Gustavus Adolphus College

We regard research, and particularly field-based research, to be an integral part of our department's program. The faculty is engaged in research and the students have opportunities to be involved. Nearly every class includes research questions and problem solving. The 'capstone' course of the Geology Department is GEO 392-393 Geology Research, a two-semester research course taken during the junior and senior years. Students are encouraged to pursue their own research questions or to help with faculty, on-going projects, some of which are listed below.

Students may do research projects independently prior to the Geology Research course. Students present results at the spring Sigma Xi Research Symposium; several have delivered papers at regional and national Geological Society of America Meetings and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. There are opportunities for both on-campus and off-campus funding for research including the Youngquist Fund (Geology Department) and Sigma Xi (college). Our majors have been successful in gaining positions on other REU projects throughout the country.

Faculty Research

Current faculty research areas are in the subdisciplines of metamorphic petrology, geomorphology, human impacts to earth systems, and vertebrate paleontology. Active research areas include the history of glacial deposits in southern Minnesota, anthropogenic alterations to the hydrology of the Minnesota River and its tributaries, tracing sediment sources in the Mississippi River basin, and the development of Archean rocks in the Virginia Horn area of Minnesota. Please contact the individual faculty members to learn more about their research projects.

Student Research

Titles of student research projects, 2008

• Magnetic Interactions and the Mossbauer Effect in Coated Ferrihydrite Nanoparticles, Anna K. Lindquist
• Sedimentary Analysis of the New Ulm Till and its Importance for Understanding Ice Flow on a Deforming Bed on the Des Moines Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, Jessica Hill

Titles of student research projects, 2007

• Climate During the Last Glacial Maximum in the Wasatch Mountains Inferred from Glacier Mass-Balance and Ice-Flow Modeling; Eleanor A. R. Bash;
  
• Till Genesis and Moraine Deposition during Pleistocene Glaciations in the Uinta Mountains, Utha; Todd Kohorst;

Titles of student research projects, 2006

• Petrologic And Petrographic Analysis of Ancient Submarine Hydrocarbon Seep Deposits (Late Cretaceous) From the Tepee of Colorado; Julia Anderson;
  
• Thin Section Evidence OF Sulfate-reducing Bacteria On Ancient Whale Falls; Justin Burum; pp.31
  
• Mass Wasting of Hillslopes in the Minnesota River Vally From Mankato To Le Sueur; Jonathan D. Carlson; pp.27
  
• Reconstruction of Pleistocene Glaciers in Rhoades Canyon and Lake Fork Vally in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA; Kathryn Lawson; pp.23
  
• Glacial Geology and Climate during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Wolf Creek Basin, Western Uinta Mountains; Andrew J. Rishavy; pp.27
  

Titles of student research projects, 2005

• A New Ichnospecies of Aquatilvipes from the Albian-Cenomanian Dakota Formation of Northeastern Utah; Owen Anfinson
• Water Table and Overbank Flow Frequency Changes due to Suburbanization-Induced Channel Incision, Virginia Coastal Plain, USA; Evan Christianson
• Geochemical Variations in the Upper Cherty Member of the Biwabik Iron Formation: Investigating Iron in the Proterozoic Banded Iron Formations of Northern Minnesota; Alison Cordie
• Geologic Controls on Bedrock Springs in the St. Croix River Valley, Northern Washington County, MN; Andrew Leaf
• The Buckhorn Conglomerate: Implications for Sevier Foreland Basin Development; Alec Nord
• Identifying the Cambrian-Ordovician Boundary in St. Peter, Minnesota through the Occurrence of Raphistoma minnesotensis; Mark Schlagel
• Reconstructing ELAs and Approximating Climate Change from Smiths Fork Recessional Moraines within the Yellowstone Quadrangle of the Uinta Mountains, Utah; Tom Westlund

Titles of student research projects, 2004

• Measurement of Contaminated Groundwater Discharge to Surface Water at Seven Mile Creek, Nicollet County, Minnesota; Sam Johnson
• Tropical Storms of Southeastern Minnesota: Analysis of Late Cambrian flat-pebble conglomerates in the St. Lawrence Formation; Nathan Suurmeyer

Titles of student research projects, 2003

• Magnetic Analysis of a Lake Tanganyika Core; Joe Malkovich
• Blue Earth Siltstone: Extent, Description, and Processes of Origin; Joe Beer
• Ichnofossils of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Northeastern Utah) and Their Paleoenvironmental Implications; Emily Tremain
• Depositional Process of the New Ulm Till; Adam Long
• The Reptile Fauna and Depositional Environment of a Wellington Formation (Lower Permian) Fossil Site; Jim Foote

Titles of student research projects, 2002

• Geochemical Study of an Altered Shear Zone near Granite Falls, Minnesota; Christine Carlson
• Growth Patterns of Aulopora Corals of the Upper Devonian Era; Jeffrey Ford
• Correlation of Radon Soil Gas Concentrations with Sediment Type in the St. Peter Area; Michael Bland
• Nature and Origin of Buried Ice Within a Recessional Moraine, Matanuska Glacier, Alaska; Justin Johnson

Titles of student research projects, 2001

• Reaction Zones of Metamorphosed Ultramafic Rocks: Marble Mountain Terrane, Siskiyou County, California; Amy (Iverson) Horn
• A Stratigraphic and Sedimentological Study of the Minnesota Valley Minerals Inc. Cretaceous Clay Mine near Courtland, Minnesota; Gregory D. Joslin
• Microstructure Analysis of a series of Brittle-Ductile Shear Zones near Granite Falls, Minnesota; Ryan Erickson
• Orientation of quartz veins in the Virginia Horn area, Minnesota; Timothy R. Sundby

Titles of student research projects, 2000

• Sedimentation Analysis and Implications at the Rapidan Dam; Mary Finch
• Interpretation of Glacial Outwash Fan, Portage County, Wisconsin; Paul Grittner
• Glaciotectonism at the Des Moines Lobe Margin and Origin of Ice-Contact; Sheryl Horton
• Description and Analysis of Wisconsin Age Till Deposits on the Watunwan; John Lindstrom
• Geochemical Implications of Tectonic Setting for the Powell Creek Volcanics, Southwestern British Columbia; Nicholas Pester
• A Reevaluation of the Permian Reptile Dictybolos; Erin Rasmussen
• Paleotopography of the Cambrian-Ordovician Contact near Mankato; Andrew P. Smith
• Downstream Variation in Outwash Clast Characteristics from an Active Glacial Margin: Application to Ancient Deposits; Brooke Swanson

Titles of student research projects, 1999

• Permian Vertebrates of Oklahoma: A Background Paper for Summer Research; Susan Joy
• Post Settlement Alluvium (PSA) in the Rush River Valley; Devika Mohabir
• Description and Analysis of an Outcrop of Metagabbro cut by shear zones and Malic Dikes in Granite Falls, MN; Michael Durfee

Titles of student research projects, 1998

• The impacts of agricultural ditching on the hydraulic geometry of streams, Kristin Anderson
  
• Description, pollen analysis, and structural analysis of a fossiliferous diamicton near New Ulm, Minnesota, Scott Brown
  
• Boulder pavement under the New Ulm till, southern Minnesota, Sheryl Filby
  
• Tempestite deposition in the Ordovician Decorah Formation at the Spring Grove underpass, Charles Lessman
  

Titles of student research projects, 1997

• Colluvial fan at Unimin Plant, Ottawa, MN, Tim Armato
  
• Character of the old gray till, Sally Gramstad
  
• Correlation of tills found in south-central Minnesota with those found in north-central Minnesota, Janet Mann
  
• Geology of the Good Thunder quadrangle, Jason Meek
  
• Origin of Minnesota Valley terraces, Jared Smith
  
• Structure contour map of the Jordan Oneota contact, Jon Turner

Titles of student research projects, 1996

• Character of the old gray till, Sally Gramstad
  
• Geology of the Good Thunder quadrangle, Jason Meek
  
• Petrology of selected Archean rocks, Wade Schulz
  
• Origin of Minnesota Valley terraces, Jared Smith
  
• Structure contour map of the Jordan Oneota contact, Jon Turner

Titles of student research projects, 1995

• Paleomagnetism of varve sedimentation in western Minnesota and eastern Wisconsin, Kris Addis
  
• Colluvial fan at Unimin Plant, Ottawa, MN, Tim Armato
  
• Geologic Map of the Minnesota River valley, Jon Blaha
  
• Paleomagnetism studies of Pleistocene varves in northwest Wisconsin, Lisa Ferber
  
• Paleohydrology and sedimentology of River Warren, Brian Kraatz
  
• Blue Earth Clay, Tom Marks
  
• Relationship between gold and silver mineralization within felsic porphyry of the Greenstone Belt in northeastern Minnesota, Michele Mykris
  
• Ancient bedrock valleys in southern Minesota and the relationdship of preglacial drainage, Geoff Goodwin

Titles of student research projects, 1994

• Discharge of River Warren calculated from large bedload clasts, Bryan Bear
  
• Petrographic description and interpretation of the Hornblende-bearing granitoid rocks contained in the Giants Range Batholith, near Virginia, Minnesota, Julie Fitzke
  
• Stromatolites of the Shakopee Dolomite, Andrew McGrath
  
• Proterozoic mafic dikes of the Virignia Horn region, Mike Schlagel
  
• Origin of the New Ulm till. Molly Swenson
  
• Interpretation of the structural deformation in lake sediments above the Old Gray till, Andrew Tarara

Titles of student research projects, 1993

• Relationship between particle size and slope angle, Kathy Bonnifield
  
• The Nature of the Depositional Environment of the Hager City Member of the Oneota Formation in the Mankato Area, Southeastern Minnesota, Hans Neve
  
• The Paleoecological Significance of the Receptaculitid Concentration of the Galena Formation, northeastern Iowa, Anissa Mediger
  
• The Relationship of a Quartz Porphyry Intrusion to Regional Deformation of Archean Metasediments of the Virginia Horn, Minnesota, Nathan Stamm
  
• Investigation of Sand and Gravel Terraces of the Minnesota River Valley, St. Peter, Minnesota, David M. Davis
  
• Alluvial Fan development in the Minnesota River Valley, Cara Larsen