DR. MARK ABBOTT

Position: Associate Professor
Degree: Ph.D. (1995)
Institution: University of Minnesota

Specialty: sedimentology, paleolimnology, paleoclimatology, and climate variability over a wide range of timescales
Research Group(s): Paleoclimatology/Sedimentology

Office: SRCC-404
Phone: 412-624-1408
Email:  click here
Research Web Page:  click here
Curriculum Vitae:  click here

Courses Offered:

Research Interests:

Dr. Abbott's research interests include sedimentology, paleolimnology, paleoclimatology, and climate variability over a wide range of timescales. I combine field and lab studies to document and date late Quaternary climate changes from lake sediments and other terrestrial records. The emphasis of my current fieldwork is to identify lakes that contain high-resolution sediment records to investigate recent environmental change. The interdisciplinary nature of this ongoing research allows me to work on a wide range of projects and collaborate with geologists, biologists, chemists, and archeologists in geographically diverse locations from the tropics to the arctic. Current projects include studies in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, New England, the North Cascades, Alaska, the Yukon Territory, Ellesmere Island, and Greece.

Recent/Significant Publications:

Abbott, M.B. and Wolfe, A. (2003). Intensive Pre-Incan Metallurgy Recorded by Lake Sediments from the Bolivian Andes. Science 301, 1893-1895.

Anderson, L., Abbott, M.B., and Finney, B.P. and Burns, S.J. (2007). Late Holocene Moisture Balance Variability in the Southwest Yukon Territory, Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 130-140.

Polissar, P.J., Abbott, M.B., Wolfe, A.P., Bezada, M., Rull, V. and Bradley, R.S. (2006). Solar Modulation of Little Ice Age Climate in the Tropical Andes. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103, 8937-8942.

Polissar, P.J., Abbott, M.B., Shemesh, A., Wolfe, A.P. and Bradley, R.S. (2006). Holocene Hydrologic Balance of Tropical South America from Oxygen Isotopes of Lake Sediment Opal, Venezuelan Andes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 242, 375-389.

Stansell, N.D., Polissar, P.J. and Abbott, M.B. (2007). Last Glacial Maximum Equilibrium-Line Altitude and Paleo-Temperature Reconstructions for the Cordillera de Mirida, Venezuelan Andes. Quaternary Research 67, 115-127.