Richard L Reynolds
I investigate how climatic variability, weather, and land uses affect surfaces and ecosystems of deserts, with emphasis on sediment eroded, transported, and deposited by wind, mostly as atmospheric dust.
My studies probe the geologic, biologic, and human controls on dust generation as well as the mineralogic and geochemical properties of dust that in turn affect climate, weather, ecosystem health, water resources (effects of dust on melting of snow and ice), ocean fertility, and the health of a large proportion of earth’s people. I have also conducted research on:
- Hawaiian coral-reef health in settings of coastal erosion
- Quaternary climate and responses of landscapes to climatic change and human activities
- Iron-sulfur diagenesis and its effects on lake-sediment paleoenvironmental records
- Magnetic and chemical records of airborne pollution and environmental change
- Paleomagnetism of Tertiary and Quaternary sedimentary and igneous rocks
- Sources of magnetic anomalies in the shallow crust
- Field geology, Antarctica (1970-1971; 1978-1979)
Professional Experience
Research Geologist, USGS (periodic supervisory positions) 1975-2012
Acting Program Manager, Global Change Program USGS 2002
Senior Scientist, USGS 2012-2013 Emeritus since 2013
Adjunct Research Professor, Univ. of Minnesota
Affiliate, Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research Univ. of Colorado
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Univ. of Colorado, 1975
M.S., Univ. of Colorado, 1970
A.B., Princeton University, 1968
Affiliations and Memberships*
Geological Society of America; Fellow
American Geophysical Union. Assoc. Editor, Jour. Geophysical Res. 1992-1995
Yellowstone-Bighorn Research Assoc.
American Quaternary Assoc.
International Medical Geology Assoc.
International Society for Aeolian Research (guest editor, 2013-14; Board of Directors, 2014-2016)
Honors and Awards
2012 Elected Senior Scientist, USGS
2012-2014 Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Geography and the Environment, Univ. of Oxford
2011 Astor Visiting Lecturer for the Humanities, Univ. of Oxford
2007 Co-recipient, Kirk Bryan Award; best publication in Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology, Geological Society of America
Meritorious Service Award, Dept. of the Interior (1995)
1995 Best Paper Award, Jour. Great Lakes Res.
1994 Elected Fellow, Geological Society of America
1993 Visiting Fellow, Institute for Rock Magnetism, Univ. Minnesota
1992 Best Paper Award, Geophysics
Science and Products
Opening of the Red Sea: Constraints from a palaeomagnetic study of the As Sarat volcanic field, south‐western Saudi Arabia
Role of fluid mixing and fault-related sulfide in the origin of the Ray Point uranium district, south Texas
Iron disulfide minerals and the genesis of roll-type uranium deposits
U-Pb ages of uranium ores in the Churchrock uranium district, New Mexico
Uranium-lead isochron age and preliminary sulfur isotope systematics of the Felder uranium deposit, south Texas
Biogenic and nonbiogenic ore-forming processes in the south Texas uranium district; evidence from the Panna Maria deposit
Post-depositional alteration of titanomagnetite in a Miocene sandstone, south Texas (U.S.A.)
Origin of the Mariano Lake uranium deposit, McKinley County, New Mexico
The 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens, Washington
Geological investigation of the Dufek intrusion, Pensacola Mountains, Antarctic
Comparison of the TRM of the Yellowstone Group and the DRM of some Pearlette ash beds
Origin of a South Texas roll-type uranium deposit; I, Alteration of iron-titanium oxide minerals
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
Opening of the Red Sea: Constraints from a palaeomagnetic study of the As Sarat volcanic field, south‐western Saudi Arabia
Role of fluid mixing and fault-related sulfide in the origin of the Ray Point uranium district, south Texas
Iron disulfide minerals and the genesis of roll-type uranium deposits
U-Pb ages of uranium ores in the Churchrock uranium district, New Mexico
Uranium-lead isochron age and preliminary sulfur isotope systematics of the Felder uranium deposit, south Texas
Biogenic and nonbiogenic ore-forming processes in the south Texas uranium district; evidence from the Panna Maria deposit
Post-depositional alteration of titanomagnetite in a Miocene sandstone, south Texas (U.S.A.)
Origin of the Mariano Lake uranium deposit, McKinley County, New Mexico
The 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens, Washington
Geological investigation of the Dufek intrusion, Pensacola Mountains, Antarctic
Comparison of the TRM of the Yellowstone Group and the DRM of some Pearlette ash beds
Origin of a South Texas roll-type uranium deposit; I, Alteration of iron-titanium oxide minerals
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government