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Hello from the Glacier History Lab!

By Jason Briner

I’m excited to briefly mention what we’re currently working on with research highlights from the students. Joe Tulenko is busily crafting the final manuscript of his dissertation based on his new chronology of glacier change in the Alaska Range. Joe visited Alaska again in August to collect new samples from old glacial boulders on the Kenai Peninsula that he will date with our 10Be exposure dating technique. Joe is planning to defend his PhD dissertation this winter. Brandon Graham is also largely in the writing phase of his PhD, with extensive datasets that will allow him to constrain rates of glacial erosion of the Greenland Ice Sheet. His lake sediment seismic analysis, cosmogenic nuclide analysis and ongoing write-up follows several years of fieldwork in Greenland. Caleb Walcott defended his Master’s thesis last April on the ice sheet history of SE Alaska using 10Be dating. He was awarded the prestigious Presidential Fellowship to stay at UB to pursue a PhD. Caleb will be next be working on the GreenDrill project, which involves drilling through the fringes of the Greenland Ice Sheet to obtain cores of bedrock for cosmogenic nuclide analysis. Karlee Prince is beginning the second year of her Master’s thesis. Along with Caleb, Assistant Professor Elizabeth Thomas and myself, Karlee visited her thesis area in SE Alaska to collect lake sediment cores. We obtained sediments that extend back to the last glaciation, and Karlee will focus on the first sediments deposited after the ice left. These sediments contain ancient DNA that will be analyzed with Associate Professor Charlotte Lindqvist in Biology to help solve debates about Ice Age refugia and the peopling of the Americas.

Horns up! From left to right: Department of Geology Assistant Professor Elizabeth Thomas, Caleb Walcott (MS 2021) and Karlee Prince (MS thesis ongoing) at one of Karlee’s study sites on Dall Island, SE Alaska. The team used their sediment coring platform (left side of image) to obtain cores down to 7 m sediment depth at this site; the sediments will be used to reconstruct the climate history of the region. Photo by Jason Briner.

Horns up! From left to right: Department of Geology Assistant Professor Elizabeth Thomas, Caleb Walcott (MS 2021) and Karlee Prince (MS thesis ongoing) at one of Karlee’s study sites on Dall Island, SE Alaska. The team used their sediment coring platform (left side of image) to obtain cores down to 7 m sediment depth at this site; the sediments will be used to reconstruct the climate history of the region. Photo by Jason Briner

UB Graduate students Karlee Prince (pointing) and Caleb Walcott (on boat), along with UB Geology Professor Elizabeth Thomas (middle) at a research site in SE Alaska.

UB Graduate students Karlee Prince (pointing) and Caleb Walcott (on boat), along with UB Geology Professor Elizabeth Thomas (middle) at a research site in SE Alaska

Drone image of parrot Lake, SE Alaska, one of the study sites of UB Geology Professor Jason Briner’s, funded by a National Geographic Society grant.

Drone image of parrot Lake, SE Alaska, one of the study sites of UB Geology Professor Jason Briner’s, funded by a National Geographic Society grant.

The Mt. Edgecumbe volcano near Sitka, Alaska. A group of researchers led by UB Geology Professor Jason Briner visited the site to learn about the volcanic and glacier history of SE Alaska.

The Mt. Edgecumbe volcano near Sitka, Alaska. A group of researchers led by UB Geology Professor Jason Briner visited the site to learn about the volcanic and glacier history of SE Alaska.

Floatplane (de Havilland Otter) at Parrot Lake, SE Alaska. UB Geology Professor Jason Briner chartered the floatplane to bring his research team and equipment to the site to collect sediment samples.

Floatplane (de Havilland Otter) at Parrot Lake, SE Alaska.  UB Geology Professor Jason Briner chartered the floatplane to bring his research team and equipment to the site to collect sediment samples.

Next article: Gargling Eruptions