Marith Reheis
Biography
My entire post-graduate career has been in the USGS in Denver, migrating from Conservation to Geologic Division early on, and then residing in the evolving branches of Regional Geology -- Environmental Geology -- Climate Change -- Earth Surface Processes Team. In parallel, my career has evolved through bedrock and surficial mapping, soil studies, neotectonics, desert dust sampling and analysis, and paleoclimate research, to a state of mixing them all together.
Recent Accomplishments
Education
Professional Studies/Experience
Mentorship/Outreach
Professional societies/affiliations/committees/editorial boards
Honors, awards, recognition, elected offices
Scientific/Oral Presentations, Abstracts
Science and Products
Lake Andrei: A pliocene pluvial lake in Eureka Valley, Eastern California
We used geologic mapping, tephrochronology and 40Ar/39Ar dating to describe evidence of a ca. 3.5 Ma pluvial lake in Eureka Valley, eastern California, that we informally name herein Lake Andrei. We identified six different tuffs in the Eureka Valley drainage basin including two previously undescribed tuffs: the 3.509 ± 0.009 Ma tuff of Hanging...
Jeffrey R. Knott; Wan, Elmira; Alan L. Deino; Mitch Casteel; Reheis, Marith C.; Fred Phillips; Walkup, Laura; Kyle McCarty; David N. Manoukian; Ernest NuñezLate 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.Geologic and hydrologic concerns about pupfish divergence during the last glacial maximum
Martin et al.'s [1] double-digest, restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing of Death Valley pupfish species (Cyprinodon) and new time-calibrated phylogenetic analysis provide estimated divergence ages for North American pupfish at two scales. On the larger temporal and spatial scale, Martin et al. conclude that the Death Valley...
Knott, Jeffrey R.; Phillips, Fred; Reheis, Marith C.; Sada, Donald; Jayko, Angela S.; Axen, GaryLate Quaternary loess and soils on uplands in the Canyonlands and Mesa Verde areas, Utah and Colorado
Thin loess deposits on the uplands of the southeastern Colorado Plateau have previously not been well studied. We sampled deposits and soils from trenches on Hatch Point (HP) mesa near Canyonlands National Park, Utah, and from two outcrops in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. At HP, the oldest buried unit yielded 2 optically stimulated...
Reheis, Marith C.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Forman, Steven L.; Mahan, Shannon A.; Carrara, Paul E.Hydrologic response of desert wetlands to Holocene climate change: preliminary results from the Soda Springs area, Mojave National Preserve, California
Desert wetlands are common features in arid environments and include a variety of hydrologic facies, including seeps, springs, marshes, wet meadows, ponds, and spring pools. Wet ground conditions and dense stands of vegetation in these settings combine to trap eolian, alluvial, and fluvial sediments that accumulate over time. The resulting...
Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Reheis, Marith C.; McGeehin, John P.; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Bright, J.The Bear River's history and diversion: Constraints, unsolved problems, and implications for the Lake Bonneville record: Chapter 2
The shifting course of the Bear River has influenced the hydrologic balance of the Bonneville basin through time, including the magnitude of Lake Bonneville. This was first recognized by G.K. Gilbert and addressed in the early work of Robert Bright, who focused on the southeastern Idaho region of Gem Valley and Oneida Narrows. In this chapter, we...
Pederson, Joel L.; Janecke, Susanne U.; Reheis, Marith C.; Kaufmann, Darrell S.; Oaks, R. Q.Directly dated MIS 3 lake-level record from Lake Manix, Mojave Desert, California, USA
An outcrop-based lake-level curve, constrained by ~ 70 calibrated 14C ages on Anodonta shells, indicates at least 8 highstands between 45 and 25 cal ka BP within 10 m of the 543-m upper threshold of Lake Manix in the Mojave Desert of southern California. Correlations of Manix highstands with ice, marine, and...
Reheis, Marith C.; Miller, David M.; McGeehin, John P.; Redwine, Joanna R.; Oviatt, Charles G.; Bright, Jordon E.Surficial geology and stratigraphy of Pleistocene Lake Manix, San Bernardino County, California
Pluvial Lake Manix and its surrounding drainage basin, in the central Mojave Desert of California, has been a focus of paleoclimate, surficial processes, and neotectonic studies by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since about 2004. The USGS initiated studies of Lake Manix deposits to improve understanding of the paleoclimatic record and the...
Reheis, Marith C.; Redwine, Joanna R.; Wan, Elmira; McGeehin, John P.; VanSistine, D. PacoPluvial lakes in the Great Basin of the western United States: a view from the outcrop
Paleo-lakes in the western United States provide geomorphic and hydrologic records of climate and drainage-basin change at multiple time scales extending back to the Miocene. Recent reviews and studies of paleo-lake records have focused on interpretations of proxies in lake sediment cores from the northern and central parts of the Great Basin. In...
Reheis, Marith C.; Adams, Kenneth D.; Oviatt, Charles G.; Bacon, Steven N.A half-million-year record of paleoclimate from the Lake Manix Core, Mojave Desert, California
Pluvial lakes in the southwestern U.S. responded sensitively to past climate through effects on rainfall, runoff, and evaporation. Although most studies agree that pluvial lakes in the southwestern U.S. reached their highest levels coeval with glacial stages, the specific timing of increased effective moisture and lake-level rise is debated,...
Reheis, Marith C.; Bright, Jordon; Lund, Steve P.; Miller, David M.; Skipp, Gary; Fleck, Robert J.Physical, chemical, and mineralogical data from surficial deposits, groundwater levels, and water composition in the area of Franklin Lake playa and Ash Meadows, California and Nevada
This report presents data and describes the methods used to determine the physical attributes, as well as the chemical and mineralogical composition of surficial deposits; groundwater levels; and water composition in the area of Franklin Lake playa and Ash Meadows, California and Nevada. The results support studies that examine (1) the...
Goldstein, Harland L.; Breit, George N.; Yount, James C.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Reheis, Marith C.; Skipp, Gary L.; Fisher, Eric M.; Lamothe, Paul J.Cosmogenic nuclide and uranium-series dating of old, high shorelines in the western Great Basin, USA
Closed-basin pluvial lakes are sensitive recorders of effective moisture, and they provide a terrestrial signal of climate change that can be compared to marine and ice records of glacial-interglacial cycles. Although the most recent deep-lake cycle in the western Great Basin (at ca. 16 ka) has been studied intensively, comparatively little is...
Kurth, G.; Phillips, F.M.; Reheis, M.C.; Redwine, J.L.; Paces, J.B.