School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Climate Change and Biogeochemical Cycles

From the abrupt flooding of the Black Sea to dramatic changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, the climate , biology, and chemistry of earth's environment has changed significantly throughout geologic time and is expected to continue changing in the future. Some of the research in this area that faculty and students at SEES investigate include:

• geologic history of hurricanes (N. Coch)
• changes in ocean pH and its impact on atmospheric CO2 concentrations (N.G. Hemming)
• glacial-interglacial changes in the Mediterranean waterways (C. McHugh)
• history of sea level and ocean temperature changes from the Paleocene through the Miocene (S. Pekar)
• Holocene climatic variability in the Hudson Valley Region (C. McHugh)
• Variations in the Oxygen Minimum Zone off Baja California (Y. Zheng)
• Marine behavior of Redox Sensitive Oxyanions such as Uranium and Molybdenum (Y. Zheng)

Coastal and Estuarine Processes of the New York Area

Like many east coast cities, New York City is an urban center surrounded by waters, including Hudson River Estuary, New York Harbor, Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean. Several of QC SEES faculty are dedicated to understanding changes in these regionally important waters. SEES faculty seek to understand how the local environments changed in response to natural variations in the geologic past, as well as monitoring future changes in the following projects:

• Sedimentological history of the Hudson River over the last 10,000 years (C. McHugh and S. Pekar)
• Organic geochemistry of coastal waters
• Monitoring of Long Island Sound (C. McHugh, Y. Zheng)
• Paleoceanographic changes in Chesapeake Bay (Y. Zheng)

Hydrology

Hydrology is the study of the flow of groundwater in the subsurface, and the properties of different geologic materials through which it flows. Hydrology is a very important field because many people in the US and around the world rely on groundwater for drinking, agricultural and industrial use. In addition to geology, hydrology encompasses aspects of numerical simulation using computer codes, and water chemistry to understand groundwater quality issues and groundwater contamination problems. SEES faculty members are involved in the following research areas:

• Using scaled sand tank models to study groundwater flow (T. Eaton)
• Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh (Y.Zheng)

Environmental Geochemistry

Stable isotopes, clay minerals, and trace metals serve as useful tracers of the cycle of materials through ecosystems, soils, and surface and ocean waters. Research projects in this field encompass the following topics:

• the use of boron isotopes as tracers of ocean pH (N.G. Hemming)
• Mg/Ca and oxygen isotopes in carbonate fossils as indicators of ocean temperature and salinity ( S. Pekar)
• Reduced sulfur species in groundwater (Y. Zheng)
• Bioaccessibility of arsenic in food (Y. Zheng)
• Development of analytical methods for rapid and field analysis (Y. Zheng)

Tectonic Evolution of the Northern Appalachians

The rocks of the Northern Appalachian orogen, stretching from New York City to the Maine-New Brunswick border, record more than a billion years of Earth history during which two supercontinents formed and at least two ocean basins were created when those supercontinents split apart. SEES faculty and research associates have been responsible for deciphering much of this history, contributing primary geologic mapping, geochemical and geochronological data, and models for major orogenic events that have affected the region. Recent research projects include:

• revolutionizing the stratigraphy of the Manhattan Prong: petrographic analysis and mapping (P.W. and P.C. Brock)
• tectonic setting of rock formations revealed through isotopic dating (H. Brueckner, N.G. Hemming)
• a comprehensive model of the Acadian orogeny (A. Ludman)

Stratigraphy, Sedimentation and Marine Geology

Stratigraphy is the fundament for all the geosciences, as indicated by the Geological Society of America and other professional organizations. At Queens College and in the Graduate School's PhD programs, the principles of stratigraphy, sedimentation and marine geology are in studies ranging from paleoceanography to hominid evolution to projecting climate change. Research areas in these fields include:

• Historical record of hurricanes and coastal sedimentology (N. Coch)
• Applied biostratigraphy and the sedimentology of organic detritus (D. Habib)
• Climate change based on the paleoceanographic records (N. G. Hemming,S. Pekar)
• Using the historical record to forecast decadal climate change of the Hudson River Estuary (C. McHugh)
• Radiometric dating of stratigraphic events (N. G. Hemming)
• Major stratigraphic events in orogens of the Northern Appalachians
• Pleistocene glacial-interglacial history of the New Jersey passive margin (C. McHugh)
• Submarine earthquake geology along transform fault boundaries: Turkey and Venezuela (C. McHugh)
• Sea level changes from stratal geometry reconstructions of Cretaceous-Paleogene sediments around New York (S.Pekar)
• Obtaining seismic data from the Antarctic continent (Eocene-Pleistocene age) (S.Pekar)
• Oligocene-Pliocene climate reconstructions derived from Antarctic sediment cores (S.Pekar)