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Daniel Muhs

I study geomorphology, soils and Quaternary stratigraphy to reconstruct paleoclimates over the past two and a half million years of geologic time.

My main study areas are in the central and western USA (Mississippi Valley, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, desert Southwest, Pacific Coast and Alaska), but I have also worked in the Caribbean, Spain and Israel.  My main interests are in origin and paleoclimatic significance of dune fields, stratigraphy and paleopedology of loess, effects of long-range-transported dust on soils, the atmosphere, oceans and ecosystems, and sea level history.

 

 

Education:

University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 1977-1980 (Ph.D., Physical geography/Geology)

University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 1973-1975 (M.S., Physical geography/Soil science)

University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 1972-1973 (B.A., Physical geography)

University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 1970-1972 (B.A., English, History)

Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 1968-1970  (English)

 

 

Professional experience:

1995-date:  Geologist, Geology and Environmental Change Science Center, USGS, Denver, CO

1985-1995: Geologist, Branch of Isotope Geology, USGS, Denver, CO

1983-1984:  Soil Scientist with USGS while on leave-of-absence with the University of Wisconsin to accept National Research Council Research Associateship, Denver, Colorado. 

1980-1985:  Assistant and Associate Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

1978-1980, part-time Soil Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Central Regional Geology.

1977-1979: Instructor (while a Ph.D student), Department of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Colorado at Denver

1975-1976:  Soil Scientist, U.S. Soil Conservation Service/Iowa State University 

 

 

Science and Products

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Coral reef and overlying marine deposits a few meters above sea level, south of Kaena Point, Hawaii

Geologic Records of High Sea Levels

This project studies past high sea levels on coastlines that preserve fossil coral reefs or marine terraces. We ascertain the magnitudes of sea-level high stands by field mapping, stratigraphic measurements, and precise elevation measurements. Geochronology is accomplished by radiocarbon dating of mollusks (for Holocene-to-last-glacial deposits), uranium-series dating of corals (for high-sea...
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
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Geologic Records of High Sea Levels

This project studies past high sea levels on coastlines that preserve fossil coral reefs or marine terraces. We ascertain the magnitudes of sea-level high stands by field mapping, stratigraphic measurements, and precise elevation measurements. Geochronology is accomplished by radiocarbon dating of mollusks (for Holocene-to-last-glacial deposits), uranium-series dating of corals (for high-sea...
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Parabolic dunes in Wray dune field, eastern Colorado

Eolian Sediments in the Greater Platte River Basins, Great Plains

The Greater Platte River Basins occupies a large part of the Great Plains of central North America. It is a semiarid region and like most semiarid regions, experiences a wide range of variability in year-to-year precipitation. This makes the region's geomorphic systems highly sensitive to climate changes. Much of the Greater Platte River Basins is covered with eolian sediments (dune sand, sheet...
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
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Eolian Sediments in the Greater Platte River Basins, Great Plains

The Greater Platte River Basins occupies a large part of the Great Plains of central North America. It is a semiarid region and like most semiarid regions, experiences a wide range of variability in year-to-year precipitation. This makes the region's geomorphic systems highly sensitive to climate changes. Much of the Greater Platte River Basins is covered with eolian sediments (dune sand, sheet...
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Uranium and Strontium geochronology data for marine terraces on Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California, USA

Studies of marine terraces and their fossils can yield important information about sea level history, tectonic uplift rates, and paleozoogeography. The marine terrace record on Santa Rosa Island, California is complex. Two prominent low-elevation terraces appear to record the ~80 ka (MIS 5a) and ~120 ka (MIS 5e) high-sea stands, based on U-series dating of fossil corals, but interpretations are te
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
Acropora corals from last interglacial period, Saipan
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Bioerosional notch on Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
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Fossils found at Cayucos, California
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Marine terrace on Santa Rosa Island, California
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Reef dated to the last interglacial on Oahu, Hawaii
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Sea terrace at Año Nuevo Point, California
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Fossils at Año Nuevo Point, California
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Marine terrace at Cayucos, California
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Marine terrace San Clemente Island, California
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Filter Total Items: 152

A complex record of last interglacial sea-level history and paleozoogeography, Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California, USA

Studies of marine terraces and their fossils can yield important information about sea level history, tectonic uplift rates, and paleozoogeography, but some aspects of terrace history, particularly with regard to their fossil record, are not clearly understood. Marine terraces are well preserved on Santa Rosa Island, California, and the island is situated near a major marine faunal boundary. Two p
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

MIS 5e sea-level history along the Pacific coast of North America

The primary last interglacial, marine isotope substage (MIS) 5e records on the Pacific coast of North America, from Washington (USA) to Baja California Sur (Mexico), are found in the deposits of erosional marine terraces. Warmer coasts along the southern Golfo de California host both erosional marine terraces and constructional coral reef terraces. Because the northern part of the region is tecton
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Were humans and mammoths on the Channel Islands at the same time?

No abstract available.
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Long-term African dust delivery to the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara and Sahel regions: Evidence from Quaternary paleosols on the Canary Islands, Spain

Africa is the most important source of dust in the world today and dust storms from that continent frequently deposit sediment on the nearby Canary Islands. Many investigators have inferred African dust inputs to Canary Islands paleosols based only on the presence of quartz. However, some local rocks do contain this mineral, so quartz alone is insufficient proof of dust deposition. Further, it is
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

The marine terraces of Santa Cruz Island, California: Implications for glacial isostatic adjustment models of last-interglacial sea-level history

Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models hypothesize that along coastal California, last interglacial (LIG, broadly from ~130 to ~115 ka) sea level could have been as high as +11 m to +13 m, relative to present, substantially higher than the commonly estimated elevation of +6 m. Areas with low uplift rates can test whether such models are valid. Marine terraces on Santa Cruz Island have previousl
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Soils and paleosols

Soils are naturally occurring bodies that form in the interface between the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. They are the medium for much of the Earth's plant and animal growth. Soil morphology and how it evolves are functions of the soil-forming factors of climate, organisms, relief, parent material, and time. The expression of soil morphology takes the form of layers, called ho
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Eolian sediments

The origin and nature of eolian (wind-blown) sediments are reviewed, with an emphasis on the occurrence of these features in the Quaternary. Eolian sediments consist of windblown sand, loess, and long-range-transported (LRT) dust, in order of decreasing particle size. Eolian sand forms some of the most dramatic landscapes in the world, particularly when these sediments are deposited as dunes in sa
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Testing glacial isostatic adjustment models of last-interglacial sea level history in the Bahamas and Bermuda

Part of the spatial variation in the apparent sea-level record of the last interglacial (LIG) period is due to the diverse response of coastlines to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) processes, particularly where coastlines were close to the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the past two glacial periods. We tested modeled LIG paleo-sea levels on New Providence Island (NPI), Bahamas and Bermuda by inves
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Late Quaternary sea-level history of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, USA: A test of tectonic uplift and glacial isostatic adjustment models

In 1979, S. Uyeda and H. Kanamori proposed a tectonic model with two end members of a subduction-boundary continuum: the “Chilean” type (shallow dip of the subducting plate, great thrust events, compression, and uplift of the overriding plate) and a “Mariana” type (steep dip of the subducting plate, no great thrust events, tension, and no uplift). This concept has been used to explain variable rat
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

The antiquity of the Sahara Desert: New evidence from the mineralogy and geochemistry of Pliocene paleosols on the Canary Islands, Spain

The Sahara is the largest warm desert in the world, but its age has been controversial, with estimates ranging from Miocene to Holocene. Mineralogical and geochemical data show that paleosols of Pliocene to mid-Pleistocene age on Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands have developed in part from inputs of dust from Africa. These paleosols contain quartz and mica, minerals that are ab
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

New geochemical evidence for the origin of North America's largest dune field, the Nebraska Sand Hills, central Great Plains, USA

The Nebraska Sand Hills region is the largest dune field in North America and has diverse aeolian landforms. It has been active during both the late Pleistocene and late Holocene. Despite decades of study, the source of sediment for this large sand sea is still controversial. Here we report new trace element compositions of aeolian sand that are compared to four hypothesized sediment sources, Tert
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Little islands recording global events: Late Quaternary sea level history and paleozoogeography of Santa Barbara and Anacapa Islands, Channel Islands National Park, California

Marine terraces are common on the Pacific Coast of North America and record interglacial high-sea stands superimposed on either stable or tectonically rising crustal blocks. Despite many years of study of these landforms in southern California, little work on terraces has been conducted on the two smallest of the California Channel Islands, Santa Barbara Island (SBI) and Anacapa Island (ANA). Pres
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Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Crittenden, R.C. and Muhs, D.R., 1986, Cliff-height and slope-angle relationships in a chronosequence of marine terraces, San Clemente Island, California:  Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, v. 30, p. 291-301.
Muhs, D.R., 1985, Age and paleoclimatic significance of Holocene sand dunes in northeastern Colorado:  Annals of the Association of American Geographers, v. 75, p. 566-582.
Muhs, D.R., 1985, Amino acid age estimates of marine terraces and sea levels, San Nicolas Island, California:  Geology, v. 13, p. 58-61.
 Muhs, D.R., Kautz, R., and MacKinnon, J.J., 1985, Soils and the location of cacao orchards at a Maya site in western Belize: Journal of Archaeological Science, v. 12, p. 121-137.
Muhs, D.R., 1984, Intrinsic thresholds in soil systems: Physical Geography, v. 5, p. 99-110.
Muhs, D.R., 1983, Airborne dust fall on the California Channel Islands, U.S.A.: Journal of Arid Environments, v. 6, p. 223-238.
Muhs, D.R., 1983, Quaternary sea-level events on northern San Clemente Island, California: Quaternary Research, v. 20, p. 322-341.
Gillette, D.A., Adams, J., Muhs, D.R., and Kihl, R., 1982, Threshold friction velocities and rupture moduli for crusted desert soils for the input of soil particles into the air: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 87, p. 9003-9015.
Muhs, D.R., 1982, A soil chronosequence on Quaternary marine terraces, San Clemente Island, California: Geoderma, v. 28, p. 257-283.
Muhs, D.R. and Szabo, B.J., 1982, Uranium-series age of the Eel Point terrace, San Clemente Island, California: Geology, v. 10, p. 23-26.
Muhs, D.R., 1982, The influence of topography on the spatial variability of soils in Mediterranean climates, in Thorn, C.E., ed., Space and Time in Geomorphology: London, George Allen and Unwin, p. 269-284.
Johnson, D.L., Muhs, D.R., and Barnhardt, M.L., 1977, The effects of frost heaving on objects in soils, II: Laboratory experiments: Plains Anthropologist, v. 22, p. 133-147.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

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The antiquity of the Sahara Desert: New evidence from the mineralogy and geochemistry of Pliocene paleosols on the Canary Islands, Spain

This article is part of the Spring 2020 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter.

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Evidence for seasonal controls on the transportation of loess in Matanuska Valley, southern Alaska

This article is part of the Fall 2016 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter.

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Western Iowa loess records stronger last-glacial winds

This article is part of the Fall 2014 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter. 

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