Jeff Honke
Biography
I have had the opportunity to work work with some amazing talent at the USGS, and support some fascinating projects. From the Alaskan muskeg to the dry playas of the Mojave Desert, I have been able to search for, recover, and describe some really cool geologic records. I have spent numerous summers working on collecting sediment from lakes; The Great Salt Lake, Bear Lake, high altitude lakes in Colorado, Crevice lake in Yellowstone, and remote ponds, surrounded by grizzlies, near Yakutat, Alaska. Using Kullenburg, Uwitec, Livingston and other systems I have helped develop records of vegetation change and landscape evolution from the bottoms of these lakes. Most recently I have been able to utilize hydraulic systems to extract records from the dry playa lakes in the desert southwest. Exploring the sedimentological records of these systems, and trying to fathom the changes that the Earth's surface goes through has fully gathered my attention.
Education
1993 B.S., Environmental Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha
2014 M.A., Geography, University of Denver
Science and Products
Quaternary Hydroclimate Records of Spring Ecosystems
Desert springs and wetlands are among the most biologically productive, diverse, and fragile ecosystems on Earth. They are home to thousands of rare, endemic, and endangered plants and animals and reflect the availability and health of emergent groundwater. Despite the ecological importance of these wetlands, our knowledge of how they might respond to predicted future climate change is limited...
Paleohydrology of Desert Wetlands
Springs and wetlands are among the most highly threatened ecosystems on Earth. Although geographically limited, they support more than 20% of all the threatened and endangered species in the United States. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey are examining the rock record to determine how springs and wetlands responded to abrupt climate change during prehistoric times and the recent...
Evidence for humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum
Archaeologists and researchers in allied fields have long sought to understand human colonization of North America. When, how, and from where did people migrate, and what were the consequences of their arrival for the established fauna and landscape are enduring questions. Here, we present evidence from excavated surfaces of in situ human...
Bennett, Matthew R.; Bustos, David; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Urban, Thomas. M.; Holliday, Vance T.; Reynolds, Sally C.; Budka, Marcin; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Hudson, Adam M.; Fenerty, Brendan; Connelly, Clare; Martinez, Patrick J.; Santucci, Vincent L.; Odess, Daniel Late Quaternary paleohydrology of desert wetlands and pluvial lakes in the Soda Lake basin, central Mojave Desert, California (USA)
Sediment cores taken near extant springs along the western margin of Soda Lake playa, as well as from the playa center, reveal dramatic hydrologic changes that occurred in the central Mojave Desert during the late Quaternary. Results of stratigraphic, chronologic, physical, chemical, and microfossil analyses of seven cores, ranging in length from...
Honke, Jeffrey S.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Wilson, J.; Bright, J.; Goldstein, H.L.; Skipp, Gary L.; Reheis, M.C.; Havens, J. C. Desert wetlands record hydrologic variability within the Younger Dryas chronozone, Mojave Desert, USA
One of the enduring questions in the field of paleohydrology is how quickly desert wetland ecosystems responded to past episodes of abrupt climate change. Recent investigations in the Las Vegas Valley of southern Nevada have revealed that wetlands expanded and contracted on millennial and sub-millennial timescales in response to changes in climate...
Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Honke, Jeffrey S. Activation of a small ephemeral lake in southern Jordan during the last full glacial period and its paleoclimatic implications
Playas, or ephemeral lakes, are one of the most common depositional environments in arid and semiarid lands worldwide. Playa deposits, however, have mostly been avoided as paleoclimatic archives because they typically contain exceptionally low concentrations of organic material, making 14C dating difficult. Here, we describe a technique for...
Catlett, Gentry A.; Rech, Jason A.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Al Kuisi, Mustafa; Li, Shanying; Honke, Jeffrey S. Active tectonics of the northern Mojave Desert: The 2017 Desert Symposium field trip road log
The 2017 Desert Symposium field trip will highlight recent work by the U.S. Geological Survey geologists and geophysicists, who have been mapping young sediment and geomorphology associated with active tectonic features in the least well-known part of the eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ). This area, stretching from Barstow eastward in a giant...
Miller, David M.; Reynolds, R.E.; Phelps, Geoffrey; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Cyr, Andrew J.; Buesch, David C.; Schmidt, Kevin; Losson, G. Late quaternary changes in lakes, vegetation, and climate in the Bonneville Basin reconstructed from sediment cores from Great Salt Lake: Chapter 11
Sediment cores from Great Salt Lake (GSL) provide the basis for reconstructing changes in lakes, vegetation, and climate for the last ~ 40 cal ka. Initially, the coring site was covered by a shallow saline lake and surrounded by Artemisia steppe or steppe-tundra under a cold and dry climate. As Lake Bonneville began to rise (from ~...
Thompson, Robert S.; Oviatt, Charles G.; Honke, Jeffrey S.; McGeehin, John
Description and Analytical Results for Deposited Dust Samples from a Two-Year Monitoring Program Near Deer Trail, Colorado, USA, 2006-2007
Biosolids reclaimed from municipal wastewater have been applied since 1993 on nonirrigated farmland and rangeland east of Deer Trail, Colo., by Metro Wastewater Reclamation District of Denver. The U.S. Geological Survey has monitored ground water at this site since 1993, and began monitoring the biosolids, soils, and stream sediments in 1999. To...
Reheis, Marith C.; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Lamothe, Paul; Fisher, Eric