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
Past climate variability and change in the Arctic and at high latitudes
Palaeoclimate
Geochemical evidence for airborne dust additions to soils in Channel Islands National Park, California
Paleoclimatic significance of chemical weathering in loess-derived paleosols of subarctic central Alaska
Origin and paleoclimatic significance of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: Evidence from stratigraphy, chronology, sedimentology, and geochemistry
Isotopic evidence for the diversity of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: Glaciogenic and nonglaciogenic sources
Loess records: North America
Loess sedimentation in Tibet: provenance, processes, and link with Quaternary glaciations
Geochemical evidence for African dust inputs to soils of western Atlantic islands: Barbados, the Bahamas, and Florida
Non-USGS Publications**
**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.
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 153
Past climate variability and change in the Arctic and at high latitudes
Paleoclimate records play a key role in our understanding of Earth's past and present climate system and in our confidence in predicting future climate changes. Paleoclimate data help to elucidate past and present active mechanisms of climate change by placing the short instrumental record into a longer term context and by permitting models to be tested beyond the limited time that instrumental meAuthorsRichard B. Alley, Julie Brigham-Grette, Gifford H. Miller, Leonid PolyakPalaeoclimate
This chapter assesses palaeoclimatic data and knowledge of how the climate system changes over interannual to millennial time scales, and how well these variations can be simulated with climate models. Additional palaeoclimatic perspectives are included in other chapters. Palaeoclimate science has made significant advances since the 1970s, when a primary focus was on the origin of the ice ages, thAuthorsEystein Jansen, Jonathan Overpeck, Keith R. Briffa, Jean-Claude Duplessy, Fortunat Joos, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Daniel Olago, Bette Otto-Bliesner, W. Richard Peltier, Stefan Rahmstorf, Rengaswamy Ramesh, Dominique Raynaud, David Rind, Olga Solomina, Ricardo Villalba, De'er Zhang, Jean-Marc Barnola, Eva M. Bauer, Esther Brady, Mark Chandler, Julia E. Cole, Edward R. Cook, Esla Cortijo, Trond Dokken, Dominik Fleitmann, Masa Kageyama, Myriam Khodri, Laurent Labeyrie, Alexander Laine, Anders Levermann, E. Mosley-Thompson, Daniel R. Muhs, Raimund Muscheler, Tim Osborn, Oyvind Paasche, Frederic Parrenin, Gian-Kasper Plattner, Henry Pollack, Renato Spahni, Lowell D. Stott, Lonnie Thompson, Claire Waelbroeck, Gregory Wiles, James Zachos, Zhangteng GuoGeochemical evidence for airborne dust additions to soils in Channel Islands National Park, California
There is an increasing awareness that dust plays important roles in climate change, biogeochemical cycles, nutrient supply to ecosystems, and soil formation. In Channel Islands National Park, California, soils are clay-rich Vertisols or Alfisols and Mollisols with vertic properties. The soils are overlain by silt-rich mantles that contrast sharply with the underlying clay-rich horizons. Silt mantlAuthorsD.R. Muhs, J. R. Budahn, D.L. Johnson, M. Reheis, J. Beann, G. Skipp, E. Fisher, J.A. JonesPaleoclimatic significance of chemical weathering in loess-derived paleosols of subarctic central Alaska
Chemical weathering in soils has not been studied extensively in high-latitude regions. Loess sequences with modern soils and paleosols are present in much of subarctic Alaska, and allow an assessment of present and past chemical weathering. Five sections were studied in detail in the Fairbanks, Alaska, area. Paleosols likely date to mid-Pleistocene interglacials, the last interglacial, and early-AuthorsD.R. Muhs, T. A. Ager, G. Skipp, J. Beann, J. Budahn, J. P. McGeehinOrigin and paleoclimatic significance of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: Evidence from stratigraphy, chronology, sedimentology, and geochemistry
Loess is one of the most extensive surficial geologic deposits in midcontinental North America, particularly in the central Great Plains region of Nebraska. Last-glacial-age loess (Peoria Loess) reaches its greatest known thickness in the world in this area. New stratigraphic, geochronologic, mineralogic, and geochemical data yield information about the age and provenance of Peoria Loess, as wellAuthorsDaniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis, John N. Aleinikoff, John P. McGeehin, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Brian D. Marshall, Helen M. Roberts, William C. Johnson, Rachel BentonIsotopic evidence for the diversity of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: Glaciogenic and nonglaciogenic sources
Pb isotope compositions of detrital K-feldspars and U-Pb ages of detrital zircons are used as indicators for determining the sources of Peoria Loess deposited during the last glacial period (late Wisconsin, ca. 25–14 ka) in Nebraska and western Iowa. Our new data indicate that only loess adjacent to the Platte River has Pb isotopic characteristics suggesting derivation from this river. Most PeoriaAuthorsJohn N. Aleinikoff, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis, William C. Johnson, C. Mark Fanning, Rachel BentonLoess records: North America
No abstract available.AuthorsH.M. Roberts, D.R. Muhs, E. Arthur BettisLoess sedimentation in Tibet: provenance, processes, and link with Quaternary glaciations
Well-preserved loess deposits are found on the foothills of mountains along the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River in southern Tibet. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is used to determine loess ages by applying the single-aliquot regeneration technique. Geochemical, mineralogical, and granulometric measurements were carried out to allow a comparison between loess from Tibet aAuthorsJielun Sun, S.-H. Li, D.R. Muhs, B. LiGeochemical evidence for African dust inputs to soils of western Atlantic islands: Barbados, the Bahamas, and Florida
We studied soils on high-purity limestones of Quaternary age on the western Atlantic Ocean islands of Barbados, the Florida Keys, and the Bahamas. Potential soil parent materials in this region, external to the carbonate substrate, include volcanic ash from the island of St. Vincent (near Barbados), volcanic ash from the islands of Dominica and St. Lucia (somewhat farther from Barbados), the fine-AuthorsD.R. Muhs, J. R. Budahn, J.M. Prospero, S.N. CareyNon-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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