Daniel Muhs
Biography
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
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...
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,...
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...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Simmons, Kathleen R.; Schumann, R. Randall; Schweig, Eugene S.; Rowe, Mark P.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...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Schweig, Eugene S.; Simmons, Kathleen R.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...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Meco, Joaquin; Budahn, James R.; Skipp, Gary L.; Betancort, Juan F.; Lomoschitz, AlejandroNew 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...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Budahn, James R.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...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Groves, Lindsey T.International Society for Aeolian Research Distinguished Career Award, 2018 Joseph M. Prospero, Dr. Professor Emeritus, University of Miami
It is a pleasure and an honor to present Dr. Joseph M. Prospero of the University of Miami with the International Society for Aeolian Research(ISAR) Distinguished Career Award for 2018. Joe was born at home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, one of three sons of Italian immigrant parents. He got interested in science, and particularly chemistry, not only...
Muhs, Daniel R.Origin of last-glacial loess in the western Yukon-Tanana Upland, central Alaska, USA
Loess is widespread over Alaska, and its accumulation has traditionally been associated with glacial periods. Surprisingly, loess deposits securely dated to the last glacial period are rare in Alaska, and paleowind reconstructions for this time period are limited to inferences from dune orientations. We report a rare occurrence of loess deposits...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Budahn, James R.; Skipp, Gary L.; Bettis, E. Arthur; Jensen, BrittaGeochemistry and mineralogy of late Quaternary loess in the upper Mississippi River valley, USA: Provenance and correlation with Laurentide Ice Sheet history
The midcontinent of North America contains some of the thickest and most extensive last-glacial loess deposits in the world, known as Peoria Loess. Peoria Loess of the upper Mississippi River valley region is thought to have had temporally varying glaciogenic sources resulting from inputs of sediment to the Mississippi River from different lobes...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Bettis, E. Arthur; Skipp, Gary L.T.D.A. Cockerell (1866–1948) of the University of Colorado: His contributions to the natural history of the California islands and the establishment of Channel Islands National Monument
Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell was a naturalist at the University of Colorado from 1904 to 1947 and studied botany, zoology, and paleontology in North and South America, Asia, Australia, Africa, and Europe. In the latter part of his career, he studied the California islands and published many papers on their natural history, 16 of them in four...
Muhs, Daniel R.Landscapes from the waves—Marine terraces of California
Many coastlines around the world have stair-step landforms, known as marine terraces. Marine terraces make up a large part of coastal California’s landscape—from San Diego to Crescent City. Find out how these landscapes form, why marine terraces are of interest to scientists, and where you can explore these landscapes.
Schulz, Marjorie S.; Lawrence, Corey; Muhs, Daniel R.; Prentice, Carol S.; Flanagan, SamThe geochemistry of loess: Asian and North American deposits compared
Loess is widely distributed over Asia and North America and constitutes one of the most important surficial deposits that serve as terrestrial records of the Quaternary. The oldest Pleistocene loess in China is likely ∼2.6 Ma, thus spanning much or all of the Pleistocene. In North America, most loess is no older than the penultimate glacial period...
Muhs, Daniel R.Quaternary sea-level history and the origin of the northernmost coastal aeolianites in the Americas: Channel Islands National Park, California, USA
Along most of the Pacific Coast of North America, sand dunes are dominantly silicate-rich. On the California Channel Islands, however, dunes are carbonate-rich, due to high productivity offshore and a lack of dilution by silicate minerals. Older sands on the Channel Islands contain enough carbonate to be cemented into aeolianite. Several...
Muhs, Daniel R.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Schumann, R. Randall; Skipp, Gary L.; Porat, Naomi; DeVogel, Stephen B.Pre-USGS Publications
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.
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.