This dissertation presents the results of statistical analyses of large climate datasets from two time intervals – the 20th century instrumental record and the proxy record of the last deglaciation – in order to understand the forcings and mechanisms of past climate variability.
A longstanding question in climate dynamics concerns...
This dissertation presents results from three studies that address major scientific questions in glacial geology and paleoclimatology for the late Pleistocene and Holocene using relatively new geochemical and statistical techniques. Each of the studies attempts to answer a longstanding question in the respective field using geochemical or statistical methods that...
Active tectonics of a deformation front constrains the kinematic evolution and structural interaction between the fold-thrust belt and the most-recently accreted foreland basin. At the Himalayan deformation front, the thrust front is blind, characterized by a broad fold (the Suruin-Mastgarh anticline (SMA)), and displays no emergent faults cutting the southern...
This dissertation presents the results of three studies that assessed climate variability on short and long timescales in western United States. The growth of carbonate formations in caves (speleothems) is used to infer the timing and amplitude of past climate variability. We first assess the controls on speleothem growth for...
This thesis presents the results of a formal evaluation of a new AOGCM, GENMOM, demonstrating its ability to simulate present-day climate and ENSO dynamics. The model is applied to simulate climate for the Last Glacial Maximum, deglacial, and Holocene time periods. The model output is evaluated against the best available...
The primary goal of this study is to access the processes that alter primary melts after segregation from a mantle source and ultimately form petrologic Layers 2 and 3 of the Ocean Crust. Mineral, melt inclusion, and whole rock chemical compositions are utilized to further the understanding of 1) the...
This thesis presents the results of an investigation into the interactions between the present-day South Cascade Glacier and the former Mauna Kea ice cap at short (annual to centennial) and long (millennial and multimillennial) time scales. To quantify the response of South Cascade Glacier to atmospheric conditions, a surface energy...
This dissertation concentrates on the controlling factors on the instability of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and their effects on abrupt climate change. Northern Hemisphere climate fluctuated abruptly during the last deglaciation possibly related to variability in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and reduced aerial extent of the LIS. Reductions...
The basaltic landscapes of the Oregon High Cascades form a natural laboratory for examining how geologic setting and history influence groundwater flowpaths, streamflow sensitivity to climate, and landscape evolution. In the High Cascades, highly permeable young basaltic lavas form extensive aquifers. These aquifers are the dominant sources of summer streamflow...
This study is an effort to characterize the magma sources, plumbing system, and eruptive behavior of Mount Hood, a low-explosivity recharge-dominated volcano in the Oregon Cascades. The three manuscripts in this dissertation make use of melt inclusion data, phenocryst compositions, and whole rock petrology and geochemistry to build a schematic...