Dr. Abbott received his PhD in 1997 under the direction of Kerry Kelts at the University of Minnesota’s department of Geology and Geophysics and Limnological Research Center. He did a postdoc at the University of Massachusetts with Raymond Bradley at the Climate System Research Center and came to the University of Pittsburgh in 2001 as an assistant professor.
- PostDoc 1997, Geosciences, University of Massachusetts
- PhD, 1997, Geology, University of Minnesota
- MS, 1991, Geology, University of Colorado
- BA, 1987, Biology, University of Colorado
Education & Training
Arnold, T.E., *Hillman, A.L., Abbott, M.B. Werne, J., McGrath, S.J., and Arkush, L., (2021). Drought and the Collapse of the Tiwanaku Civilization. Quaternary Science Reviews 251. doi/org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106693.
*Hillman, A.L., O’Quinn, R.O., Abbott, M.B., and Bain, D.J. (2020). A Holocene History of the Indian Monsoon from Qilu Lake, Southwestern China. Quaternary Science Reviews 227, 106501. doi.org/10.1007/s10933-019-00098-w.
*Pompeani, D., *Steinman, B.A., Abbott, M.B., Pompeani, K.M., Reardon, W., DePasqual, S., and Mueller, R.H. (2021). On the Timing of the Old Copper Complex in North America: A Comparison of Radiocarbon Dates from Different Archeological Contexts. Radiocarbon 00, 1-19. DOI 10.1017/RDC.2021.7.
*Steinman, B.A., *Nelson, D.B., Abbott, M.B., *Stansell, N.D., *Finkenbinder, F.S., and Finney, B.P. (2019). Lake Sediment Records of Holocene Hydroclimate and Impacts of the Mount Mazama Eruption, North-Central Washington, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 204, 17-36.
*Woods, A., Rodbell, D.T., Abbott, M.B., Hatfield, R., Chen, C., McGee, D., *Lehmann, S.B., *Weidhaas, IV, N., Tapia., P.M., Valero Garces, B.L., and Stoner, J. (2020). Andean Drought and Glacial Retreat Tied to Greenland Warming During the Last Glacial Period. Nature Communications 11. Doi.org:10.1038./s41467-020-19000-8.
Our group combines studies of stratigraphy with geochemical, biogeochemical and stable isotopic analysis to investigate questions regarding climate change and human history. One of the fundamental questions we currently face is how will future climate and environmental change impact society. To answer these questions we need to look further back in time than we are able to do using the instrumental records. Sediments from lakes, bogs and wetlands are found worldwide and provide layered archives that can be analyzed and dated. We combine field and laboratory work to document and date late Quaternary climate changes from lake sediments and other terrestrial deposits, such as glacial features and bogs. The emphasis of my current research program is to identify and recover core samples from lakes that contain climate information recorded at annual resolution. Paleoclimate based temperature and drought reconstruction that document thousands of years of climate and environmental information are helpful for better understand how the earth’s climate system works as well as providing an archive of regional climatic variability.