Alexander Pullen
Clemson University, SC·Earth & Environmental Science
Rivers that drain into the Arctic Ocean deliver fresh water that affects Arctic physical and biological systems and can influence global climate. Knowing how these rivers formed and changed over thousands to millions of years helps explain how the region evolved, and that history can inform climate models.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
- Topics
Mackenzie River
Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin
Beaufort Sea
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Reconstruct the Miocene–Pleistocene sediment sources of the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin using detrital zircon uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating and neodymium (Nd) isotope provenance analysis.
- Build a chronostratigraphic timeline for the basin's sedimentary layers using strontium (Sr) isotopes, to date shifts in sediment source.
- Test whether late Pliocene re-routing of high-latitude rivers caused a sharp increase in sedimentation rates, and weigh climate versus tectonic causes of the change.
More about the research
This project traces the origin and evolution of the Mackenzie River, the largest river in the North American Arctic. It does so through the sediments the river left behind.
Why it matters
Fresh water from rivers such as the Mackenzie shapes the Arctic Ocean and can influence global climate. Reconstructing when and why Arctic river drainage and sediment delivery changed over the past 25 million years can supply real-world constraints for geologic and paleoclimate models. Those models could in turn improve projections of future Arctic change.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ryan Leary
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, NM·Earth & Environmental Science
Reconstruct paleohydrology, including flow depth, slope and water discharge, of Late Cretaceous to early Eocene river deposits in Laramide basins using quantitative fluvial stratigraphy.
Francis Sousa
Oregon State University, OR·Earth & Environmental Science
Test whether the ancient Tyee river drained a large continental interior from western Idaho or began in the Klamath Mountains, using U-Pb and Lu-Hf analysis of zircon sand grains to trace sediment sources.
Chelsea Mackaman-Lofland
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, TN·Earth & Environmental Science
Test whether high mountains in western Anatolia delayed hominoid migration from Africa into Eurasia. Reconstruct basin history, crustal thickness from zircon geochemistry, and past elevation using proxy-based paleoaltimetry.
The school
Clemson University: 19 labs on PI Pages, $339M a year on research, 297 research doctorates a year.
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