Comps, honors papers, and prize-winning works of the Geology Department are featured here. All works have been self-submitted by the student authors. Descriptive information about each work is available to search or browse. Access to the full text of the works is limited to current Carleton affiliates with faculty permission. Learn more about how to submit your work and how to request access to the full text of works.
In addition to this digital archive, physical copies of the Geology Department comps from 1972 to the present are available at Gould Library, though the most recent year may not be available yet. Comps from the years 2003 to 2006 are available on CD-ROM in the College Archives.
Submissions from 2025
Claire Boyle, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Geothermobarometry of Metamorphic Rocks Associated with the Sanak-Baranof Plutonic Belt in the Chugach-Prince William Terrane, Southern Alaska
Ezra Buonopane, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Interactions between Limestone, Shale, and Sandstone Aggregates and Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)
Sadie M. DiCarlo, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Effects of Pyrohydrolysis on Trace Element Analyses of Planet-Forming Processes in Chondrites
Sebastian Forero Escovar, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Crystallization history of Footwall Gneisses and Plutons of the Paparoa Core Complex, South Island, New Zealand
Clara Gale, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Provenance of the Kootznahoo Formation using U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology in southeastern Alaska
Rachel Gregg, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Measuring CO2 flux in enhanced weathering trials in southeastern Minnesota: an evaluation of existing technologies and a proposed optimized model
Hannah Hackenmueller, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Re-interpreting borehole breakouts and corresponding lithology from well logs in central California: Implications for stresses near the San Andreas fault system
Gerrit Hoving, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Novel Measures of Feedlot Ammonia Emissions: Indirectly through Random Forest Regression on Spectral Data and Directly through Spectral Matched Filter
Gabriel Kaplan, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Precipitation and groundwater: Increasing sensitivity of deep aquifers in Minnesota
Collin Kelso, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Figuring out What Works: Reviewing the Advantages, Disadvantages, and Effectiveness of Passive Enhanced Weathering Settings and Feedstocks
Amberly Kroha, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Microstructural analysis and kinematic determinations of deformation bands from Parkfield, California: Implications for stress along the San Andreas fault
Natalie Lang, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Construction of a Landfill in a Sand Tank Physical Model
Jeremiah Lanzillo, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Groundwater Interaction and Surface Water Impacts on the Ground- Coupled Geothermal Heat Exchanger at Carleton College
Tobias Pasternak, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Evaluating the Effectiveness of SfM Photogrammetry for the Development of 3-D Digital Learning Models of Geologic Outcrops
Saheli Patel, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Smear slide analysis of lake sediments to evaluate impacts of humans on eight lakes on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation in Northern Wisconsin
Lia Salomon, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Quantifying topographic controls on debris flows in residential and heavily trafficked areas on the post-glacial landscape of Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska
Elizabeth H. Swanson, Geology (GEOL) 2025, Assessing Soil Variability in an Enhanced Weathering Context
Submissions from 2023
Lucille Baker-Stahl, Geology (GEOL) 2023, The Hidden Falls Member: Lithostratigraphy and Depositional Insights Into the Platteville Formation, Southeastern Minnesota
Maya Bannatyne, Geology (GEOL) 2023, Geochemistry, U/Pb ages, and Hf isotope analyses of plutons in Southeastern Alaska: Implications for the Resurrection plate debate and associated magmatism
Nicolas Bell, Geology (GEOL) 2023, Investigating Environmental Effects on Sediment Trapping and Binding by Microbial Mats
Jack Mathieu, Geology (GEOL) 2023, Remote Sensing and Isotopic Analysis of Potential Zones of Groundwater Discharge in the Carleton College Arboretum
Grant M. Singer, Geology (GEOL) 2023, Spring Creek Springs: Locating Prairie du Chien Springs in Cowling Arboretum, Northfield, Minnesota
Emma Watson, Geology (GEOL) 2023, A U-Pb and Lu-Hf Isotopic Reevaluation of Archean Rocks from the Minnesota River Valley: Implications for Early Tectonics
Submissions from 2022
Reed Culverwell, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Physical Modeling of a Creeping-to-Locked Transition in Strike-Slip Fault Behavior: Implications for Off-Fault Deformation in the San Andreas Fault System, Central California
Jennifer Delgado, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Re-Rooting Watershed Management in Indigenous Knowledge: Seeking a New Collaborative Water Planning Method for the Amah Mutusn Tribal Band
Avital (Tali) Emlen, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Cannon River streamflow reconstruction using riparian silver maple growth: Analyzing the efficacy of silver maple in dendrohydrology
Becca Horwitz, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Investigating the Potential Overlap Between the Mid-Atlantic Bight Cold Pool and Proposed Offshore Wind Areas
Josh Isaacs, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Tracing the petrogenesis of Siletzia through geochemistry and petrography; the case for slab window-plume volcanism in the Crescent Formation
Ethan Karp, Geology (GEOL) 2022, From Earth to Art: Exploring Sustainable Ceramics and the Cowling Arboretum's Clay
Oscar Kimzey, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Effects of Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentrations on Soybean Biomass Production: Implications for Global Food Systems in a Changing Climate
Gabriel Lobet, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Soil Properties of Prairie Creek Wildlife Management Area in Rice County, MN: The Influence of Land Use History and Prairie Restoration
Jeep Maneenoi, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Investigating the potential factors behind microplastics distribution along the beaches in Southern California
Declan Ramirez, Geology (GEOL) 2022, A Quantitative Survey of Sphaeriid Abundances within Spring Creek Habitats, Northfield, MN
Mattison Shreero, Geology (GEOL) 2022, An Exploration in Geologic Interpretation: Increasing Accessibility of Geologic Information in Badlands National Park and Buffalo Gap National Grassland
Cassandra Smith, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Effects of Anisotropy on Borehole Breakout Direction: A Physical Modeling Approach
Celine Smith, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Investigating the effects of bedding anisotropy on borehole breakouts in the San Joaquin Valley and their implications for the frictional strength of the San Andreas Fault
Hana Uyeda, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Industrial infrastructure and socially vulnerable communities: Two case studies of the environmental consequences of pipeline leaks in Minnesota and Michigan and Indigenous-led opposition to the new Line 3
Jahmaine Renzo Ocampo Yambing, Geology (GEOL) 2022, Greenhouse Constraints on the Inorganic Carbon Sequestration Potential of Enhanced Silicate Weathering in Agriculture
Submissions from 2021
Sam Anderson, Geology (GEOL) 2021, Plowed Under: Geoarchaeological Afterlives of Urban Renewal in Southwest, Washington, DC
Julia Baumgarte, Geology (GEOL) 2021, Statistics on Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility Ellipsoids: a Case Study from the Tjörnes Fracture Zone
Oren Kotz, Geology (GEOL) 2021, Erosion Response to the 2018 Carr Fire in Northern California
Olivia Laub, Geology (GEOL) 2021, Reconstructing Devonian Paleotemperature Using the Stable Oxygen Isotope Composition of Bulk Carbonate Rocks
Nhan Le, Geology (GEOL) 2021, Using GPlates to Help Refine the Transport History of the Yakutat Block, Alaska
Ben Lowry, Geology (GEOL) 2021, A Critical Exploration of Introductory Geology Curriculum
Heqing Wang, Geology (GEOL) 2021, A Comparison Between the Geological Histories of Middle-earth and Its Filming Sites in New Zealand
Dennis Wei, Geology (GEOL) 2021, Soiled Fashion: Environmental Effects of Leather Production on Soil Health
Submissions from 2020
Jacob Bransky, Geology (GEOL) 2020, An Inventory and Baseline Study of Alpine Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems at Buffalo Pass in Routt National Forest, Colorado
Joey Castaneda, Geology (GEOL) 2020, What Percent of Can, Won’t? A Look Into the Function of a Saturated Buffer in Southwest Minnesota, Its Hydraulic Properties, and Implications for Midwestern Farmers
Julia Felderman, Geology (GEOL) 2020, A Search for Impact Glass in the Sirius Formation, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica
Berit Hudson-Rasmussen, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Evaluating Two Critical Zone Hypotheses Using Active Source Seismic Refraction in Antelope Valley, California
Natalie Hummel, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Statistical Analysis of Small Structures in Rotated Crustal Blocks Near the Husavik-Flatey Fault, Northern Iceland
Kate Nootenboom, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Measuring Deformation Band Orientations in the Etchegoin Sandstone: Implications for the Stress Field in Central California and the Accuracy of Emerging Orientation Measuring Technology
Margaret Anne Puzak, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Building a Quercus macrocarpa (Bur Oak) Tree Ring Network to Reconstruct Historical Climate and Address the Issue of Forest Mortality in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park
Caleb Rosen, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Effects of the Wairarapa and Hikurangi Eddies on Chlorophyll Fluorescence off the East Coast of New Zealand
Jordan Shapiro, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Paleoclimate Study of Chub Lake in Eureka, MN: Investigating a Lake and Wetland Transitional System
Allegra Tashjian, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Examining the Effects of Elevated Atmospheric CO2 and Warming on Soil Redox Potential in a Maryland, USA Tidal Wetland
Charles Tierney, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Characterizing Fracture Spatial Arrangements in Cambrian Sandstone, Wyoming: Application of the Normalized Correlation Count Method
Elizabeth Zhu, Geology (GEOL) 2020, Analysis of the Relationship Between Stresses and Geologic Structures in Central California and Its Implications on the Strength of the San Andreas Fault
Submissions from 2019
Nicholas Almonte, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Age and provenance of the Upper Cretaceous Valdez Group turbidites, Northern Prince William Sound, Alaska
Matthew Carter, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Promising Methods, Questionable Results: Developing an Inverse Model of the Fossil Ridge-Transform Intersection in the Troodos Ophiolite in Cyprus
Aaron Frankl, Geology (GEOL) 2019, The Intersection of River Channelization, Soil Properties, and Agriculture: A Case Study of Mud Creek in Northfield, Minnesota
Benton Franklin, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Lateral Variability and Biodiversity of the Permian Park City Group, Utah and Eastern Nevada
Quentin Hirsch, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Tropical Cambrian Ice: Petrographic Study and Oxygen Isotope Composition of Carbonates from Clumped Isotope Thermometry
Sophie Homans, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Using astrochronolgy to constrain the age of the Late Cretaceous Inoceramid Extinction Event in Gubbio, Italy
Alysala Malik, Geology (GEOL) 2019, U-Pb dating of detrital zircon from turbidites of the Chugach and Prince William terranes, Alaska: Implications for the significance of the Contact fault system as a terrane boundary
Kevin Murphy, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Timber harvesting intensity and channel head distance-to-ridge in Elk River, California
Sarah Ogle, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Atmospheric River Families and their Relationship to Landslides in Washington State
Sylvie Polonsky, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Ceramic Applications of two Rice County Clays
Rum Ravi, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Biotic and Abiotic Sulfide Oxidation: The Use of Elemental Sulfur Particles as Biomarkers
Kaitlin Schaible, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Mapping the floor of Lake Powell: Preliminary discussion of CHIRP data along the San Juan Sediment Delta
Austin Sorscher, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Precariously Balanced Rocks in Northern Utah: Applications for finding ground acceleration constraints along the Wasatch fault zone
Sara Wall, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Characterization of a Runoff-initiated Post-fire Debris Flow in the Western Cascades, Oregon: Implications for high severity fire in the Pacific Northwest
Sarah Ward, Geology (GEOL) 2019, Textural Characteristics of Pumice from a Postglacial Plinian Eruption at Laguna del Maule, Southern Chile: Implications for Magma Ascent Dynamics
Submissions from 2018
Aidan Warner Burdick, Geology (GEOL) 2018, aleoecological phytolith investigation of anthropogenic vegetation change in Umstead State Park, North Carolina
Jonas Tyler Donnenfield, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Recent paleoceanographic history of the San Diego margin, California: A benthic foraminiferal perspective
Megan Amanda Harder, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Petrography and Geothermobarometry of Calc-Silicate Rocks from the Ruby Range, SW Montana
Konrad Jens Krogstad, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Characterization of corrosion of simulated ancient glasses following variable temperature product consistency tests
Peter Carl Lindquist, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Deformation bands in the Etchegoin Formation sandstone: Triaxial deformation experiments and implications for principal stress directions in central California
Emma Grace Link, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Geomorphologic controls on active layer characteristics in the Alaskan Arctic and their implications for studies utilizing latitudinal temperature gradients
Lauren Esther Michael, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to image the Bald Spot: A test of concept for the use of GPR in Carleton geology classes
Mallory Laura Mintz, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Tracing Sediment Source Response to Water Infrastructure Development and Management in Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Montana
Chris Wesley Parsons, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Reconstructing the History of the Proliferation of Genes involved in the Biological Nitrogen Cycle
Kaya Seneca Stitzhal, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Groundwater Contribution to Cowling Arboretum Wetlands
Eliza May Thomas, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Bank stability of Spring Creek, Northfield, Minnesota, between 1999 and 2017: A comprehensive analysis of natural bank recovery after substantial flooding
Preston Rivers Wallin, Geology (GEOL) 2018, Analysis of spring hydrology using temperature and isotope data at the Caribou River in Lake County, Minnesota
Submissions from 2017
Josephine Li Arcuri, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Why are lakes expanding in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain?
Peter Alexander Barron, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Monitoring the Fate of Artificial Reefs: Using Hydrographic Methods to Examine Degradation and Movement
Sam Blackburn, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Controls on Microbial Respiration in the Sandy Beach Face at Cape Henlopen, DE
Pete C. Boerma, Geology (GEOL) 2017, The Formation of Basaltic Amygdules in the North Shore Volcanics Group
Kyra Bornong, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Development of Boulder Beach Facies Models and Characterization of the Depositional Environment of the Mill Street Conglomerate at Taylors Falls, Minnesota, U.S.A.
William James Freimuth, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Using Invertebrate Traces to Assess Sedimentation at a Rich Terrestrial Vertebrate Locality from the Cretaceous of Montana
Andrew Parker Keene, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Paleomagnetic analysis of the Løkken Ophiolite sequence, central Norway
Evan John Lahr, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Longitudinal Profiles Along the North Shore of Lake Superior: Understanding Controls on Local Slope
Charles Craven Linneman, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Impact of Constructions on River Morphology: River Engineering Survey, Cannon River, SE Minnesota (Faribault to Lake Byllesby)
Mara Catherine MacDonell, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Formation of amygdules in the North Shore Volcanics Group basalts North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota
Rebecca McGehee, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Deuterium Excess in a Deep Greenland Ice Core: A proxy for Arctic Sea Ice Concentration
Spencer Roman O'Bryan, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Beaver occupation and sediment budget: Panther Brook, Huntington Wildlife Forest, Newcomb, NY
Haley Caldwell Olson, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Detrital zircons from the Yakutat terrane, Alaska: Differentiating the Schist of Nunatak Fiord from the Yakutat Group flysch and mélange.
Erin L. Patrick, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Characterization of a calcareous fen in the Cannon River Wilderness Area, Minnesota
Stefan Erik Payne-Wardenaar, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Creating Documentary Films in Geology: The Geology of Northfield, Minnesota
