Mark Abbott

Associate Professor
Paleoclimatology

Geology & Planetary Science
315 SRCC
4107 O'Hara Street
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

412-624-1408

mabbott1@pitt.edu

Degree

PhD in Geology (1995)
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Research Areas

  • Paleolimnology
  • Paleoclimatology
  • Isotope geochemistry
  • High resolution stratigraphy
  • Geoarcheology and forensic geochemistry

Courses Offered

  • GEOL 0860 Environmental GeologyIntroduction to environmental geology for beginning majors and non-majors. Offered summer term.
  • GEOL 1020 Sedimentology and StratigraphyPrinciples of sedimentary processes and impact of these processes on the geologic record. For mid-level geology majors. Offered every fall term.
  • GEOL 1052 PaleoclimatologyOverview of methods used to reconstruct Earth's climate history and the cause of these changes. For mid-level geology majors. Offered alternate years.
  • GEOL 1060 GeomorphologyExamination of terrestrial landforms and the surficial processes that shape them. For mid-level geology majors. Offered alternate years.
  • GEOL 3930 Lakes and Environmental Change
Focus on the Earth's present and past climates, including lake and other records. Graduate level. Offered alternate years.

Representative Publications

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

Bird, B.W., Abbott, M.B., Vuille, M., Rodbell, D.T., Rosenmeier, M.F. and Stansell, N.D. (2011). A 2300 Year Long Annually Resolved Record of the South American Summer Monsoon from the Peruvian Andes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003719108.

Besonen, M.R. Bradley, R.S., Mudelsee, M., Abbott, M.B. and Francus, P. (2008) A Thousand Year Record of Hurricanes from Boston, Massachusetts. Geophysical Research Letters 35. DOI:1029/2008GL033950.

Nelson, D.B., Abbott, M.B., Steinman, B.A., Polissar, P.J., Stansell, N.D., Ortiz, J.D., Rosenmeier, M.F., Finney, B.P. and Riedel, J. (2011). Drought Cariability in the Pacific Northwest from a 6,000-Year Lake Sediment Record. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1009194108.

Stansell, N.D., Steinman, B.A., Abbott, M.B., Rubinov, M. and Roman-Lacayo, M. (2013). Lacustrine Stable Isotope Record of Precipitation Changes in Nicaragua During the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly. Geology DOI: 10.1130/G33736.1.

Steinman, B.A., Abbott, M.B., Mann, M.E., Stansell, N.D. and Finney, B.P. (2012). 1500-year Quantitative Reconstruction of Precipitation in the Pacific Northwest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1201083109.

Additional Links

NOAA Paleoclimate Data

Climate Science

ICDP - International Continental Scientific Drilling Program

PAGES - Past Global Changes

Climate Data Library

Radiocarbon Calibration

Weather