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.

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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

Maximilian Dimitrios Rohde, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Characterizing Local Variability in Long-Period Horizontal Tilt Noise

Emily Odessa Ross, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Physical models of a locked-to-creeping transition along a strike-slip fault: Comparison with the San Andreas fault system in central California

Chloe Heath Rouhandeh, Geology (GEOL) 2017, The effect of coastal storms and hurricanes on two south shore Long Island embayments

Jesse Keen Rubin, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Horizontal Well Production of the Wolfcamp A Package in the Wolfcamp Shale Formation in the Midland Basin

Leah E. Sacks, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Grain-Scale Methods and Paleoenvironmental Analysis of the Stimson Formation, Gale Crater, Mars

Aaron David Schwab, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Effects of grazing and fire on soil carbon and nitrogen in Minnesota tallgrass prairie

Perrin Stein, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Evaluation of saturated buffer capacity to attenuate nitrate from agricultural land, Dakota County, MN

Anna Carrie Thompson, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Vesicle Distribution in Glaciovolcanic Pillow Lava from Undirhlíðar, Southwest Iceland

Erin Elisabeth Young-Dahl, Geology (GEOL) 2017, Comparing instrumentation techniques for microfracture analysis and quantification

Submissions from 2016

Charlotte Harte Beal, Geology (GEOL) 2016, Characterizing stable carbon isotopic records in the mid-depth southwest Atlantic during deglaciations throughout Marine Isotope Stages 5 and 6

William Alan Longhurst Chapman, Geology (GEOL) 2016, Paleomagnetic analysis of deformation and rotation associated with the Húsavík-Flatey Fault, northern Iceland

Ilana Marishka Crankshaw, Geology (GEOL) 2016, Analysis of Continuous Multi-Year Baseline Hydrothermal Monitoring Data for the Cascade Range Volcanoes

Elizabeth Rae Davis, Geology (GEOL) 2016, A review of the applications of soil science to archaeological fieldwork and a preliminary study of the soils of the Mazi Plain, northwest Attica, Greece

Sarah McCook Jordan, Geology (GEOL) 2016, Strain path and thermal history of quartzite in the deep crust of Andean-style orogenic plateaus: a case study from the Wood Hills, Nevada

Caroline Anna Lauth, Geology (GEOL) 2016, An Integrated Stratigraphic Analysis of the "Problem" of the Oligocene-Miocene Boundary at Monte Conero, Italy

Philip-Peter Joachim Maxeiner, Geology (GEOL) 2016, The Origin of Cetaceans and Observational Based Lessons

Forrest Faix Williams, Geology (GEOL) 2016, Rainfall-Influenced Turbidity and Nutrient Fluxes in Rice and Heath Creeks