My Research
My current research focuses on understanding past ocean conditions and climate using clues from sediment cores and sonar. During my PhD, I began studying submerged landscapes of the southern California coast to understand how local landscapes and climate changed since humans first traversed North America.
As a postdoc, I also look into how ocean circulation and climate has changed over tens of millions of years!
With so much to be learned from sediments, I've recently begun working with the SIO Core Repository to make the archive core collection more usable on a large scale.
I have also spent a good deal of time thinking about the vibrations of submerged objects. Using computer models and physical experiments, I try to understand how artifacts can be detected with sonar and how whales use the vibrations of their bones to hear.
Pictured: Sediment cores recovered from Eirik Drift during IODP Expedition 395, prepped and ready for scanning!
Oceanic Gateways of the North Atlantic
​Eirik drift, a body of marine sediments moved around and deposited on the seafloor by deep-ocean currents, has been built up over millions of years off the East Coast of Greenland. The currents involved in the drift’s formation play an important role in global ocean circulation. Because of the relationship between drift formation and deep-ocean currents, understanding how the drift is structured and how its properties changed over time can inform us about changes in ocean circulation.
A >1 km deep core was drilled through Eirik drift during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 395: Reykjanes Mantle Convection and Climate. Working with a team of undergraduates, we scanned the core material to get measurements of relative elemental abundance using X-ray fluorescence. I am now combining core and well data with seismic profiles to characterize the drift.​
Underwater Archaeology and Paleolandscapes
Humans were in southern California at least 13,000 years ago, when sea level was much lower than today and rising. I use sediment cores and sub-bottom profiling to reconstruct drowned ancient rivers and landscapes and to understand related climate change through prehistory. These landscapes may preserve information about southern California’s early humans and the climate changes they experienced along with rapid sea level rise that mirrors near-future predictions.
Additionally, I have conducted experiments and computer models to understand how stone artifacts vibrate. These vibrations may be picked up in sonar data, which can improve identification of near-shore buried and submerged archaeological sites.
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This research is conducted in partnership with the
Pictured: Vibracore collection offshore San Dieguito Lagoon on Cruise SR2301: Student Explorations Around Southern California - Acoustics, Paleolandscapes, and Environments (SEASCAPES)
Pictured: Skull of a fin whale, upside-down exposing the bony ear complexes. The dense tympanic bullae are covered with numbered stickers, used to mark locations where I excited vibrations.
Baleen Whale Hearing through Bone Vibrations
Understanding how whales hear is important to deciphering their acoustic behavior and vulnerability to anthropogenic ocean noise. Baleen whales are quite large and hear low-frequency, long-wavelength sounds, making it difficult to conduct controlled studies on live animals. We use finite element simulations to study hearing mechanisms of baleen whales. I have conducted physical vibration measurements on preserved skulls to validate the employed models.
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This work was conducted as part of the project: Investigating Bone-Conduction as a Pathway for Mysticete Hearing, supported by the Office of Naval Research Marine Mammal Research Program (Award Number: N00014-19-1-2682)​