John Barron, Ph.D.
John is a Scientist Emeritus with the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science center in Menlo Park, CA. He received his PhD in Geology from the University of California in 1974 and his BS in Geology from Univeristy of California in 1969.
Biography
Biography
John is a marine micropaleontologist (diatoms) with expertise in and biostratigraphy and paleoceanography. His biostratigraphic expertise extends from the Late Cretaceous to the Holocene, with an emphasis on the North Pacific, eastern equatorial Pacific, and Southern Ocean. John's paleoclimate expertise is mostly on the Holocene of the North Pacific, ranging from the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Alaska. As an Emeritus Research Geologist, his research is directed toward developing and comparing Holocene sea surface temperature records in these eastern North Pacific regions with hydroclimate records in western North America and suggesting links.
Education:
- 1969 BS (Geology), University of California, Los Angeles
- 1974 PhD (Geology), University of California, Los Angeles
Professional Studies/Experience
- 2012- 2016 (June) - Project Chief, Pacific Ocean Climate Variability: Effects on North American Precipitation Patterns Project, Climate and Land Use Change, Research & Development Program
- 1998-2011 – Project Chief, Holocene Climate of the Pacific Coasts Project
- 1995-1997 – Project Chief: Pliocene, Research, Interpretation, and Synoptic Mapping(PRISM), Global Change & Climate History Program, Volcano Hazards Team, Menlo Park
- 1984-1995 – Project Chief and micropaleontologist of various USGS biochronology projects providing support to USGS mapping projects, Paleontology & Stratigraphy Branch
- 1974-1983 –Micropaleontolgist (diatoms), Paleontology & Stratigraphy Branch
Scientific Cruise Experience
- Deep Sea Drilling Project (Leg 57-Japan; 63 (California margin; 85 (eastern equatorial Pacific); micropaleontologist
- Ocean Drilling Project 119 (Antarctic margin, Indian Ocean; Co-Chief Scientist), 145 (North Pacific transect, micropaleotologist).
Honors, awards, recognition, elected offices
- 1986 - Charles Schuchert Award - from the Paleontological Society for excellence and promise in paleontology for scientists under 40 years old
- 1994- U.S. Dept. of Interior Meritorious Service Award
- 2005 - Fellow, California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco)
- 2011 -The Brady Medal of the Micropalaeological Society (UK), (The Medal is awarded to scientists who have had a major influence on micropalaeontology by means of a substantial body of excellent research).
Science and Products
Pacific Ocean Patterns, Processes, and Productivity (POP3): Impacts of ancient warming on marine ecosystems and western North America
Projections for AD 2100 suggest warming of +1-4°C in the North Pacific Ocean, which will result in widespread transformations throughout the marine environment and western North America. Many of these changes are beyond the predictive capabilities of current climate models. To better address this future uncertainty, our team is developing a geological framework using past warm intervals as...
The Miocene stratigraphy of the Laberinto area (Río Ica Valley) and its bearing on the geological history of the East Pisco Basin (south-central Peru)
Global sea-level changes and substantial vertical displacement along the Monte Grande Fault (MGF) in the lower Río Ica Valley of south-central Peru influenced the accumulation of bioclast-bearing and diatom-bearing Miocene siliciclastic sediments in an area of the East Pisco forearc basin (EPB) colloquially known as Laberinto. Two depositional...
Devries, Thomas J.; Barron, John A.; Urbina-Schmitt, Mario; Ochoa, Diana; Esperante, Raúl; Snee, Lawrence W A North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) of the Common Era
This study presents a synthesis of century-scale hydroclimate variations in North America for the Common Era (last 2000 years) using new age models of previously published multiple proxy-based paleoclimate data. This North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) examines regional hydroclimate patterns and related environmental indicators,...
Rodysill, Jessica R. ; Anderson, Lesleigh; Cronin, Thomas M.; Jones, Miriam C.; Thompson, Robert S.; Wahl, David B.; Willard, Debra A.; Addison, Jason A.; Alder, Jay R.; Anderson, Katherine H.; Anderson, Lysanna; Barron, John A.; Bernhardt, Christopher E.; Hostetler, Steven W.; Kehrwald, Natalie M.; Khan, Nicole; Richey, Julie N.; Starratt, Scott W.; Strickland, Laura E.; Toomey, Michael; Treat, Claire C.; Wingard, G. Lynn A Holocene record of ocean productivity and upwelling from the northern California continental slope
The Holocene upwelling history of the northern California continental slope is examined using the high-resolution record of TN062-O550 (40.9°N, 124.6°W, 550 m water depth). This 7-m-long marine sediment core spans the last ∼7500 years, and we use it to test the hypothesis that marine productivity in the California Current System (CCS) driven...
Addison, Jason A.; Barron, John A.; Finney, Bruce P.; Kusler, Jennifer E.; Bukry, David; Heusser, Linda E.; Alexander, Clark R. High-resolution climate of the past ∼7300 years of coastal northernmost California: Results from diatoms, silicoflagellates, and pollen
Piston core TN062-O550, collected about 33 km offshore of Eureka, California, contains a high-resolution record of the climate and oceanography of coastal northernmost California during the past ∼7.34 kyr. Chronology established by nine AMS ages on a combination of planktic foraminifers, bivalve shell fragments, and wood yields a mean...
Barron, John A.; Bukry, David; Heusser, Linda E.; Addison, Jason A.; Alexander, Clark R.
Evaluation of hypotheses for right-lateral displacement of Neogene strata along the San Andreas Fault between Parkfield and Maricopa, California
We used geological field studies and diatom biostratigraphy to test a published hypothesis that Neogene marine siliceous strata in the Maricopa and Parkfield areas, located on opposite sides of the San Andreas Fault, were formerly contiguous and then were displaced by about 80–130 kilometers (km) of right-lateral slip along the fault. In the...
Stanley, Richard G.; Barron, John A.; Powell, Charles L. Holocene evolution of diatom and silicoflagellate paleoceanography in Slocum Arm, a fjord in southeastern Alaska
Diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages in cores EW0408-47JC, -47TC, -46MC (57° 34.5278′ N, 136° 3.7764′ W, 114 m water depth) taken from the outer portion of Slocum Arm, a post-glacial fjord in southeastern Alaska, reveal the paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic evolution of the eastern margin of the Gulf of Alaska (GoA)...
Barron, John A.; Bukry, David; Addison, Jason A.; Ager, Thomas A. Lake oxygen isotopes as recorders of North American Rocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene patterns and variability at multi-decadal to millennial time scales
Lake sediment oxygen isotope records (calcium carbonate-δ18O) in the western North American Cordillera developed during the past decade provide substantial evidence of Pacific ocean–atmosphere forcing of hydroclimatic variability during the Holocene. Here we present an overview of 18 lake sediment δ18O records along with a new...
Anderson, Lesleigh; Berkelhammer, Max ; Barron, John A.; Steinman, Byron A.; Finney, Bruce P.; Abbott, Mark B. Vegetation response to southern California drought during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and early Little Ice Age (AD 800–1600)
High-resolution studies of pollen in laminated sediments deposited in Santa Barbara Basin (SBB) core SPR0901-02KC reflect decadal-scale fluctuations in precipitation spanning the interval from AD 800–1600. From AD 800–1090 during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) SBB sediments were dominated by xeric vegetation types (drought-...
Heusser, Linda E.; Hendy, Ingrid L.; Barron, John A. The Holocene history of the North American Monsoon: 'known knowns' and 'known unknowns' in understanding its spatial and temporal complexity
Evidence for climatic change across the North American Monsoon (NAM) and adjacent areas is reviewed, drawing on continental and marine records and the application of climate models. Patterns of change at 12,000, 9000, 6000 and 4000 cal yr BP are presented to capture the nature of change from the Younger Dryas (YD) and through the...
Metcalfe, Sarah E.; Barron, John A.; Davies, Sarah J. Paleoceanographic, and paleoclimatic constraints on the global Eocene diatom and silicoflagellate record
Eocene diatom and silicoflagellate biostratigraphy are summarized and correlated with the most recent geologic time scale as well as with the global oxygen isotope and eustatic sea level curves. The global distribution of Eocene diatom/silicoflagellate-bearing sediments varies considerably, reflecting changing oceanic gateways and paleoceanography...
Barron, John A.; Stickley, Catherine E.; Bukry, David High-resolution paleoclimatology of the Santa Barbara Basin during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and early Little Ice Age based on diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages in Kasten core SPR0901-02KC
Diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages documented in a high-resolution time series spanning 800 to 1600 AD in varved sediment recovered in Kasten core SPR0901-02KC (34°16.845’ N, 120°02.332’ W, water depth 588 m) from the Santa Barbara Basin (SBB) reveal that SBB surface water conditions during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (...
Barron, John A.; Bukry, David B.; Hendy, Ingrid L. What caused terrestrial dust loading and climate downturns between A.D. 533 and 540?
Sn-rich particles, Ni-rich particles, and cosmic spherules are found together at four discrete stratigraphic levels within the 362-360 m depth interval of the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core (72.6°N, 38.5°W, elevation: 3203 m). Using a previously derived calendar-year time scale, these particles span a time of increased dust loading...
Abbott, Dallas H.; Breger, Dee; Biscaye, Pierre E.; Barron, John A.; Juhl, Robert A.; McCafferty, Patrick
Gulf of California regional climate change during the past 55,000 years
This article is part of the Spring 2015 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter.