Education:
Ph.D, Geology and Geochemistry, University of New Mexico, 1967
MS, Geology, University of New Mexico, 1964
AB, Geology, Syracuse University, 1961
Membership in Professional Societies:
Awards:
Professional Experience:
| 12/75 to present: | Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Regional Geochemistry (1975-1982); Branch of Oil and Gas Resources (1982-1986); Branch of Sedimentary Processes (1986-1995; Branch Chief, 1988-1992); Earth Surface Processes Team (1995-2010); Geologic and Environmental Change Science Center (2010) |
| 6/74 to 12/75: | Associate Professor, Department of Geology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY |
| 9/68 to 6/74: | Assistant Professor, Department of Geology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY |
| 9/67 to 9/68: | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Botany Department, University of Minnesota |
| 9/65 to 9/67: | NASA Predoctoral Fellow, Department of Geology, University of New Mexico |
| 9/63 to 9/65: | NSF Research Assistant, Department of Geology, University of New Mexico |
| 9/61 to 9/63: | Computer Specialist, Limbaugh Aerial Surveys, Albuquerque, New Mexico |
Research Interests:
My research interests can be summed up as paleolimnology and paleoceanography with a focus on Paleoclimatology. In paleolimnology I have mainly investigated lakes containing sedimentary endogenic carbonate, and have used proxies from isotope geochemistry, sedimentology, inorganic geochemistry, and organic geochemistry. Although most of my effort has been on late Quaternary lake sediments, I have put a fair amount of effort into study of the Eocene Green River Formation.
Paleoceanographic studies have ranged from modern and ancient evaporates, Cretaceous black shales, and Quaternary anoxic sediments deposited in continental margins of northwest Africa, southwest Africa, North America, and Peru, and in anoxic basins such as the Black Sea and Cariaco Basin. These investigations have involved the use of sedimentology, stable isotope geochemistry, inorganic geochemistry, and organic geochemistry.
A recurring theme throughout much of my paleolimnological and paleoceanographic research has been cyclic sedimentation ranging from annual varves to multi-millennial Milankovitch cycles.
Selected Publications Since 2000:
Dean, W. E., 2000, The sun and climate: U.S. Geological Survey, Fact Sheet 095-00
Kirkland, D. W., Denison, R. E., and Dean, W. E., 2000, Parent brine of the Castile Evaporites (Upper Permian), Texas and New Mexico: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 70, p.749-761.
Dean, W. E., and Schwalb, A., 2000, Holocene environmental and climatic change in the Northern Great Plains as recorded in the geochemistry of sediments in Pickerel Lake, South Dakota: Quaternary International, v. 67, p. 5-20.
Zheng, Y., van Geen, A., Anderson, R. F., Gardner, J. V., and Dean, W. E., 2000, Intensification of the northeast Pacific oxygen-minimum zone during the Bolling-Alerod warm period: Paleoceanography, v. 15, p. 528-536.
Fritz, S. C., Metcalf, S. E., and Dean, W. E., 2001, Holocene climate of the Americas inferred from paleolimnological records, in Markgraf, V., ed., Interhemispheric Climate Linkages (Present and past interhemispheric climate linkages in the Americas and their Societal effects): Academic Press, p. 241-264.
Grigg, L. D., Whitlock, C., and Dean, W. E., 2001, Evidence for millennial-scale climate change during marine isotope stages 2 and 3 at Little Lake, Western Oregon, USA: Quaternary Research, v. 56, p. 10-22
Schwalb, A., and Dean, W. E., 2002, Reconstruction of hydrological changes and effective moisture from North-Central USA lake sediments: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 21, p. 1541-1554.
Dean, W. E., and Schwalb, 2002, The lacustrine carbon cycle as illuminated by the waters and sediments of two hydrologically distinct hardwater lakes in northwestern Minnesota: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 72, p. 416-431.
Dean, W. E., Forester, R. M., and Bradbury, J. P., 2002, Early Holocene change in atmospheric circulation in the Northern Great Plains: An upstream view of the 8.2 ka cold event: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 21, p. 1763-1775.
Dean, W. E., Anderson, R. Y., Anderson, D. A., and Bradbury, J. P., 2002, A 1500-year record of climatic and environmental change in Elk Lake, Minnesota I: Varve thickness and gray-scale density: Journal of Paleolimnology, v. 27, p. 287-299.
Dean, W. E., 2002, A 1500-year record of climatic and environmental change in Elk Lake, Minnesota II: Geochemistry, mineralogy, and stable isotopes: Journal of Paleolimnology, v. 27, p. 301-319.
Dean, W., Rosenbaum, J., Haskell, B., Kelts, K., Schnurrenberger, D.,Valero-Garcés, B., Cohen, A., Davis, O., Dinter, D., and Nielson, D., 2002, Progress in Global Lake Drilling holds potential for Global Change research: EOS (Trans. American Geophysical Union), v. 83, p. 85, 90, 91.
Piper, D. Z., and Dean, W. E., 2002, Trace-element deposition in the Cariaco Basin under sulfate reducing conditions-a history of the local hydrography and global; climate, 20 ka to the Present: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1670, 41 p. (http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/prof-paper/pp1670/)
Cannon, W. F., Dean, W. E., and Bullock, J. H., 2003, Effects of Holocene climate change on mercury deposition in Elk Lake, Minnesota: The importance of eolian transport in the mercury cycle: Geology, v. 31, p. 187-190.
Muhs, D.R., Ager, T.A., Been, J., Bradbury, J.P., and Dean, W.E., 2003, A late Quaternary record of eolian silt deposition in a maar lake, St. Michael Island, western Alaska: Quaternary Research, v. 60, p. 110-122.
Schuster, P.F., Reddy, M.M., LaBaugh, J.W., Parkhurst, R.S., Rosenberry, D.O., Winter, T.C., Antweiler, R.C., and Dean, W.E., 2003, Characterization of lake water and ground water movement in the littoral zone of Williams Lake, a closed-basin lake in north central Minnesota: Hydrological Processes, v. 17, p. 823-838.
Dean, W.E., Neff, B., Rosenberry, D., Winter, T.C., and Parkhurst, R., 2003, The significance of ground water to the accumulation of iron and manganese in the sediments of two hydrologically distinct lakes in north-central Minnesota: A geological perspective: Ground Water, v. 41, no. p.951-963.
van Geen, A, Bernhard, J., Cannariato, K., Carriquiry, J., Dean, W., Eakins, B., Pike, J., and Zheng, Y., 2003, On the preservation of laminations along the western margin of North America, Paleoceanography, v. 18, doi:10.1029/203PA000911 (18p).
Bradbury, J.P., Colman, S.M., and Dean, W.E., 2004, Limnologic and climatic environments at Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon during the past 45,000 years: Journal of Paleolimnoogy, v. 31, p. 167-188.
Ortiz, J.D., O'Connell, S.E., DelViscio, J., Dean, W., Carriquiry, J.D., Marchitto, T., Zheng, Y., and van Geen, A., 2004, Enhanced marine productivity off western North America during warm climate intervals of the past 52 k.y.: Geology, v. 32, p. 521-524.
Dean, W., Pride, C., and Thunnell, R., 2004, Geochemical cycles in sediments deposited on he slopes of the Guaymas and Carmen Basins of the Gulf of California over the last 180 years: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 23, p. 1817-1833.
Barron, J., Bukry, D., and Dean, W.E., 2005, Paleoceanographic history of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, during the past 15,000 years, based on diatoms, silicoflagellates, and biogenic sediments: Marine Micropaleontology, v. 56, p. 81-102.
Dean, W., Rosenbaum, J., Skipp, G., Colman, S., Forester, R., Liu, A., Simmons, K., and Bischoff, J., 2006, Unusual Holocene and late Pleistocene carbonate sedimentation in Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, U.S.A.: Sedimentary Geology, v. 185, p. 93-112.
Dean, W.E., 2006, The geochemical record of the last 17,000 years in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California: Chemical Geology, v. 232, p. 87-98.
Dean, W.E., Zheng, Y., Ortiz, J.D., and van Geen A., 2006, Sediment Cd and Mo accumulation in the oxygen-minimum zone off western Baja California linked to global climate over the past 52 kyr: Paleoceanography, v 21, PA4209, doi:10.1029/2005PA001239.
Dean, W. E., Forester, R. M., Bright, J., and Anderson, R.Y., 2007, Influence of the diversion of Bear River into Bear Lake (Utah and Idaho) on the environment of deposition of carbonate minerals: Evidence from water and sediments: Limnology and Oceanography, v. 52, p. 1094-1111.
Dean, W.E., 2007, Sediment geochemical records of productivity and oxygen depletion along the margin of western North America during the past 60,000 years: teleconnections with Greenland ice and the Cariaco Basin: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 26, p.98-114.
Yansa, C.H., Dean, W.E., and Murphy, E.C., 2007, Late Quaternary paleoenvironments of an ephemeral wetland in North Dakota, USA: relative interactions of ground-water hydrology and climate change: Journal of Paleolimnology, v. 38, p. 441-457, doi:10.1007/s10933-006-9079-5.
Whitlock, C., Dean, W., Rosenbaum, J., Stevens, L., Fritz, S., Bracht, B., and Power, M., 2008, A 2650-year-long record of environmental change from northern Yellowstone National Park based on a comparison of multiple proxy data: Quaternary International, v. 188, p. 126-138, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.207.06.005.
Stevens, L., and Dean, W., 2008, Geochemical evidence for hydroclimatic variability over the last 2650 years from Crevice Lake in Yellowstone National Park: Quaternary International, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.11.012.
Dean, W.E., 2009, Endogenic carbonate sedimentation in Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho over the last two glacial-interglacial cycles, in Rosenbaum J.G. and Kaufman, D.S., eds., Introduction to Paleoenvironmental Changes at Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, and Its Catchment: Geological Society of America Special Paper 450, Boulder Colorado, Geological Society of America, p. 169-196.
Dean, W. E., Wurtsbaugh, and Lamarra, V.A., 2009, Climatic and limnologic setting of Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, in Rosenbaum, J.G. and Kaufman, D.S., eds., Introduction to Paleoenvironmental Changes at Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, and Its Catchment: Geological Society of America Special Paper 450, Boulder Colorado, Geological Society of America, p. 1-14.
Rosenbaum, J. G., Dean, W. E., Reynolds, R. L., and Reheis, M. C., 2009: Allogenic sedimentary components of Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, in Rosenbaum, J. G. and Kaufman, D. S. (eds.), Introduction to Paleoenvironmental Changes at Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, and its Catchment. Geological Society of America Special Paper 450. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America, p. 145-168.
Kaufman, D. S., Bright, J., Dean, W. E., Rosenbaum, J. G., Moser, K., Anderson, R. S., Colman, S. M., Heil, C. W. Jr., Jiménez- Moreno, G., Reheis, M. C., and Simmons, K. R., 2009: A quarter-million years of paleoenvironmental change at Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, in Rosenbaum, J. G. and Kaufman, D. S. (eds.), Introduction to Paleoenvironmental Changes at Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, and its Catchment. Geological Society of America Special Paper 450. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America, p.311-351.
Barron, J.A., Bukry, D., Dean, W.E., Addison, J.A., and Finney, B., 2009, Paleoceanography of the Gulf of Alaska during the past 15,000 years: Results from diatoms, siicoflagellates, and geochemistry: Marine Micropaleontology, v. 72, p.176-195.
Dean, W.E., 2009, Holocene record of major and trace component in the sediments of an urban impoundment on the Mississippi River: Lake Pepin, Minnesota and Wisconsin: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2009-1238, 13 p.
Schwalb, A., Dean W.E., Fritz, S.C., Geiss, C.E., Kromer, B., 2010, Centennial eolian cyclicity in the Great Plains, USA: a dominant climate pattern of wind transport over the past 4000 years?: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 29, p. 2325-2339.
Dean, W.E., 2009, Holocene record of major and trace component in the sediments of an urban impoundment on the Mississippi River: Lake Pepin, Minnesota and Wisconsin: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2009-1238, 13 p.
Dean, W.E, and Arthur, M.A., 2010, Geochemical characteristics of Holocene laminated sapropel (Unit II) and underlying lacustrine unit III in the Black Sea: U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2010-1323, 29 p.
Dean. W.E., and Doner, L.A., 2011, A Holocene record of endogenic iron and manganese precipitation and vegetation history in a lake-fen complex in northwestern Minnesota: U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2011-1106, 49 p.
Dean, W.E, and Doner, L.A., 2011, A Holocene record of endogenic iron and manganese precipitation and vegetation history in a lake-fen complex in northwestern Minnesota: Journal of Paleolimnology, v. 47, p. 29-42.
Addison, J.A., Finney, B.P., Dean, W.E., Davies, M.H., Mix, A.M., and Jaeger, J.M., in press, Productivity maxima and sedimentary 
15N during the last glacial interval in the Gulf of Alaska: Paleoceanography.
Dean, W.E., Kauffman, E.G., and Arthur, M.A., in press. Accumulation of organic-carbon-rich strata along the western margin and in the center of the North American Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway during the Cenomanian-Turonioan transgression, in Titus, A.L., and Loewen, M.A., eds., Late cretaceous geology and paleontology of the Grand Staircase, southern Utah: Critical window into end-Mesozoic ecosystems: Indiana University Press.
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://gec.cr.usgs.gov/people/dean.html
Page Contact Information: GECSC Web Team
Page Last Modified: Fri 9-Dec-2011 14:28:57 MST
