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Marci M Robinson, Ph.D.

Marci M Robinson is a Research Geologist at the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center.

Marci is a Research Geologist specializing in planktic and benthic foraminifera and is the Project Chief of the Eastern Coastal Plain Studies project. The Eastern Coastal Plain Studies project aims to develop a greater understanding of the geology of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain Province through the development of geologic maps and complementary geochronologic and paleontologic data. Detailed and regional-scale geologic mapping, subsurface investigations, and focused studies of landscape evolution and paleoclimate are combined to address geologic framework problems, paleoecological reconstructions, and applied water resource issues such as water-resource availability and sustainability. Within this project, Marci's work focuses on Eocene Hyperthermals.

 

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. Environmental Science and Policy (Geology), George Mason University, 2007
    • Thesis:  Paleo-inlet dynamics and the genesis of shelf sand ridges via benthic foraminifera:  Old Currituck Inlet, Virginia/North Carolina (Advisor:  Randolph A. McBride)
  • B.S. Earth Systems Science (High Distinction), George Mason University, 1996
    • Thesis:  Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and sea surface temperature estimates for the Benguela Current region of Southwest Africa (Advisor:  Richard J. Diecchio)

 

Professional Experience

  • Research Geologist, USGS (Reston), 2009-Present - Specializing in planktic and benthic foraminifera, changes in shallow shelf environments and paleoclimate research.  Current projects focus on the Pliocene and Eocene Hyperthermals

  • Mendenhall Post-doctoral Fellow, USGS (Reston), 2007-2009 - Project Title: Integrated Multi-proxy Analyses of mid-Pliocene Ocean Temperatures for an Improved Paleoclimate Reconstruction

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 40

Astrochronology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum on the Atlantic Coastal Plain

The chronology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~56 Ma) remains disputed, hampering complete understanding of the possible trigger mechanisms of this event. Here we present an astrochronology for the PETM carbon isotope excursion from Howards Tract, Maryland a paleoshelf environment, on the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Statistical evaluation of variations in calcium content and magnet
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Climate Research and Development Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Surface ocean warming and acidification driven by rapid carbon release precedes Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is recognized by a major negative carbon isotope (δ13C) excursion (CIE) signifying an injection of isotopically light carbon into exogenic reservoirs, the mass, source, and tempo of which continue to be debated. Evidence of a transient precursor carbon release(s) has been identified in a few localities, although it remains equivocal whether there is a gl
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Climate Research and Development Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

The Yorktown Formation: Improved stratigraphy, chronology and paleoclimate interpretations from the U.S. mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain

The Yorktown Formation records paleoclimate conditions along the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain during the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (3.264 to 3.025 Ma), a climate interval of the Pliocene in some ways analogous to near future climate projections. To gain insight into potential near future changes, we investigated Yorktown Formation outcrops and cores in southeastern Virginia, refining the stratigrap
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Shallow marine ecosystem collapse and recovery during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), the most well-studied transient hyperthermal event in Earth history, is characterized by prominent and dynamic changes in global marine ecosystems. Understanding such biotic responses provides valuable insights into future scenarios in the face of anthropogenic warming. However, evidence of the PETM biotic responses is largely biased towards deep-sea re
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Microfossils from Calvert Cliffs give us clues to the future warmer climate

No abstract available.
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Miocene neritic benthic foraminiferal community dynamics, Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA: Species pool, patterns and processes

The presence/absence and abundance of benthic foraminifera in successive discrete beds (Shattuck “zones”) of the Miocene Calvert and Choptank formations, exposed at the Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA, allows for investigation of community dynamics over space and time. The stratigraphic distribution of benthic foraminifera is documented and interpreted in the context of sea-level change, sequence st
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Estimating Piacenzian sea surface temperature using an alkenone-calibrated transfer function

Stationarity of environmental preferences is a primary assumption required for any paleoenvironmental reconstruction using fossil materials based upon calibration to modern organisms. Confidence in this assumption decreases the further back in time one goes, and the validity of the assumption that species temperature tolerances have not changed over time has been challenged in Pliocene studies. We
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Ostracod eye size: A taxonomy-free indicator of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum sea level

Deep-time sea-level changes associated with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) are of great interest to paleoceanographers and paleontologists, especially in shallow marine settings, like the Atlantic Coastal Plain PETM sections of the Eastern North American Continental Shelf. Accurate paleo-water depth reconstruction is essential to properly interpret and contextualize any PETM-associate
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Planktic foraminiferal test size and weight response to the late Pliocene environment

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO2atm) is impacting the ocean and marine organisms directly via changes in carbonate chemistry and indirectly via a range of changes in physical parameters most dominantly temperature. To assess potential impacts of climate change on carbonate production in the open ocean, we measured size and weight of planktic foraminifers during the late Pliocene at pCO2atm concent
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Mid-piacenzian of the north Atlantic Ocean

The Piacenzian Age (Pliocene) represents a past climate interval within which frequency and magnitude of environmental changes during a period of past global warmth can be analyzed, climate models can be tested, and results can be placed in a context to better prepare for future change. Here we focus on the North Atlantic region, incorporating new and existing faunal assemblage and alkenone data f
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Environmental and geomorphological changes on the eastern North American Continental Shelf across the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary

Foraminiferal evidence from two sites in southern Maryland, eastern United States, reveals a series of rapid ecological changes on the continental shelf during the onset of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Benthic and planktic foraminifer assemblages from the South Dover Bridge (SDB) and Mattawoman Creek-Billingsley Road (MCBR) cores in the central Salisbury Embayment record changing l
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

The planktonic foraminiferal response to the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum on the Atlantic coastal plain

Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in two cores from Maryland and New Jersey show evidence for significant changes in surface ocean habitats on the continental shelf during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). At both sites, significant assemblage shifts occur immediately before the onset of the event. These changes include the appearance of abundant triserial/biserial species as well as
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
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Fossil-rich sediment profile with hammer.

Geological Investigations of the Neogene

More than a third of the United States population lives in counties directly on the shoreline, making them vulnerable to hazards associated with changing sea level and storm surges associated with hurricanes and severe storms. The geologic record contains many examples of past intervals of warm climate and high sea level. "Geological Investigation of the Neogene" is examining proxy records of...
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Climate Research and Development Program
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Geological Investigations of the Neogene

More than a third of the United States population lives in counties directly on the shoreline, making them vulnerable to hazards associated with changing sea level and storm surges associated with hurricanes and severe storms. The geologic record contains many examples of past intervals of warm climate and high sea level. "Geological Investigation of the Neogene" is examining proxy records of...
Learn More
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An illustration of PRISM3 site locations displayed on PRISM3 Mean Annual SST

Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM4)

PRISM will help distinguish the USGS as a world leader in paleoclimate research, data generation and delivery for use in addressing the modern world's climate-related needs. We will be recognized for the passion of our researchers and partners in providing quality, innovative paleoclimate interpretation and data analysis to the science (climate change) community and to the public we serve.
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
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Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM4)

PRISM will help distinguish the USGS as a world leader in paleoclimate research, data generation and delivery for use in addressing the modern world's climate-related needs. We will be recognized for the passion of our researchers and partners in providing quality, innovative paleoclimate interpretation and data analysis to the science (climate change) community and to the public we serve.
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SEM image of foraminifora, Globigerina bulloides

Geological Investigations of the Neogene Project

Geological Investigations of the Neogene explores past warmer-than-modern climates of the mid-Miocene (about 14-17 million years ago) and Piacenzian (about 3 million years ago) to assess the potential environmental and economic impacts to population centers along the US Atlantic coast under different rates and magnitudes of changes related to warmer temperatures. Specifically, we look at past...
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
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Geological Investigations of the Neogene Project

Geological Investigations of the Neogene explores past warmer-than-modern climates of the mid-Miocene (about 14-17 million years ago) and Piacenzian (about 3 million years ago) to assess the potential environmental and economic impacts to population centers along the US Atlantic coast under different rates and magnitudes of changes related to warmer temperatures. Specifically, we look at past...
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Scientists sit on ground with eocene hyperthermal core samples

Eocene Hyperthermals Project

Sudden and extreme global warming events of the past are known as hyperthermals. The most intensely studied of these is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) that occurred about 56 million years ago. During the PETM, global temperatures rose by ~5°C, ocean acidification was widespread, floral and faunal communities were severely disrupted, and changing oceanic circulation and a disrupted...
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
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Eocene Hyperthermals Project

Sudden and extreme global warming events of the past are known as hyperthermals. The most intensely studied of these is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) that occurred about 56 million years ago. During the PETM, global temperatures rose by ~5°C, ocean acidification was widespread, floral and faunal communities were severely disrupted, and changing oceanic circulation and a disrupted...
Learn More
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USGS science for a changing world logo

PlioMIP (Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project) Strategy, Communications and Synthesis for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5)

USGS PRISM (Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping) Project global data sets of Pliocene conditions, which form the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period prior to the recent past, are used to drive numerical climate model simulations designed to explore the impact of climate forcings and feedbacks during the Pliocene. The Pliocene world provides an unequaled
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John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
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PlioMIP (Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project) Strategy, Communications and Synthesis for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5)

USGS PRISM (Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping) Project global data sets of Pliocene conditions, which form the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period prior to the recent past, are used to drive numerical climate model simulations designed to explore the impact of climate forcings and feedbacks during the Pliocene. The Pliocene world provides an unequaled
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PRISM4 (mid-Piacenzian) Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Data

The mid-Piacenzian is known as a period of relative warmth when compared to the present day. A comprehensive understanding of conditions during the Piacenzian serves as both a conceptual model and a source for boundary conditions as well as means of verification of global climate model experiments. These data are provided as digital representations of mid Pliocene boundary conditions stored in Net
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Alkenone and foraminifer abundance data from Miocene and Pliocene Atlantic Coastal Plain sediments

Alkenone data were extracted from core and outcrop samples from the Miocene and Pliocene of the mid Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Uk'37 index is used to estimate temperature and total C37 is used to estimate productivity. Planktonic foraminifer abundance's are provided for two cores.
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Climate Research and Development Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

PRISM late Pliocene (Piacenzian) alkenone - derived SST data

This dataset collects sea surface temperature data generated through alkenone analysis of late Pliocene sediments collected from cores and field localities by USGS PRISM project members. Alkenone analysis of sample material was performed by Timothy Herbert at Brown University.
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
planktic foraminifera
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researchers with sediment cores
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A researcher collects Calvert formation sediment samples from an outcrop
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Researchers collect Calvert formation sediment and fossil samples at Warriors Rest Sanctuary
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A researchers stands next to a Yorktown formation at Rushmere
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Harry Dowsett is explaining the significance of these beds of the Calvert Formation that are exposed along the Calvert Cliffs
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Marci Robinson sits at her desk, using her microscope to look at slides
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Shell bed on the east coast. A Nikon camera lens covers sits in the bottom right corner for scale.
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SEM image of foraminifora, Globigerina bulloides
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SEM image of foraminifera
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Science and Products