Faculty Research
Richard H. Bailey
Atlantic Coastal Plain Paleontology and Stratigraphy:Most of Prof. Bailey's Atlantic Coastal Plain paleontology, sedimentology, and stratigraphy research involves strata and abundant molluscan fossils from the Chesapeake Group of Virginia and North Carolina, especially the Pliocene Yorktown and Chowan River Formations. He is particularly interested in the types of changes that occur in paleocommunities over times ranging from hundreds to millions of years. Prof. Bailey also studies Paleogene nautiloids, taxonomy and taphonomy of decapod crustaceans with a colleague from the Smithsonian, and Neogene coral thickets in Virginia and North Carolina. The coral thickets represent an extinct type of community that lived on the shallow Atlantic continental shelf until a regional mass extinction near the end of the Pliocene. Prof. Baileys is currently analyzing several fossil coral thickets and comparing their function and development to living coral thickets. In support of this project he is also studying the morphology and systematics of common coral species on the Coastal Plain.
Avalon Terrane of Southeastern New England: Over the past three decades Prof. Bailey has studied all of the major sedimentary sequences found in the exotic Avalon terrane of New England. Most of this work has been with the sedimentary rocks of the Neoproterozoic Westboro Formation and Boston Bay Group and several Cambrian units. A major effort involves the analysis of sandstones within the Avalon terrane, and mapping and study of fossiliferous strata at Nahant, MA and related localities. This work has led to detailed syntheses of depositional history and comparisons with the type Avalon in Newfoundland.
The famous Squantum "Tillite" continues to be the focus of much work and Prof. Bailey is the primary and outspoken advocate for the non-glacial origin of this supposed glacial deposit. This research has become timely because some geologists think that the Squantum glacial(?) event marks the last of the snowball Earth events in Earth history.
Prof. Bailey recently mapped the southern margin of the Boston Basin from Quincy to Hingham, MA and studied most of the classic stratigraphic sections. He is working with a colleague from the United Kingdom describing a new and unique early Ediacaran fossil from these strata in addition to reconstructing the depositional and environmental conditions of the sedimentary rocks containing the fossils. They have discovered unusual microbial or biomat structures in these strata and continue to study the bedrock geology of the southern Boston Harbor Islands. Prof. Bailey recently completed a detailed bedrock geologic map of Slate and Grape Islands.
Living Mollusks and Modern Taphonomy: Prof. Bailey studies modern marine and estuarine invertebrate species and communities to support his paleontological research. A current project involved SCUBA diving to examine living scallops in Nantucket Harbor. He discovered that contrary to expectation some nektobenthic creatures (animals that live on the bottom but swim around, like scallops) tend to have more attached animals on the bottom of the living animals, in this case the bay scallop, than on the top. For more than 100 years paleontologists interpreted the life position of extinct animals based on the surface of the shell that was most densely covered with attached animals, turns out that rule is not always correct.
Tropical Limestones and Fossil Reefs: Prof. Bailey is currently studying the stratigraphy and sedimentology of rocks in a deep borehole on Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas. The hole was drilled by a colleague and NU Geology alum Lloyd Cheong. This is an important borehole because deep holes are rare in the Bahamas and this is the deepest yet drilled (nearly 600 feet) on the Little Bahama Bank. In addition, Prof. Bailey takes students to the Bahamas on many occasions to study modern reefs and carbonate environments and their fossil and ancient equivalents. Many small research projects, often involving students, and related to my larger efforts have resulted from these trips.
Origin of dropstones in the Boston Bay Group: Professor Bailey has been mapping and looking at these features in detail. Previous workers interpreted these dropstones as indicators of a glacial marine origin. Professor Bailey is using modern sedimentary facies analysis to provide an alternative and modern view of the origin of these features and this important stratigraphic unit in the Boston area.
Martin E. Ross
Mafic dike swarms in New England: Professor Ross is continuing his long term investigation of the petrology and tectonics of Proterozoic to Mesozoic mafic dike swarms of the Avalon terrane in southeastern New England. This project also includes an investigation of the nature and origin of chemical and mineralogic trends within individual dikes.
Columbia River Flood Basalts: Professor Ross, in collaboration with Dr. Victor Camp of San Diego State University, completed mapping of volcanics within nine 7.5 minute quadrangles in the region north of Steens Mountain, Oregon. Besides identifying several new units, the stratigraphic equivalence of the Steens and Malheur basalts as established by this work, thus greatly expanding the known area of the Columbia River Flood Basalts.
Their subsequent work in southwestern Idaho indicates CRB volcanism extended to the east flank of the Owyhee Mountains. In the summer of 2004 Ross and Camp extended their work into the basalts of the Warner Range in northeastern California in hopes of establishing what relationship, if any, they might have with Columbia River Basalts
Mantle Plume Controversy: Their work on the origin of the CRB's has thrust Ross and Camp into the middle of the current controversy over the existence of mantle plumes. They have a J.G.R paper in press on this topic. A summary of this work can be viewed at www.mantleplumes.org.
Jennifer Cole
Groundwater Chemistry of the Lake Agassiz Peatlands, Northern Minnesota: Looking at long term geochemistry as it pertains to global climate change and natural wetland fluctuary.
Groundwater Levels and Quality in Back Bay, MA: Professor Cole monitors water quality and movement of contaminates. Prof. Cole also monitors groundwater fluctuations due to construction excavation, and long term groundwater fluctuations which can affect the stability of foundations for existing buildings.
Using CT to Evaulate the Dual Porosity Nature of Peat: Professor Cole uses Computed Tomography (CT) scans to distinguish pore spaces filled with water or gas from cellular water in humified peat and to determine how pore spaces change in response to the movement of Cl- bearing solution and gas.
Peter Rosen
Evolution of Boston Harbor Islands: Professor Rosen is developing a model for the evolution of Boston Harbor Island shorelines in response to rising sealevels. Processes of bluff retreat, accretionary landforms, such as tombolos and salients, and the influence of pre-existing topography are being evaluated to understand why islands have their present forms. A previous study of stratigraphy of the harbor-bottom sediments was carried out through excavations in the landfilled areas of downtown Boston, which lead to a history of changes in the harbor as water levels increases. This study also provided an understanding of the setting of the Boylston Street fishweir, a Native American archaeological within the city. This year, another phase of the harbor studies was initiated cooperatively with Boston University Coastal Research Group to study boat wakes in the harbor and their influence on the shoreline.
Coastal geomorphology and piping plover habitat near Duxbury Beach: Professor Rosen is mapping different ecological and geological zones and relating them to bird habitat. He is using a GIS to organize and analyze the mapping data. He is also working in cooperation with researchers at Boston University who are doing ground penetrating radar to determine the stratigraphy of the barrier complex. For a MS Powerpoint presentation of findings so far, check out Duxbury Beach.