Recovery act drives MSU research

Awarded grant: Collaborative Research: Theoretical and Paleoenvironmental Implications of Dating and Characterizing Loess Deposits in the Upper Midwest

Schaetzl, Randall J., Professor, soils@msu.edu; Web site

• Department: Geography
• Title: Collaborative Research: Theoretical and Paleoenvironmental Implications of Dating and Characterizing Loess Deposits in the Upper Midwest
• Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
• Amount of grant: $185,086
• Duration of grant: 8/1/2009 - 1/31/2013
• Summary: A team of geologists and geographers (collaborators are from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois at Chicago) propose to use a new method to date local source loess soil deposits in order to generate missing baseline chronological information about Midwestern glacial and postglacial environments. This information will be an important empirical contribution to the framework used by geographers, ecologists, paleoenvironmentalists, and geoscientists. The work also will provide important characterization and spatial data on the thin loess and cover sand deposits that, for years, have puzzled and confounded soil scientists and geologic mappers. Because it will establish the efficacy and utility of using optically stimulated luminescence techniques to date the loess, the work also has the potential to provide an important methodological contribution. Developing a clearer and more accurate understanding of the deglacial chronology for the upper Midwest is essential for continued advances in paleoenvironmental modeling. Undergraduate and graduate students will work on the project, and at least two undergraduate and graduate theses will result from this study. Faculty will incorporate study sites and findings into their courses and outreach exercises.

 

 

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