|
|
Name: Kirk R. Johnson
Title/Organization: Curator of paleontology, Department of Earth and Space Sciences,
Denver Museum of Natural History
Education: B.A. (1982), Amherst College; M.S. (1985), University
of Pennsylvania; M. Phil. (1987) and Ph.D. in geology and paleobotany (1989), Yale University
Work History: Johnson has published many popular and scientific
articles on topics ranging from fossil plants and modern rainforests, to the ecology of whales and walruses. He
is best known for his research on fossil plants, which is widely accepted as some of the most convincing support
for the theory that an asteroid impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. His recent research focuses on the
fossil plants of the Denver Basin, and he has supervised excavations at more than 50 Denver area fossil sites,
including Denver International Airport, Coors Field, and the Castle Rock Rainforest. He is coauthor with DMNH Chief
Curator Richard K. Stucky of the book, Prehistoric Journey: A History of Life on Earth.
Motivation/Goals: The Denver Basin Project, which is based on
a multitude of surface observations as well as the fossil sites tied to the core, will provide information on dinosaur
extinction and fossil rainforests. By studying the bedrock aquifers that provide water for the population of one
of the fastest-growing urban areas in the country, researchers will be able to provide much-needed data about our
local water supply and quality.
Contact Information: Denver Museum of Natural History, Department
of Earth and Space Sciences, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205-5798, phone-303-370-6448, [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Bob Raynolds
Title/Organization: Consulting geologist and research associate,
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Denver Museum of Natural History
Education: B.A. (1973), Dartmouth College; M.S. (1976), Stanford
University; Ph.D. (1981), Dartmouth College
Work History: Raynolds has lived in Denver for about 10 years.
About five years ago, he started leading field trips for the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists to look at
the synorogenic sediments of the Denver Basin.
Motivation/Goals: Raynolds has been interested in synorogenic
sediments (those sediments that accumulate at the foot of actively deforming mountains, literally synchronous with
orogeny) since doing his dissertation on these kinds of strata in the foothills of the Himalaya in the early 1980s.
Raynolds is most interested in the control exerted on facies architecture (distribution of kinds of rock bodies,
their shapes and dimensions) by the growth of a mountain and on the rates at which the mountains form and the sediments
accumulate. How did the Rockies uplift, how fast, and in what manner? These are some of the questions that the
multidisciplinary research being conducted by the Museum will clarify.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Stanley G. Robson
Title/Organization: Hydrologist, United States Geological Survey
Education: B.S. in mathematics (1963)
Work History: Hydrologist, USGS, 1963-present. Robson has published
several articles on the groundwater of the Denver Basin.
Motivation/Goals: A better understanding of the geohydrology
of the Denver Basin aquifers is important for better management and effective use of the groundwater resources
of the basin. The Kiowa core hole provides a unique opportunity to learn more about the water-yielding character
of the deep aquifers in the central part of the basin where few deep wells have been drilled. Results of the hydrologic
analyses of the core samples may indicate that additional sources of groundwater are present at depth, or that
less water is at depth than we anticipated.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Rick Arnold
Title/Organization: Hydrologist, United States Geological Survey
Education: B.S. in geology and geophysics (1992), Kansas State University
Work History: Arnold has worked in the field of geotechnical
engineering doing site evaluations for construction and environmental projects. He joined the USGS in 1996 and
worked there while he was completing his professional degree in hydrogeology at the Colorado School of Mines. He
is now a hydrologist with the USGS where he works on the Denver Basin Project and other projects in the state.
Motivation/Goals: Arnold hopes to gather hydrogeological information
from the aquifers in the Denver Basin in an area where little is known about the aquifer parameters. Recently,
Rick found a rare fossil turtle skull in the Fox Hills Formation while he was mapping the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer
at its surface exposure on the east side of the Denver Basin. The Denver Basin Project is making paleontologists
out of hydrologists and hydrologists out of paleontologists.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: William E. Sanford
Title/Organization: Assistant professor, Department of Earth
Resources, Colorado State University
Education: B.S. in geology (1983) from Beloit College, Beloit,
Wisconsin; M.S. in geophysics (1986) and Ph.D. in soil and water engineering (1992) from Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York
Work History: Assistant professor of hydrogeology, Department
of Earth Resources, CSU, 1996-present; research associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
1992-1996
Motivation/Goals: The Denver area is one of the fastest growing
population centers in the United States today. The aquifers that underlie the Denver Basin are becoming relied
upon in an ever increasing fashion to supply water for the growing population. Goals of this research project include
improving our understanding of the availability of water resources from the aquifers of the Denver Basin through
measurements of hydrogeological parameters measured on samples of the core and correlation of these parameters
across the basin; and developing the framework of a detailed groundwater model based on these results that can
be used to improve our ability to plan for future water use from the aquifers.
Contact Information: Department of Earth Resources, 322 Natural
Resources Building, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1482; phone: 970-491-5929; fax: 970-491-6307;
e-mail: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Shari A. Kelley
Title/Organization: Adjunct faculty, Department of Earth and
Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico
Education: B.S. in geological sciences (1979), New Mexico State
University; Ph.D. in geophysics (1984), Southern Methodist University
Work History: Adjunct assistant professor, Department of Earth
and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, January 1995-present; consulting geoscientist,
fission-track analysis for ARCO and Mobil, geothermal resource evaluation, seismic data interpretation, September
1984-present; adjunct assistant professor of geological sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas,
January 1987-December 1994; part-time instructor, physical and historical geology, Richland Community College,
Dallas, Texas, September 1985-May 1986 and September 1988-December 1994
Motivation/Goals: Kelley plans to contribute apatite and zircon
fission-track analyses of the Late Cretaceous to Eocene synorogenic sedimentary rocks encountered in both the Kiowa
and Castle Pines drill cores. This information will nicely complement the work that Chuck Chapin (New Mexico Bureau
of Mines and Mineral Resources) and Kelley have done on the uplift and erosional history of the Front Range. The
apatite fission-track (AFT) data should provide further insights into the unroofing history of the Front Range,
with older AFT ages preserved in the older sedimentary rocks and increasing numbers of Laramide AFT ages preserved
up-section. In addition, Dave Blackwell (Southern Methodist University) and Kelley hope to measure a high-precision,
equilibrium temperature log in the drill hole. This type of log is very useful in determining lateral and vertical
fluid movement in drill holes. Temperature and heat flow data for the Denver Basin are rare; a temperature log
from this drill hole will offer a unique opportunity to add to this important database.
Contact Information: [email protected], phone-505-661-6171
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Lara M. Juliusson
Title/Organization: Project cartographer and GIS specialist,
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Denver Museum of Natural History
Education: B.A., geography, University of Colorado at Boulder;
M.A., geography, University of Denver
Work History: National Geographic, 1993; University of Denver,
1994; City and County of Denver, 1996
Motivation/Goals: Juliusson's goals, as cartographer and GIS
specialist to the Denver Basin Project, are to create a library of spatial information, maps, and graphics from
the returned research data that can be easily accessed and used for future research and education.
Contact information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: R. Farley Fleming
Title/Organization: Research associate, Department of Earth
and Space Sciences, Denver Museum of Natural History
Education: B.S. in zoology, Texas Tech University; Ph.D. in
geology, University of Colorado at Boulder; LL.M., University of Denver College of Law
Work History: Palynological work for several major and independent
oil companies; research on Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary at U.S. Geological Survey (study area in Raton Basin of
southern Colorado and northern New Mexico-basis for doctoral dissertation); research on dinosaur trackways in western
North America and South Korea while at CU-Denver; palynological studies of Pliocene climate at U.S. Geological
Survey (study areas throughout western North America and in Antarctica)
Motivation/Goals: For Fleming's graduate research at the CU-Boulder,
he examined the palynological (fossil pollen and spores) record across the K-T boundary in the Raton Basin of southern
Colorado and northern New Mexico. This research focused on several aspects of the plant microfossil record, including
the extinction horizon, the "fern spike" (an unusual abundance of fern spores immediately above the K-T
boundary), and the recovery of terrestrial vegetation following the K-T boundary event. The Denver Basin Project
allows Fleming to extend this work into the Denver Basin and perhaps develop a more complete picture of the plant
world in Colorado during this interesting interval in Earth's history.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Laura Lapey
Title/Organization: graduate student, Colorado State University,
Fort Collins, Colorado
Education: B.A. in geology and environmental science and policy
(1996), Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York
Work History: Graduate teaching assistantship at CSU for sedimentary
petrology and geochemistry, fall 1998; Heindel & Noyes: Environmental Consulting Firm, Burlington, Vermont,
January 1997-June 1998; naturalist at Allegany State Park, New York, summers 1992-96
Motivation/Goals: Lapey is motivated by the people and the variety
of disciplines involved in the Denver Basin Project. She is pleased that the public will be able to visit the drilling
site or Web site to be exposed to this multifaceted research project. Lapey's goals include gaining a thorough
understanding of the geology and hydrogeology of the Denver Basin and helping Denver Basin regulators with challenging
water issues by providing them with detailed aquifer parameters.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Mary J. Kraus
Title/Organization: Geology professor, University of Colorado
at Boulder
Education: B.S. in biology (1973), Yale University; M.S. in
geology (1979), University of Wyoming; Ph.D. in geology (1983), CU-Boulder
Work History: Professor, CU-Boulder, 1998; associate professor,
CU-Boulder, 1989; assistant professor, CU-Boulder, 1983-89
Motivation/Goals: Kraus is a clastic sedimentary geologist,
and her research interest is using floodplain paleosols to understand the processes by which ancient river floodplains
were constructed, to reconstruct ancient landscapes, and to interpret ancient climates. She is especially interested
in paleosols that formed during late Paleocene and early Eocene because a major global warming trend occurred during
that time. The most extensive record of the paleoclimatic events that occurred across this interval come from marine
strata, and little is known about how the global climatic change influenced the continental sedimentary record.
A paleosol that appears to have formed during this time period is present in the Denver Basin, and it provides
an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of the climate change on the continents. Because the paleosol is
exposed at different localities and in two cores, it can also be used to examine the competing effects of global
climate change and local factors in shaping paleosol characteristics.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Tim Farnham
Title/Organization: Graduate student, Department of Geological
Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder; research assistant, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Denver
Museum of Natural History
Education: B.A. in geology (1996) and B.A. in history (1996),
Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Work History: Research assistant for DMNH, June 1998-present;
master's candidate in geology, CU-Boulder, August 1998-present; internship with Kirk Johnson at the DMNH, August
1997-June 1998
Motivation/Goals: The environment we live and work in has changed
dramatically through time. Animals, plants, and even land surfaces leave important clues that allow researchers
and scientists to reconstruct ancient climates. Fossil leaves and soils in the Denver Basin provide information
about ancient temperatures and rainfall. Farnham's research focuses on climate change in the Denver area from about
58 to 45 million years ago, long after the last dinosaur walked on Earth. By looking at fossil leaves and soils
in the Denver Basin, researchers hope to reconstruct the climate for this area during the last great period of
global warming, when Denver was a tropical rainforest.
Contact information: [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Jason F. Hicks
Title/Organization: Research associate (pending), Department
of Earth and Space Sciences, Denver Museum of Natural History
Education: B.A. (1984), Oxford University; Ph.D. (1993), Yale
University
Work History: Environmental technician, Denver, October 1998-present;
research geologist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, summer 1998; adjunct lecturer, Colorado College, 1998;
lecturer, University of New Haven, 1996; associate professor, Yale University, 1995; visiting scientist, Smithsonian
Institution, 1993-95; laboratory technician, Enviromed Services, 1992-95; consultant geologist, Hawley Research
Group, 1987-88.
Motivation/Goals: Hicks specializes in dating layers of sedimentary
rock from around the world. This little known subdiscipline of geology called chronostratigraphy will be an important
part of the project. It is possible to work out the age of a rock any number of ways. Museum staff will measure
the rock magnetism of many of the fossil sites that have been found in recent years in short road cuts, excavations,
gully washes, and hillsides around Denver. By matching magnetic directions to a reference timescale from the core,
researchers can determine when they were deposited, usually to within a half million years or so.
Contact Information: Denver Museum of Natural History, Department
of Earth and Space Sciences, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205-5798; [email protected]
Back to index
|
|
|
Name: Lisa Tauxe
Title/Organization: Professor of geophysics, Scripps Institution
of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
Education: B.S. (1978), Yale University; M.A. (1980), M.Phil.
(1982), and Ph.D. (1983), Columbia University
Work History: Professor of geophysics, 1996-present
Motivation/Goals: Tauxe has a long-term interest in the magneto-bio
timescale. This project represents a unique opportunity to piece together the record in a key area.
Contact Information: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La
Jolla, California; phone-619-534-6084; fax-619-534-0784
Back to index
|
|
|
Cooperating Organizations
(principal funding sources*)
*National Science Foundation
*U. S. Geological Survey, Division of Water Resources
U. S. Geological Survey, Geologic Division
*Colorado Water Conservation Board
*Colorado State Engineer
Colorado Geological Survey
Colorado Division of Water Resources
*Colorado State University
Colorado State University Extension Office in Kiowa
Elbert County Water Advisory Board
Elbert County Commissioners
*Prima Energy
Back to index
|
|
