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 

OTHER PUBLICATIONS (see tab below for main list):

 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., 1985, Amino acid age estimates of marine terraces and sea levels, San Nicolas Island, California:  Geology, v. 13, p. 58-61.

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.

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., 1987, Introduction, in Muhs, D.R., ed., Pacific coast and mountain system, in Graf, W.L., ed., Geomorphic Systems of North America: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, Centennial Special Volume 2, p. 517-518.

Muhs, D.R., 1987, Conclusions, in Muhs, D.R., ed., Pacific coast and mountain system, in Graf, W.L., ed., Geomorphic Systems of North America: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, Centennial Special Volume 2, p. 570-571.

Muhs, D.R., Kelsey, H.M., Miller, G.H., Kennedy, G.L., Whelan, J.F., and McInelly, G.W., 1990, Age estimates and uplift rates for late Pleistocene marine terraces: Southern Oregon portion of the Cascadia forearc:  Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 95, p. 6685-6698..

Muhs, D.R., Bush, C.A., and Rosholt, J.N., 1990, Uranium-series disequilibrium in Quaternary soils:  Significance for 222Rn hazard assessment, in Doe, B., ed., Proceedings of a U.S. Geological Survey Workshop on Environmental Geochemistry:  U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1033, p. 39-44.

Herwitz, S.R. and Muhs, D.R., 1995, Bermuda solution pipe soils: A geochemical evaluation of eolian parent materials: in Curran, A.H. and White, B., eds., Terrestrial and shallow marine geology of the Bahamas and Bermuda: Geological Society of America Special Paper 300, p. 311-323.

Muhs, D.R., Ager, T.A., Been, J.M., Rosenbaum, J.G., and Reynolds, R.L., 2000, An evaluation of methods for identifying and interpreting buried soils in late Quaternary loess in Alaska:  U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1615, p. 127-146.

Muhs, D.R., 2000, Dating marine terraces with relative-age and correlated-age methods, in Noller, J.S., Sowers, J.M., and Lettis, W.R., eds., Quaternary Geochronology, Applications and Methods:  Washington, American Geophysical Union, p. 434-446.

Muhs, D.R., and Zarate, M., 2001, Eolian records of the Americas and their paleoclimatic significance, in Markgraf, V., ed., Interhemispheric Climate Linkages, San Diego, Academic Press, p. 183-216.

Roberts, H.M., Muhs, D.R., Wintle, A.G., Duller, G.A.T., and Bettis, E.A., III, 2003, Unprecedented last glacial mass accumulation rates determined by luminescence dating of loess from western Nebraska: Quaternary Research, v. 59, p. 411-419.

Muhs, D.R., 2004, Mineralogical maturity in dune fields of North America, Africa and Australia: Geomorphology, v. 59, p. 247-269.

 Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Marshall, S.J., Overpeck, J.T., Miller, G.H., Hu, A., Anderson, P., Bennike, O., Bigelow, N., Brigham-Grette, J., Duvall, M., Edwards, M., Frechette, B., Funder, S., Johnsen, S., Knies, J., Koerner, R., Lozhkin, A., MacDonald, G.,Matthiessen, J., Montoya, M., Muhs, D., Reeh, N., Sejrup, H.P., Turner, C., Velichko, A., 2007, Simulating Arctic climate warmth and icefield retreat in the last interglaciation: Science, v. 311, p.1751-1753.

Muhs, D.R., 2007, Loess deposits, origins, and properties, in: Elias, S. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Sciences: Amsterdam: Elsevier, p. 1405-1418.

Muhs, D.R., 2007, Paleosols and wind-blown sediments: Overview, in: Elias, S. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Sciences: Amsterdam: Elsevier, p. 2075–2086.

Jansen, Eystein; Overpeck, Jonathan; Briffa, Keith R; Duplessy, Jean-Claude; Joos, Fortunat; Masson-Delmotte, Valerie; Olago, Daniel; Otto-Bliesner, Bette; Peltier, W Richard; Rahmstorf, Stefan; Ramesh, Rengaswamy; Raynaud, Dominique; Rind, David; Solomina, Olga; Villalba, Ricardo; Zhang De'er; Barnola, Jean-Marc; Bauer, Eva; Brady, Esther; Chandler, Mark; Cole, Julia; Cook, Edward; Cortijo, Esla; Dokken, Trond; Fleitmann, Dominik; Kageyama, Masa; Khodri, Myriam; Labeyrie, Laurent;Laine, Alexandre; Levermann, Anders; Lie, Oyvind; Loutre, Marie-France; Matsumoto, Katsumi; Monnin, Eric; Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; Muhs, Daniel; Muscheler, Raimund; Osborn, Tim; Paasche, Oyvind; Parrenin, Frederic; Plattner, Gian-Kasper; Pollack, Henry; Spahni, Renato; Stott, Lowell D; Thompson, Lonnie; Waelbroeck, Claire; Wiles, Gregory; Zachos, James; Guo Zhangteng, 2007, Palaeoclimate, in: Climate change 2007; the physical science basis; contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Muhs, D.R., Budhan, J., Johnson, D.L., Reheis, M., Beann, J., Skipp, G., Fisher, E., and Jones, J.A., 2008, Geochemical evidence for airborne dust additions to soils in Channel Islands National Park, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 120, p. 106-126.

Muhs, D.R., 2009, Eolian sediments and processes, in Gornitz, V. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, p. 312-319.

Alley, R.B., Fitzpatrick, J.J., Brigham-Grette, J., Miller, G.H., Muhs, D., and Polyak, L., 2009: Paleoclimate Concepts. In Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston , VA, p. 22–76.

Alley, R.B., Andrews, J.T., Clarke, G.K.C., Cuffey, K.M., Funder, S., Marshall, S.J., Mitrovica, J.X., Muhs, D.R., Otto-Bleisner, B., 2009: Past Extent and Status of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, p. 303–357.

Muhs, D.R., Budahn, J., Avila, A., Skipp, G., Freeman, J., and Patterson, D., 2010, Geochemical evidence for African dust additions to Quaternary soils on the island of Mallorca, Spain: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 29, p. 2518-2543.

Pigati, J.S., McGeehin, J.P., Muhs, D.R., Bettis, E.A. III, 2013, Radiocarbon dating late Quaternary loess deposits using small terrestrial gastropods.  Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 76, p. 114-128.