Miriam Jones, Ph.D.
Biography
Current Position:
Research Geologist
Education:
- Columbia University, PhD, 2008
- Columbia University, MPhil, 2006
- Columbia University, M. A., 2005
- Barnard College, A.B., 2002, Magna Cum Laude
Publications
Manies, KL, Fuller CC, Jones, MC, Waldrop, MP, McGeehin, JP. 2017. Soil data for a thermokarst bog and the surrounding permafrost plateau forest, located at Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Site, Interior Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2016–1173, 11 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161173.
Jones, M.C., Harden, J., O’Donnell, J., Manies, K., Jorgenson, T., Treat, C. Ewing, S. 2017. Rapid carbon loss and slow recovery following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands. Global Change Biology 23, 1109-1127 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13403
Jones, B.M., Baughman, C.A., Romanovsky, V.E., Parsekian, A.D., Babcock, E.L, Stephani, E., Jones, M.C., Grosse, G., Berg, E.E. 2016. Presence of rapidly degrading permafrost plateaus in south-central Alaska. The Cryosphere 10, 2673-2692.
Kaufman, D.S., Axford, Y.L., Henderson, A.C.J., McKay, N.P., Oswald, W.W., Saenger, C., Anderson, R.S., Bailey, H.L., Clegg, B., Gajewski, K., Hu, F.S., Jones, M.C., Massa, C., Routson, C.C., Werner, A., Wooller, M.J., Yu, Z., 2016. Holocene climate changes in eastern Beringia (NW North America) – A systematic review of multi-proxy evidence. Quaternary Science Reviews,147, 312-339 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.10.021
Treat, C.C., Jones, M.C., Camill, P., Gallego-Sala, A., Garneau, M., Harden, J.W., Hugelius, G., Klein, E.S., Kokfelt, U., Kuhry, P., Loisel, J., Mathijssen, P.J.H., O’Donnell, J.A., Oksanen, P.O., Ronkainen, T.M., Sannel, A.B.K., Talbot, J., Tarnocai, C., Väliranta, M., 2016. Effects of permafrost aggradation on peat properties as determined from a pan-Arctic synthesis of plant macrofossils. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, DOI: 10.1002/2015JG003061.
Jones, M.C., Bernhardt, C., Willard, D., 2014. Late Holocene Vegetation, Climate, and Land-use impacts on carbon dynamics in the Florida Everglades. Quaternary Science Reviews, 90, 90-105, DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.02.010.
Walter Anthony, K.M., Zimov, S., Grosse, G., Jones, M.C., Anthony, P., Chapin, F.S., Finlay, J., Mack, M., Davydov, S., Frenzel, P., Frolking, P. 2014. Shift of thermokarst lakes from carbon sources to sinks during the Holocene epoch. Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature13560.
Loisel, J., Yu, Z., Beilman, D.W., Camill, P., Alm, J., Amesbury, M.J., Anderson, D., Andersson, S., Bochicchio, C., Barber, K., Belyea, L.R., Bunbury, J., Chambers, F.M., Charman, D.J., De Vleeschouwer, F., Fialkiewicz-Kozel, B., Finkelstein, S.A., Galka, M., Garneau, M., Hammarland, D., Hinchcliffe, W., Homquist, J., Hughes, P., Jones, M.C., Klen, E.S., Kokfelt, U., Korhola, A., Kuhry, P., Lamarre, A., Lamentowicz, M., Lage, D., Lavoie, M., MacDonald, G., Magnan, G., Mäkilä, M., Mallon, G., Mathijssen, P., Mauquoy, D., McCarroll, J., Moore, T.R., Nichols, J., O’Reilly, B., Oksanen, P., Packalen, M., Peteet, D., Richard, P.J.H., Robinson, S., Ronkainen, T., Rundgren, M., Sannel, A.B.K, Tarnocai, C., Thom, T., Tuittila, E.S., Turetsky, M., Väliranta, M., van der Linden, M., van Geel, B., van Bellen, S., Vitt, D., Zhao, Y., Zhou, W., 2014. A database and synthesis of northern peatland soil properties and Holocene carbon and nitrogen accumulation. The Holocene, DOI: 10.1177/0959683614538073
Jones, M.C., Wooller, M., Peteet, D.M. 2014. A deglacial and Holocene record of climate variability in south-central Alaska from stable oxygen isotopes and plant macrofossils in peat. Quaternary Science Reviews, DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.12.025.
He, Y., Jones, M.C. Zhuang, Q., Bochichio, C., Felzer, B.S., Mason, E., Yu, Z. 2013. Evaluating the effects of climate seasonality of CO2 and CH4 cycling of Alaskan Ecosystems during the Holocene Thermal Maximum, Quaternary Science Reviews, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.12.019.
Hunt, S.*, Yu, Z. Jones, M.C. 2013. Late-glacial and Holocene climate, disturbance and permafrost peatland dynamics on the Seward Peninsula, western Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.11.019.
Regmi, P., G. Grosse, M.C. Jones, B.M. Jones, K.M.W. Anthongy. 2012. Characterizing drained thermokarst lake basins on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska with TerraSAR-X backscatter and Landsat-based NDVI. Remote Sensing, accepted.
Jones, M.C., Yu, Z. Booth, R.K., Ferry, P.* 2012. A 2200-year record of permafrost dynamics and carbon cycling in a collapse-scar bog, Interior Alaska. Ecosystems, DOI: 10.1007/s10021-012-9592-5.
Jones, M.C., Grosse, G., Walter Anthony, K.M., Jones, B. 2012. Peat accumulation in a thermokarst-affected landscape in continuous ice-rich permafrost, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research 117, doi:10.1029/2011JG001766.
Parsekian, A.D., Jones, B., Jones, M.C.,Grosse, G. Slater, L. 2011. Expansion rate, geometry, and methane flux from floating vegetation mats on the margins of thermokarst lakes, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, doi:10.1002/esp.2210.
Jones, B.M., Grosse, G., Jones, M.C., Arp, C.D., Walter Anthony, K.M., 2011. Modern thermokarst lake dynamics in the continuous permafrost zone, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA. JGR-Biogeosciences, 116: G00M03, DOI:10.1029/2011JG001666.
Frolking, S., Talbot, J., Jones, M.C. Treat, C.C., Kaufman, J.B., Tuittila, E.S., Roulet, N., 2011. Peatlands in the Earth’s 21st century coupled climate-carbon system. Environmental Letters 19, 371-396. Doi:10.1139/A11-014.
Jones, M. C., Peteet, D. M.,2010. Late-glacial and Holocene d15N and d13C variation from a Kenai Peninsula, Alaska peatland. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 293, 132-143.
Jones, M.C., Yu, Z. 2010. High sensitivity of Alaskan peatlands to temperature seasonality during the Holocene thermal maximum. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107, 7347-7352.
Yu, Z., Beilman, D.W., Jones, M.C. 2009. Sensitivity of northern peatland carbon dynamics to Holocene climate change. in Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands, (Geophys. Monograph Series, Am. Geophys. Union, Washington D.C.). 10.1029/2008GM000822.
Jones, M.C., Peteet, D.M., Kurdyla, D., Guilderson, T. 2009. Climate and vegetation history from a 14,000-year peatland record, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Quaternary Research 72 (2), 207-217. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2009.04.002
Reger, R.D., A.G. Sturmann, E.E. Berg, and P.A.C Burns. 2008 A Guide to the Late Quaternary History of Northern and Western Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Guidebook 8. (Contributed data and analysis)
Pekar, Stephen F., McHugh, C.M.G, Christie-Blick, N., Jones, M.C., Carbotte, S.M., Bell, R. E., Lynch-Stieglitz, J. 2004. Estuarine processes and their stratigraphic record: paleosalinity and sedimentation changes in the Hudson Estuary (North America).Marine Geology. 209, 113-129.
Science and Products
Macrofossil and Sediment Processing Laboratory
In the Macrofossil and sediment processing lab we analyze the physical, biological, and geochemical characteristics of peat and sediment samples collected from lake, wetland, and peat cores as proxies for past changes to these depositional environments on timescales of decades to millennia. We primarily study terrestrial wetland ecosystems from subtropical to arctic regions in order to...
Wetlands in the Quaternary
Wetlands accumulate organic-rich sediment or peat stratigraphically, making them great archives of past environmental change. Wetlands also act as hydrologic buffers on the landscape and are important to global biogeochemical cycling. This project uses wetland archives from a range of environments to better understand how vegetation, hydrology, and hydroclimate has changed on decadal to multi-...
Pollen Laboratory
In this lab, we specialize in extracting pollen palynomorphs from geologic field samples. We also assist our center's scientists with outreach programs to educate students and inform policy makers as to the importance of our science.
The role of the upper tidal estuary in wetland blue carbon storage and flux
Carbon (C) standing stocks, C mass balance, and soil C burial in tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFW) and TFFW transitioning to low‐salinity marshes along the upper estuary are not typically included in “blue carbon” accounting, but may represent a significant C sink. Results from two salinity transects along the tidal Waccamaw and Savannah...
Krauss, Ken W.; Noe, Gregory B.; Duberstein, Jamie A.; Conner, William H.; Stagg, Camille L.; Cormier, Nicole; Jones, Miriam C.; Bernhardt, Christopher E.; Lockaby, B. Graeme; From, Andrew S.; Doyle, Thomas W.; Day, Richard H.; Ensign, Scott H.; Pierfelice, Katherine N.; Hupp, Cliff R.; Chow, Alex T.; Whitbeck, Julie L. 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 Rapid carbon loss and slow recovery following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands
Permafrost peatlands store one-third of the total carbon (C) in the atmosphere and are increasingly vulnerable to thaw as high-latitude temperatures warm. Large uncertainties remain about C dynamics following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands. We used a chronosequence approach to measure C stocks in forested permafrost plateaus (forest) and...
Jones, Miriam C.; Harden, Jennifer W.; O'Donnell, Jonathan A.; Manies, Kristen L.; Jorgenson, Torre; Treat, Claire C.; Ewing, Stephanie
Soil data for a thermokarst bog and the surrounding permafrost plateau forest, located at Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Site, Interior Alaska
Peatlands play an important role in boreal ecosystems, storing a large amount of soil organic carbon. In northern ecosystems, collapse-scar bogs (also known as thermokarst bogs) often form as the result of ground subsidence following permafrost thaw. To examine how ecosystem carbon balance changes with the loss of permafrost, we measured carbon...
Manies, Kristen L.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Jones, Miriam C.; Waldrop, Mark P.; McGeehin, John P. Holocene climate changes in eastern Beringia (NW North America) – A systematic review of multi-proxy evidence
Reconstructing climates of the past relies on a variety of evidence from a large number of sites to capture the varied features of climate and the spatial heterogeneity of climate change. This review summarizes available information from diverse Holocene paleoenvironmental records across eastern Beringia (Alaska, westernmost Canada and adjacent...
Kaufman, Darrell S.; Axford, Yarrow L.; Henderson, Andrew C.G.; McKay, Nicolas P.; Oswald, W. Wyatt; Saenger, Casey; Anderson, R. Scott; Bailey, Hannah L.; Clegg, Benjamin; Gajewski, Konrad; Hu, Feng Sheng; Jones, Miriam C.; Massa, Charly; Routson, Cody C.; Werner, Al; Wooller, Matthew J.; Yu, Zicheng Presence of rapidly degrading permafrost plateaus in south-central Alaska
Permafrost presence is determined by a complex interaction of climatic, topographic, and ecological conditions operating over long time scales. In particular, vegetation and organic layer characteristics may act to protect permafrost in regions with a mean annual air temperature (MAAT) above 0 °C. In this study, we document the presence of...
Jones, Benjamin M.; Baughman, Carson; Romanovsky, Vladimir E.; Parsekian, Andrew D.; Babcock, Esther; Stephani, Eva; Jones, Miriam C.; Grosse, Guido; Berg, Edward E Effects of permafrost aggradation on peat properties as determined from a pan-Arctic synthesis of plant macrofossils
Permafrost dynamics play an important role in high-latitude peatland carbon balance and are key to understanding the future response of soil carbon stocks. Permafrost aggradation can control the magnitude of the carbon feedback in peatlands through effects on peat properties. We compiled peatland plant macrofossil records for the northern...
Treat, Claire C.; Jones, Miriam C.; Camill, P.; Gallego-Sala, A.; Garneau, M.; Harden, Jennifer W.; Hugelius, G.; Klein, E.S.; Kokfelt, U.; Kuhry, P.; Loisel, Julie; Mathijssen, J.H.; O'Donnell, J.A.; Oksanen, P.O.; Ronkainen, T.M.; Sannel, A.B.K.; Talbot, J. J.; Tarnocal, C.M.; Valiranta, M. Thermokarst lake methanogenesis along a complete talik profile
Thermokarst (thaw) lakes emit methane (CH4) to the atmosphere formed from thawed permafrost organic matter (OM), but the relative magnitude of CH4 production in surface lake sediments vs. deeper thawed permafrost horizons is not well understood. We assessed anaerobic CH4 production potentials from various depths along a 590 cm long lake sediment...
Heslop, J.K.; Walter Anthony, K.M.; Sepulveda-Jauregui, A.; Martinez-Cruz, K.; Bondurant, A.; Grosse, G.; Jones, Miriam C. Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska: a review
Boreal regions store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region, underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing current and potential carbon sources and sinks in the boreal soil and vegetation. The roles of fire, forest...
Douglas, Thomas A.; Jones, Miriam C.; Hiemstra, Christopher A. A shift of thermokarst lakes from carbon sources to sinks during the Holocene epoch
Thermokarst lakes formed across vast regions of Siberia and Alaska during the last deglaciation and are thought to be a net source of atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide during the Holocene epoch1,2,3,4. However, the same thermokarst lakes can also sequester carbon5, and it remains uncertain whether carbon uptake by thermokarst lakes can offset...
Walter Anthony, K. M.; Zimov, S. A.; Grosse, G.; Jones, Miriam C.; Anthony, P.; Chapin, F. S.; Finlay, J. C.; Mack, M. C.; Davydov, S.; Frenzel, P.F.; Frolking, S. Late Holocene vegetation, climate, and land-use impacts on carbon dynamics in the Florida Everglades
Tropical and subtropical peatlands are considered a significant carbon sink. The Florida Everglades includes 6000-km2 of peat-accumulating wetland; however, detailed carbon dynamics from different environments within the Everglades have not been extensively studied or compared. Here we present carbon accumulation rates from 13 cores and 4...
Jones, Miriam C.; Bernhardt, Christopher E.; Willard, Debra A. A deglacial and Holocene record of climate variability in south-central Alaska from stable oxygen isotopes and plant macrofossils in peat
We used stable oxygen isotopes derived from bulk peat (δ18OTOM), in conjunction with plant macrofossils and previously published carbon accumulation records, in a ∼14,500 cal yr BP peat core (HT Fen) from the Kenai lowlands in south-central Alaska to reconstruct the climate history of the area. We find that patterns are broadly...
Jones, Miriam C.; Wooller, Matthew J.; Peteet, Dorothy M.