springer, Heidelberg, London, New York, p. 23-36.

Brett, C.E., McLaughlin, P.I., Histon, K.,Schindler, E., Ferretti, A. 2012. Time-specific aspects of facies: State of the art, examples,and possible causes. Palaeo-geography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecol-ogy 368: 6-18.

Brett, C.E., Zambito, J.J., Hunda, B., Schindler, E., 2012. Mid-Paleozoic trilobite Lagerstätten: Models of diagenetically enhanced obrution deposits. Palaios 27: 326-345.

Algeo, T.J., Kuwahara, K., Sano, H., Bates, S., Lyons, T., Elswick, E., Hinnov, L., Ell-wood, B.B., Moser, J., and Maynard, J.B., 2010. Spatial variation in sediment fluxes, redox conditions, and productivity in the Permian-Triassic Panthalassic Ocean. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology

Chen, L., Wang, Y., Xie, S., Kershaw, S., Dong, M., Yang, H., Liu, H., and Algeo, T.J., 2011, Molecular records of micro-bialites following the end-Permian mass extinction in Chongyang, Hubei Province, South China. Palaeogeog-raphy Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology

Luo, G., Wang, Y., Yang, H., Algeo, T.J., Kump, L.R., Huang, J., and Xie, S., 2011. Stepwise and large-magnitude negative shift in δ13Ccarb preceded the main marine mass extinction of the Permian-Triassic crisis interval. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatol-ogy Palaeoecology

Thomas Al geo (Depar tment of Geolog y) : Professor, Geology

Dr. Algeo’s research specialization is sedimentary geo-chemistry with applications to paleoceanographic and

global systems analysis. His research focus is directed along three broad themes: environmental change at the Permian/Triassic boundary, the relationship of land plant evolution to weathering rate changes and global events during the Middle to Late Devonian, and the development of trace-metal redox proxies to study paleomarine systems.

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Brooke Crowley ( D e p a r t m e n t s o f G e o l o g y a n dAnthropolog y) : Assistant Professor of Geology and Anthropol-ogy

Dr. Crowley uses stable isotope biogeochemistry to answer a variety of questions about modern and

extinct mammal communities. Her main research in-terests include extinction, environmental and ecological consequences of human impacts, habitat transforma-tion and conservation. Dr. Crowley’s current projects revolve around using stable isotope biogeochemistry to detect ecological differences among modern and extinct communities of mammals. Currently, she examines the effects of habitat and dietary differences on the isotopic signatures in modern species. She then uses these isoto-pic patterns in modern individuals to understand dietary niches and habitats for animals in the past.

Theresa Culley ( D e p a r t m e n t o f B i o l o g y ) :Professor, Biological Sciences

Dr. Cullry studies plant population biol-ogy and genetics, including ecogenom-

ics; speciation in plants, including integrative taxonomy in the plant genus Camassia;

evolution of breeding systems, especially cleistogamy in violets and dioecy in Hawaiian taxa; ecological and genetic effects of habitat fragmentation; ecophysi-ological ecology; evolution of invasiveness; air-bourne pollution effects on plants.

Crowley, B.E., Godfrey, L.R., and Irwin, M.T. 2011. A glance to the past: Subfossils, stable isotopes, seed dispersal, and species loss in southern Madagascar. American Journal of Primatology 73: 25-37

Crowley, B.E. Thorén, S., Rasoazanabary, E., Vogel, E.R., Barrett, M.A., Zohdy, S., Blanco, M.B., McGoogan, K.C., Arrigo-Nelson, S.J., Irwin, M.T., Wright, P.C., Rade-spiel, U., Godfrey, L.R., Koch, P.L., Dominy, N.J. 2011. Explaining geographical variation in the isotope composition of mouse lemurs (Microcebus). Journal of Biogeography, 38: 2106-2121.

Crowley, B.E. 2010. A refined chronology of prehistoric Madagascar and the demise of the megafauna; new clues from old bones. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 2592-2604.

Quinn, Lauren, Theresa Culley, and J. Ryan Stewart (2012) Genetic compari-son of introduced and native popula-tions of Miscanthus sinensis (Poaceae), a potential bioenergy crop. Grassland Science 58(2): 101-111.

Klooster, M, & Culley, T.M. (2010) Population genetic structure of the mycoheterotroph Monotropa hypopitys L. (Ericaceae) and differ-entiation between red and yellow color forms. International Journal of Plant Sciences 171(2): 167-174.

Wallace, Lisa, Theresa Culley, Stephen G. Weller, Ann Sakai, Ashley Kuenzi, Tilottama Roy, Warren Wagner, and Molly Nepokroeff (2011) Asymmetrical gene flow in a hybrid zone of Hawaiian Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae): Species with contrasting mating sys-tems. PLos Biology at http://dx.plos.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0024845.

P S M R G F a c u l t y

A n d r e w C z aja ( D e p a r t m e n t s o f G e o l o g y a n d C h e m i s t r y ) :Assistant Professor of Geology and Chemistry

Dr. Czaja’s overall interests are the origin and early evolution of life on Earth and the possibility of life

elsewhere in the universe. He approaches these fields through the study of Precambrian fossil microorganisms (microfossils) and organic and isotopic biogeochemistry. His specific areas of interest include the diversity and evolution of Precambrian microfossils (particularly those of the Archean Eon, >2.5 billion years ago); the search for geochemical evidence of past terrestrial life and past or present extraterrestrial life; and understanding the geo-chemical alteration of fossil organic matter and inorganic aspects of permineralization. Dr. Czaja has field sites in Western Australia, South Africa, and Ontario, Canada. He also studies the ancient biogeochemical redox cycling of iron through iron isotope analyses of ancient sedi-mentary rocks, including banded and granular iron for-mations. For this work, Dr. Czaja collaborates with Drs. Clark Johnson, Brian Beard, and Eric Roden, members of the Wisconsin Astrobiology Research Consortium, one of the lead teams of the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

Aaron Diefendorf (Department of Geology): Assistant Professor, Geology

Dr. Diefendorf ’s research aims to contribute to our understanding of future global change

by examining changes in ancient climate, ecology, and the carbon cycle from the Cretaceous to the Holocene by using organic and stable isotope bio-geochemical tools. His interests are focused on re-constructing changes in paleoecology, paleoenvi-ronment, and paleoclimate using organic and stable isotope biogeochemical tools. His current research is developing tools to reconstruct changes in ter-restrial paleoecology and paleoclimate using fossil chemicals (biomarkers) specific for various plant taxa. These plant-specific biomarkers are produced in plant leaves and are preserved in Quaternary ter-restrial and aquatic sediments. Changes in the type and abundance of biomarkers provide clues to pa-leoecological change and their carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios provide powerful information on the paleoenvironment. Research field areas include Wy-oming, Tennessee, Florida, North and South Caro-lina, Georgia, California, and Ireland.

P S M R G F a c u l t y

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Wilmeth DT, Dornbos SQ, Isbell JL, and Czaja AD (2014) Putative domal microbial structures in fluvial siliciclastic facies of the Mesoproterozoic (1.09 Ga) Copper Harbor Conglomerate, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. Geobiology, 12: 99–108.

Czaja AD, Kudryavtsev AB, Cody GD, and Schopf JW (2009) Characterization of permineralized kerogen from an Eocene fossil fern. Organic Geochemistry, 40(3): 353–364.

Czaja AD, Johnson CM, Roden EE, Beard BL, Voegelin AR, Nägler TF, Beukes NJ, and Wille M (2012) Evidence for free oxygen in the Neoarchean ocean based on coupled iron–molybdenum isotope fractionation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 86: 118–137.

Diefendorf, A.F., Freeman, K.H., Wing, S.L., 2012. Distribution and carbon isotope patterns of diterpenoids and triterpenoids in modern temperature C3 trees and their geochemical significance. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 85, 342-356. DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2012.02.016 .

Cui, Y., Kump, L.R., Ridgwell, A.J., Charles, A.J., Junium, C.K., Diefendorf, A.F., Free-man, K.H., Urban, N.M., Harding, I.C., 2011. Slow release of fossil carbon during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Nature Geoscience 4, 481-485. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1179

Diefendorf, A.F., Mueller, K.E., Wing, S.L., Koch, P.L., Freeman, K.H., 2010. Global patterns in leaf 13C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, 5738-5743. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910513107

P S M R G F a c u l t yWarren Huff (Department of Geology): Professor, Geology

Dr. Huff ’s training and expertise involve study of the mineralogy and geochemistry of clay. His

focus has been on topics ranging from the mineral-ogy and geochemistry of Paleozoic K-bentonites and their application to the solution of tectonomagmatic and regional stratigraphic problems to Quaternary clays in glacial environments. Much of Dr. Huff ’s re-search deals with the study of K-bentonites, which are the remains of explosively erupted volcanic ash layers. These layers are now altered largely to clay minerals although some original volcanic crystals remain. He studies both types of minerals to learn about the nature of the source volcanoes, many of which are over 400 million years old, as well as the natural processes by which the volcanic ash layers have been buried in the earth and altered to their present form.

J. Barry Maynard (Department of Geology);Professor, Geology

Dr. Maynard’s research career has focused on the chemistry of metals at the Earth’s

surface, with prinicipal focus in recent years on Mn, Fe, Cu and Pb. Systems studied include Mn-Fe ore bodies, constructed wetlands treat-ing mine drainage, slope stability problems, and corrosion scales in drinking water systems.

Tankersley K.B., Scarborough, V.L., Dun-ning, N., Huff, W., Maynard, B. and Gerke, T.L., 2011, Evidence for volcanic ash fall in the Maya Lowlands from a reservoir at Tikal, Guatemala: Journal of Archaeologi-cal Science, vol. 38, p. 2925-2938.

Huff, W.D. and Owen, L.A., 2012, Volcanic landforms and hazards. In: Shroder, J. (Editor in Chief ), Owen, L.A. (Ed.), Treatise on Geomorphology. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, vol. 5.

Lehnert, O., Meinhold, G., Bergström, S.M., Calner, M., Ebbestad, J., Egenhoff, S., Frisk, Å., Hannah, J.L., Högström, A., Huff, W.D., Juhlin C., Maletz J., Stein H.J., Sturkell E. and Vandenbroucke, T.A., 2012, New Ordovician-Silurian Drill Cores From The Siljan Impact Structure In Central Sweden – An Integral Part Of The Swedish Deep Drilling Program, GFF, vol. 134, pp. 87–98. 12

Potter, P.E., Maynard, J.B., and Huff, W.D., 2009, Steps in the History of Mudstone Investigations—A Timeline, 1556 Through 2007: Earth Science History, v. 28, p. 84, 107.

Maynard, J.B., 2010, The chemistry of manganese ores through time: a signal of increasing diversity of earth-surface environments: Eco-nomic Geology, v. 105, p. 535-552.

Gerke, T.L., Scheckel, K.G., Maynard, J.B., 2010, Speciation and distribu-tion of vanadium in drinking water iron pipe corrosion by-products, Sci-ence of The Total Environment, Volume 408 -- Special Section: Integrating Water and Agricultural Management Under Climate Change – p. 5845-5853.

P S M R G F a c u l t yA r n o l d I . M i l l e r ( D e p a r t m e n t o f G e o l o g y ) : Professor, Geology

Dr. Arnie Miller’s research aims to understand biodiver-sity throughout geological time and in the present day.

Currently, the central focus of his work is the interpretation of major changes in global biodiversity during the history of life, including brief intervals of time when global biodiver-

sity dramatically decreased (mass extinctions) or increased (radiations). Dr. Miller’s other in-terests are: analyses of shells accumulating on present-day seafloors both to better understand the formation of ancient fossil assemblages and to help diagnose recent, anthropogenic changes in coastal environments; the numerical model-ing of the formation of fossil assemblages; and distributions of ancient communities of marine

organisms in association with environmental gradients. Recently, he has also begun collaborating with colleagues in the Departments of Biology and Geography in an inves-tigation of the effects of urbanization on the distribution and abundance of plant species in urban-to-rural settings.

Wu, S.,Y. and Miller, A.I. 2014. The short-est distance between two points isn’t always a great circle: getting around land masses in the calibration of marine geodisparity. Paleobiology 40.

Foote, M. and Miller, A.I. 2013. Deter-minants of early survival in marine ani-mal genera. Paleobiology 39:171-192.

Fan, J., Chen, Q., Hou, X., Miller, A.I., Melchin, M., Shen, S., Wu, S., Goldman, D., Mitchell, C.E., Yang, Q., Zhang, Y., Zhan, R., Wang, J., Leng, Q., Zhang, H. and Zhang, L. 2013. Geobiodiversity Database: a comprehensive section-based integration of

stratigraphic and paleontological data. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 46: 111-136. 13

David L. Meyer (Department of Geology):McMiken Professor, Geology

Dr. Meyer’s research interests lie chiefly in the field of inverte-

brate paleontology, but also extend to coral reef ecology, paleoecology, and taphonomy. He is concerned with paleobiology in relation to the evo-lutionary history of organisms. Dr. Meyer is particularly interested in the

Phylum Echinodermata, especially the crinoids, which have a long and diverse fossil record. His echinoderm research is divided between studies of present-day echinoderms and fossil forms. Current research on living crinoids involves the use of SCUBA diving in regions of the Caribbean and Western Pacific. Most recently he have revisited reef study sites in the Bahamas and Jamaica to assess the long-term status of crinoid populations, first examined in the 1960s and 70s.

Dave Meyer’s paleontological research continues with studies of crinoids and edrioasteroid echinoderms of

Ordovician age from the Cincinnati Arch region, as well as Mississippian carbonate mounds and associated echino-derms from Kentucky. In collaboration with former student Benjamin Dattilo of Indiana/Purdue Univ. at Ft Wayne, Dr. Meyer studies Ordovician brachiopod paleoecology as well as functional morphology and paleoecology of the edrioast-eroid – brachiopod association.

Shroat-Lewis, R. A., Mckinney, M. L., Brett, C. E., Meyer, D. L., & Sumrall, C. D., 2011. Paleoecologic assessment of an edrioasteroid (Echinodermata)–encrusted hardground from the Upper Ordovi-cian (Maysvillian) Bellevue Member, Maysville, Kentucky. Palaios, 26: 470–483.

Meyer, D. L., Dame, E. A., and Lask, P. B., 2008. Decline of crinoids on the reefs of Curaçao and Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, Proceedings, 875-879.

Meyer, David L., and Richard A. Davis. A Sea Without Fish: Life in the Ordovician Sea of the Cincinnati Arch Region. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2009.

Miller, J.H., Druckenmiller, P., Bahn, V. 2013. Antlers on the Arctic Refuge: Capturing multi-generational patterns of calving ground use from bones on the landscape. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 280 20130275; doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.0275

Miller, J.H., 2012. The spatial fidelity of skeletal accumulations: Elk wintering and calving grounds revealed by bones on the Yellowstone landscape. Ecology. 93(11): 2474-2482.

Behrensmeyer, A.K. and J.H. Miller 2012. Building links between ecology and paleontology using taphonomic studies of recent vertebrate communities. In “Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation” J. Louys (editor), Springer. p 69-91: doi 10.1007/978-3-642-25038-5_5.

Kenneth Petren (Department of Biology): Professor, Biological Sciences

Dr. Petren’s lab uses a broad range of approaches to understand speciation, population divergence,

dispersal and species interactions in natural popula-tions of vertebrates. Major research contributions are in the field of comparative landscape genetics, where molecular markers (like those used in forensics) are used to trace or ancestry and population history, and in the field of behavioral mechanisms of ecological in-teractions, where invasive species are used as model systems. Research areas include evolution and adaptive radiation of Darwin’s finches and the dynamics and con-sequences of lizard invasions. The Petren lab combines molecular genetic techniques, laboratory experiments of behavior, and manipulative field experiments to un-derstand population divergence and ecological species interactions. Field research is conduct-ed on the remote islands of the Galá-pagos archipelago, South America, the tropical Pacific, the southeastern USA, and right here in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information. Dr. Petren is part of the growing Integrative Behavior group within Biological Sciences.

Parker, P., Buckles, E. L., Farrington, H., Petren, K., Whiteman, N., Ricklefs, R., Bollmer, J. L. & Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G.(2011). 110 Years of Avipoxvirus on the Galápagos Islands.PLoS ONE: 6(1): e15989. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015989.

Petren, K. (2013) The evolution of landscape genetics. Evolution. (Editor, special section).

Farrington, H. L, & Petren, K. (2011). A century of genetic change and metapopulation dynamics in the Galápagos warbler finches (Certhidea). Evolution 65(11), 3148-61.

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Joshua Miller (Department of Geology):Research Assistant Professor, Geology

Dr. Josh Miller studies naturally occurring bone accu-mulations on landscape surfaces (death assemblages)

to recover high–quality historical population and geo-graphic–use data on modern mammal communities. Bones survive on landscape surfaces from decades (in tropical

regions) to millennia (in Arctic latitudes), providing historical ecological data that are otherwise unavailable for most ecosys-tems. Dr. Miller works closely with ecolo-gists, wildlife managers, and conservation biologists to incorporate the methods and time-scales offered by conservation pa-leobiology into fundamental and applied wildlife research, and to inform public pol-

icy. Dr. Miller is also recalibrating our understanding of the ecological quality of fossil records and studying changes in mammalian ecology during the Quaternary and Holocene. Current field sites include the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (AK), Yellowstone National Park (WY), Denali Na-tional Park (AK), Isle Royale National Park (MI), the Wind River Mountains (WY), Amboseli National Park (Kenya), and Ellesmere Island (Canada).

P S M R G F a c u l t y

Yurena Yanes (Department of Geology), Assistant Professor, Geology

Dr. Yanes’ research interests are primarily focused on the multidisciplinary study of modern and fossil

land snail assemblages. She integrates disparate data from manifold disciplines, including isotope geochemistry,

taxonomy, taphonomy, paleoecology, morpho-metrics and amino acid dating. These data are used jointly to reconstruct changes in past envi-ronmental and ecological conditions, to evaluate the quality and fidelity of the fossil record, and to better understand organism–environment in-teractions. Understanding how organisms have responded to ecological, environmental and an-thropogenic variations is critical to comprehend

present diversity and anticipate future outcomes (i.e., the past is the key to the future). Her main field research ar-eas are low–latitude oceanic islands such as the Canary Archipelago and the Bahamas. Tropical islands exhibit outstanding land snail diversity in both space and time, and appear to be especially sensitive to human impact and global change. Ultimately, her research aims to help to protect terrestrial malacofaunas, which are declining in an alarming rate.

Yanes, Y., Kowalewski, M., Romanek, C.S. (2012). Seasonal variation in ecological and taphonomic processes recorded in shelly death assemblages . Palaios, 27, 373−385.

Yanes, Y. (2012). Shell taphonomy and fidelity of living, dead, Holocene and Pleistocene land snail assemblages. . Palaios, 27, 127−136.

Holyoak, G.A., Holyoak, D.T., Yanes, Y., Alonso, M.R., Ibáñez, M. (2011). Taxonomic revision, habitat and biogeography of the land snail family Discidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) in the Canary Islands. Journal of Conchology, 40, 583−603.

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2011 Kenneth B. Tankersley. Evaluat-ing the Co-occurrence of Platygonus compressus and Mylohyus nasutus at Sheriden Cave, Wyandot County, Ohio. Current Research in the Pleistocene 28:173-175.

2009 Tankersley, K.B.,Late Pleistocene Paleontology and Archaeology of Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, in North American Paleontological Convention Field Trip Guide, edited by Carl Brett.

2009 Tankersley, K. B.,Michael R. Waters, and Thomas W. Stafford, Jr. Clovis and the American Mastodon at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky. American Antiquity (74)3:558-567.

Kenneth Tankersley (Department of Anthropology): Associate Professor, Anthropology

Dr. Tankersley describes his research as fo-cused on archaeological problems associ-

ated with human migration, adaptation, and natural resource use during periods of climatic, environmental, and catastrophic change. From an evolutionary perspective, these are significant periods of change, which force people to eco-nomically adapt, downsize, or migrate. Tempo-rally, his research focuses on the Quaternary, the geological period of time during which humans

evolved. His research efforts are concentrated on Paleo-indian archaeological sites, which date to the late Pleisto-cene, the last gasp of the last ice age, an episode of rapid and profound global climate change and mass extinction, and sites, which were occupied during the late Holocene, a subsequent period of oscillating climatic, environmen-tal, and catastrophic change. His investigations use geo-logic field techniques (i.e., solid sediment drill coring and profile excavation) and geological laboratory meth-ods (i.e., petrography, environmental scanning electron microscopy, geochronology, X-ray diffractometry, and trace element and stable isotope geochemistry).

P S M R G F a c u l t y

Brenda Hunda: Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Cincinnati Museum, Geier Re-search Center; Adjunct.

Glenn Storrs: Vice President for Research, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, Cincinnati Museum Center, Adjunct.

Anne Lagomarcino 2011: “The relationship between genus richness and geographic area in Late Cretaceous marine biotas”

Nadeesha Koralegedara 2011 “Chemical, mineralogical and textural properties of the Kope Formation mudstones: how they affect its durability”

Nathan Marshall 2012: “Silt in the upper ordovician kope for-mation (Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky): the enlightening wildcard”

Thomas Schramm 2012: “Sequence Stratigraphy of the Late Ordovician (Katian), Maysvillian Stage of the Cincinnati Arch, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, U.S.A”

Recent PSMRG Masters ThesesJeffrey Hannon 2012: “Microendolithic structures from the Fort Payne formation (lower Mississippian), Kentucky and Tennes-see: implications for the paleoenvironment of carbonate mud-mounds”

Zach Mergenthal 2012: “Preliminary investigation of N-alkanes and alkenones in East Greenland lacustrine sediment: implica-tions for possible Holocene climate reconstructions”

Tanya del Valle 2013: “Comparative Growth Rates of the Extinct Coral Montastraea nancyi: A Dominant Framework Builder in the Pleistocene (MIS 5e) Reefs of Curacao, Netherland Antilles”

Sharmila Giri 2013: “Modern plant-derived terpenoids in an up-per Michigan River basin and implications for studying ancient terpenoids”

Associated Researchers

Madeleine Briskin: (Emerita) Professor, GeologyDr. Briskin’s areas of Specialization: Paleoceanography, Paleoclimatology, Micropaleontology, Quantitative Paleo-ecology, Marine Geology, Related fields include biostratigraphy and sedimentation.

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Recent PSMRG Masters Theses

Recent PSMRG PHD Dissertations

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Nicholas Sullivan 2013: “Refinements to the depositional his-tory of Lower Silurian Strata in the northeastern United States by means of conodont biostratigraphy, d13C chemostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, and magnetic susceptibility”

Michael Desantis 2011: “Anatomy of Middle Devonian faunal turn-over in eastern North America: implications for global bioevents at the Eifelian-Givetian stage boundary”

Brian Nicklen 2011: “Establishing a tephrochronologic framework for the middle permian (Guadalupian) type area and adjacent portions of the Delaware basin and northwestern shelf, west Texas and southeastern New Mexico, USA”

James Zambito 2011: “The Late Middle Devonian (Givetian) global taghanic biocrisis in its type region (Northern Appala-chian Basin): geologically rapid faunal transitions driven by global and local (Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award, College of Arts and Sciences)

Zhenzhu Wan 2012: “Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic stud-ies of Devonian land plants - an indicator of paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental changes”

Sarah Kolbe 2013: “Forest ecosystem response to environmental pressures along an urban-to-wildland gradient in southwestern Ohio”

Full sample preparation facilities for luminescence dating are available in the Department of Geol-

ogy. These include: sieving equipment; heavy liquid separation facilities; and acid treatment equipment. A Riso Automated TL/IRSL/Blue OSL Dating System DA-15C/D will be used to make the OSL measure-ments. A Daybreak alpha counter is also available and will be used to help determine the concentrations of radioisotopes in sediment to help calculate dose rates. The laboratory also has an Ortex MicroNOMAD por-table spectroscopy system with Nal detectors and an InSpector 1000 high-performance digital hand-held spectrometer for field dose rate determination.

R e s e a r c h L a b o r a t o r i e s

The Department of Geology has facilities to prepare sediment and rock samples for

Be-10 and Al-26 cosmogenic nuclides surface exposure dating and erosion studies. The lab-oratories include a rock crushing laboratory; heavy liquid a separation laboratory; and a chemistry laboratory that has ultrasonic baths, hot rollers for leaching sediment and rock, columns for cation and anion exchange, HF and perchloric acid hoods for acid work, and hoods for target loading.

Luminescence Dating Laboratory cosmogenic nucLiDeLaboratories

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This laboratory integrates field and laboratory equipment for taking and analyzing sediment

cores, principally glacial lake cores. Included in this laboratory is a Coulter counter grain size analyzer; a Strato-box marine geophysical sonar core for seismic profiling of subsurface sediments; a high-resolution imaging microscope; a custom, high-resolution sedi-ment core photography frame; a magnetic suscepti-bility instrument; a muffle furnace and a low-tem-perature oven for drying samples; and two dedicated microcomputers. There are two coring units: a Liv-ingstone piston coring system with a stainless steel extractable core, and a “Bolivian” piston coring unit with a clear polycarbonate tube. Lakes cores are taken from a pontoon raft equipped with a coring tower and a mechanically-powered winch supported by a Zodiac and a Boston Whaler.

The Department of Geology Organic Geochemistry Laboratory is equipped to process modern and an-

cient soils, plants, sediments, and rocks. The labora-tory has general organic geochemistry equipment in-cluding a Beckman Coulter centrifuge, Mettler Toledo balance, Mettler Toledo pH meter, water purification system, drying ovens, large muffle furnace, refrigera-tor, freezer, glassware, and lipid standards. For lipid preparation, the laboratory has a Dionex ASE 350 solvent extraction system, a TurboVap LV for solvent evaporation, nitrogen blow-down stations, and other lipid preparation equipment. The laboratory houses an Agilent 7890A gas chromatograph (GC) with au-tosampler, multimode and cool on-column injector, a two-way splitter, a flame ionization detector, and an Agilent 5975C quadrupole mass spectrometer (MSD) for the identification and quantification of organic matter. The GC/MSD is equipped with the NIST 2008 and Wiley Spectral libraries and a data analysis work-station.

The Department of Geology biogeochemistry facility is set up for the analysis of dissolved organic carbon and

nitrogen in waters with a Shimadzu TOC/TN analyzer, the analysis of carbon and nitrogen concentrations of organic matter in various substrates (e.g., soils, lake and marine sedi-ments) with a Thermo Flash Elemental Analyzer, the analysis of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide gases with a Shimadzu gas chromatograph, and the analysis of dissolved inorganic nitrogen with a Biotage spectrophotometer.

The Department of Geology is currently seeking funding for a stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) facility. This fa-

cility would include the ability to measure stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. This lab would include a Thermo Delta Advantage IRMS and peripheral devices to measure carbon and nitrogen isotopes in organic matter (e.g., soils, lake sedi-ments, plant and animal tissues), carbon and hydrogen isotopes of biomarkers, oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of waters, carbon and oxygen isotopes of carbon dioxide in air, carbon and oxygen iso-topes of carbonates (e.g., shells, lake marls), and nitrogen isotopes of nitrates.

organic geochemistry Laboratory

Quaternary seDiment anD coring Laboratory

biogeochemistry LaboratorystabLe isotope FaciLity For biogeochemicaL research

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This laboratory, located in the Department of Geol-ogy, is equipped for two principal modes of X-ray

analysis: diffraction (XRD) and fluorescence (XRF). The Department has the services of a full-time staff person for the maintenance and operation of this fa-cility. The XRF unit is a Rigaku 3070 wavelength dis-persive system that was purchased in 1987. Instru-ments such as the Rigaku ZSX Primus II Sequential Wavelength-Dispersive XRF Spectrometer and the Rigaku XRD Ultima IV X-Ray Diffraction System combine great accuracy and sensitivity with ease of operation. The Ultima IV is a high-quality X-ray dif-fractometer system that is easy to use, highly accurate, and has the versatility to meet all of our teaching and research needs in X-ray diffraction. XRF systems like the ZXS Primus II spectrometer provide the ability to process very small samples and to include a wide range of elements.

A Core Lab SGL custom-built spectral gamma core-logging instrument is located in the Department

of Geology. It generates total API, 40K, 232Th, and 238U data; a bulk density feature allows corrections for non-uniform core diameter.

This laboratory is located in the Department of An-thropology and is equipped to conduct particle size

analysis of unconsolidated Quaternary sediments, ex-tract bulk soil organic matter from core samples, and extract bone collagen and hair protein for stable iso-tope analyses. In addition to standard chemicals for acid-base-acid pretreatments and equipment such as analytical balances and glassware, the laboratory has a magnetic susceptibility meter with high-resolution probes, two proton magnetometers, single junction ion selective electrode for fluoride dating of bone, two petrographic microscopes, ten binocular microscopes, and a digital microscope for photo-microscopy. The laboratory also has a computer workstation for data analysis and GIS.

This field laboratory is currently under construc-tion at the University of Cincinnati’s Center for

Field Studies. The new laboratory will be used for the processing artifacts, Quaternary invertebrate, vertebrate, and plant remains, and sediments from drill cores and excavation. The laboratory will have a fume hood, basic laboratory equipment, 3-d image scanners, a digital microscope, a computer worksta-tion for analysis and data management, and a dedi-cated curation room for core, sediment, ecofact, ar-tifact, and archival records. The laboratory will also have a laboratory smart classroom.

X-ray Laboratory

spectraL gamma ray core Logger

ohio VaLLey archaeoLogy Laboratory

court archaeoLogicaL research FaciLity

gis anD remote sensing Laboratories

This facility is located in the Department of Bio-logical Sciences and is equipped to process and

analyze archaeological plant materials using light and electron microscopy. Equipment includes a phase con-trast compound microscope, various binocular light microscopes with digital imaging capabilities, a fume hood and computer workstations configured for image processing, data analysis and GIS applications. Over 3000 plant reference specimens from North America, Central America and Northern India are housed in the laboratory.

The Department of Anthro-pology Human Evolutionary

Locomotor Laboratory examines human gait performance and hominin evolutionary anatomy through experimental biome-chanics and modeling. The lab is equipped with an eight camera Vi-con MX T10 motion capture sys-tem, two force platforms (AMTI BP 400600 and Bertec 4060-07-1000), a Basler piA640-210gm high speed digital video camera and a Smooth Power treadmill.

Three state-of-the-art GIS and remote sensing re-search and teaching laboratories located in the

Department of Geography with high performance computing and environmental monitoring capabilities supporting the processing and analysis of multi-spec-tral, hyper-spectral, radar, and lidar imagery and the development of geographic information systems and networks.

The study of clay minerals requires a variety of sample preparation methods including high- and

low-speed centrifugation, high- and low-tempera-ture treatment, ethylene glycol saturation, ultrason-ic disaggregation, and treatment with a variety of toxic chemicals. All of these facilities are available in the clay mineralogy laboratory along with high-speed grinding and crushing equipment. The lab is located adjacent to the XRD and XRF laboratoriesfor easy access to those analytical facilities.

paLeoethnobotanicaL Laboratory

human eVoLutionary Locomotor Laboratory

cLay mineraLogy Laboratory

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K e y F i e l d A r e a s

The PSMRG has active research in the above regions

R e s e a r c hO p p o r t u n i t i e s

Doctoral Graduate Support

The PSMRG and the Department of Geology provides a range of financial support opportunities for graduate students, including research and teaching assistantships, fellowships, tuition waivers and grants for research expenses.

Graduate StudentsProspective students are advised to contact individual members of PSMRG about opportunities for graduate study and research.

W e e k l y S e m i n a rThe PSMRG holds a weekly seminar to for its members to present current research and for invited speakers. This is hosted by the Department of Geology.

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Krista SmilekAcademic DirectorDepartment of GeologyUniversity of CincinnatiCincinnati, OH 45221

C o n t a c tI n f o r m a t i o n : E-mail: krista.smilek@uc.edu