I study geologic deposits associated with desert wetlands, pluvial lakes, and anything else I can get my hands on to query the paleoclimate record of the American Southwest. I was trained as a geologist and paleontologist, with B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geological Sciences from the University of California, Riverside, and spent the first part of my career at the San Bernardino County Museum where I was the Senior Curator of Geological Sciences. Now with the USGS, my research focuses on deciphering paleo-depositional environments of Quaternary localities (paleowetlands and pluvial lakes) throughout the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin, stressing the application of detailed stratigraphic and chronologic controls. I also use detailed geologic mapping to understand how hydrologic systems in the desert responded to past episodes of climate change and tectonic activity. In addition, I am a lifelong geoscience educator and communicator, specializing in earthquake science messaging by raising awareness of earthquake hazards and risk and promoting natural disaster preparedness.
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...
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...
Recent studies have shown the oxygen isotopic composition (delta18O) of modern terrestrial gastropod shells is determined largely by the delta18O of precipitation. This implies that fossil shells could be used to reconstruct the delta18O of paleo-precipitation as long as the hydrologic pathways of the local watershed and the shell isotope systematics are well understood.
The Eglington fault is one of several intrabasinal faults in the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, USA, and is the only one recognized as a source for significant earthquakes.
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 The Las Vegas Formation (LVF) is a well-characterized sequence of groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits exposed in and around the Las Vegas Valley in southern Nevada. Nearly monolithologic bedrock surrounds the valley, which provides an excellent opportunity to test the hypothesis that GWD deposits include an aeolian component. Mineralogical data...
Goldstein, Harland L.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Reheis, Marith C.; Skipp, Gary L. Recent studies have shown the oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O) of modern terrestrial gastropod shells is determined largely by the δ18O of precipitation. This implies that fossil shells could be used to reconstruct the δ18O of paleo-precipitation as long as the isotopic system, including the hydrologic pathways of the local watershed and the...
Rech, Jason A.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Bosch, Stephanie; Nekola, Jeffrey C.; Yanes, Yurena The Eglington fault is one of several intrabasinal faults in the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada and is the only one recognized as a source for significant earthquakes. Its broad warp displaces late Pleistocene paleo-spring deposits of the Las Vegas Formation, which record hydrologic fluctuations that occurred in response to millennial and submillennial-...
Springer, Kathleen B.; Pigati, Jeffrey S. A new species of mastodon from the Pleistocene of western North America, Mammut pacificus sp. nov. is herein recognized, with specimens identified throughout California and from two localities in southern Idaho. This new taxon differs from the contemporaneous M. americanum in having narrower teeth, most prominently in M3/m3, as...
Dooley Jr., Alton C; Scott, Eric; Green, Jeremy; Springer, Kathleen B.; Dooley, Brett; Smith, Gregory J.
The Las Vegas Formation was established in 1965 to designate the distinctive light-colored, fine-grained, fossil-bearing sedimentary deposits exposed in and around the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. In a coeval designation, the sediments were subdivided into informal units with stratigraphic and chronologic frameworks that have persisted in the...
Springer, Kathleen B.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Manker, Craig R.; Mahan, Shannon A.
On December 19, 2014, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, located in the Las Vegas Valley of southern Nevada, was established by Congress as the 405th unit of the National Park Service to “conserve, protect, interpret, and enhance for the benefit of present and future generations the unique and nationally important paleontological,...
Springer, Kathleen B.; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Scott, Eric Portable luminescence readers are exciting new tools that have the potential to rapidly determine the age structure of late Quaternary stratigraphic columns. This is important because high-resolution age profiling can reveal details about the temporal dynamics of climate cause and ecosystem effect, often while...
Gray, Harrison J.; Mahan, Shannon A.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Pigati, Jeffrey S. 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. The surficial geologic record is the relatively thin veneer of young (<~1 Ma) and mostly unconsolidated sediments that cover portions of Earth’s terrestrial surface (Fig. 1). Once largely ignored as “overburden” by geologists, surficial deposits are now studied to address a wide range of issues related to the sustainability of human societies....
Rech, Jason A.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Pigati, Jeffrey S. A middle to late Pleistocene sedimentary sequence in the upper Las Vegas Wash, north of Las Vegas, Nevada, has yielded the largest open-site Rancholabrean vertebrate fossil assemblage in the southern Great Basin and Mojave Deserts. Recent paleontologic field studies have led to the discovery of hundreds of fossil localities and specimens, greatly...
Scott, Eric; Springer, Kathleen B.; Sagebiel, James C. Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) preserves 22,650 acres of the upper Las Vegas Wash in the northern Las Vegas Valley (Nevada, USA). TUSK is home to extensive and stratigraphically complex groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits, called the Las Vegas Formation, which represent springs and desert wetlands that covered much of the...
Springer, Kathleen B.; Pigati, Jeffery S.; Scott, Eric