Publications

Closed-basin pluvial lakes are sensitive recorders of effective moisture, and they provide a terrestrial signal of climate change that can be compared to marine and ice records of glacial-interglacial cycles. Although the most recent deep-lake cycle in the western Great Basin (at ca. 16 ka) has been studied intensively, comparatively little is known about the longer-term Quaternary...

We detect previously unreported 1 Hz scattered waves at epicentral distances between 30° and 50° and at times between 2300 and 2450 s after the earthquake origin. These waves likely result from off-azimuth scattering of PKPbc to PKPbc in the upper mantle and crust and provide a new tool for mapping variations in fine-scale (10 km) mantle heterogeneity. Array beams from the Large Aperture...

The Canary Archipelago has long been a sensitive location to record climate changes of the past. Interbedded with its basalt lavas are marine deposits from the principal Pleistocene interglacials, as well as aeolian sands with intercalated palaeosols. The palaeosols contain African dust and innumerable relict egg pods of a temperate‐region locust (cf. Dociostaurus maroccanusThunberg 1815...

Migratory species support ecosystem process and function in multiple areas, establishing ecological linkages between their different habitats. As they travel, migratory species also provide ecosystem services to people in many different locations. Previous research suggests there may be spatial mismatches between locations where humans use services and the ecosystems that produce them...

Desert dust, both modern and ancient, is a critical component of the Earth system. Atmospheric dust has important effects on climate by changing the atmospheric radiation budget, while deposited dust influences biogeochemical cycles in the oceans and on land. Dust deposited on snow and ice decreases its albedo, allowing more light to be trapped at the surface, thus increasing the rate of...

The inferred subduction affinity of the ∼1780-Ma Green Mountain arc, a dominantly bimodal igneous terrane (together with immature marine and volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks) accreted to the southern margin of the Wyoming province, is integral to arc-accretion models of the Paleoproterozoic growth of southern Laurentia. Conversely, the dominantly bimodal nature of many putative arc...

As a future warm-climate analog, much attention has been directed to studies of the Last Interglacial period or marine isotope substage (MIS) 5.5, which occurred ∼120,000 years ago. Nevertheless, there are still uncertainties with respect to its duration, warmth and magnitude of sea-level rise. Here we present new data from tectonically stable peninsular Florida and the Florida Keys that...

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fatal disease of bats that hibernate. The etiologic agent of WNS is the fungus Geomyces destructans, which infects the skin and wing membranes. Over 1 million bats in six species in eastern North America have died from WNS since 2006, and as a result several species of bats may become endangered or extinct. Information is lacking on the pathogenesis of G...

Ecosystems can shift between alternative states characterized by persistent differences in structure, function, and capacity to provide ecosystem services valued by society. We examined empirical evidence for alternative states in a semiarid grassland ecosystem where topographic complexity and contrasting management regimes have led to spatial variations in levels of livestock grazing...

During the late Pleistocene, emergent groundwater supported persistent and long-lived desert wetlands in many broad valleys and basins in the American Southwest. When active, these systems provided important food and water sources for local fauna, supported hydrophilic and phreatophytic vegetation, and acted as catchments for eolian and alluvial sediments. Desert wetlands are represented...

Human pressures on the natural resources of the United States have resulted in many unintended changes in our ecosystems, e.g., loss of biodiversity, habitat degradation, increases in the number of endangered species, and increases in contamination and water pollution. Environmental managers are concerned about broad-scale changes in land use and landscape pattern and their cumulative...

Geologic mapping and analysis of ASTER remote sensing data were used to define the effects of a large hydrothermal system in the 12–18 by 22 km Caetano caldera. The caldera formed at ~33.8Ma during eruption of >1100km3 of the rhyolitic Caetano Tuff that left a 1 km deep basin which was partly filled by a lake. Magma resurgence resulted in shallow(