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Robert J. Carson, Phillips
Professor of Geology and Environmental Studies |
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A.B., Cornell University, 1963 (senior thesis on Tolley's Cave, Rockbridge County, Virginia) M.S., Tulane University, 1967 (thesis on stratigraphy of Ordovician limestones, Virginia) Ph.D., University of Washington, 1970 (dissertation on Quaternary geology of Olympic Peninsula, Washington) |
Send Bob e-mail: carsonrj@whitman.edu
Bob Carson was born and raised in Lexington, Virginia. Mountaineering, whitewater boating, and spelunking in Virginia and during summers in New England sparked his interest in geology. His professional geologic career began with Texaco, exploring for petroleum in Louisiana and phosphate in Florida. He also worked as a geologist for the Washington Department of Ecology and the Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources. Bob's teaching career began at North Carolina State University and then at the University of Oregon. He joined the faculty at Whitman College in 1975. He considers himself an environmental geologist and a Quaternary geologist. His advanced courses (geomorphology, glacial geology, climate change, and water resources) deal with late Cenozoic geologic history, surficial processes, landform evolution, and environmental problems. He has a half-time appointment in Whitman's environmental studies program, and is particularly interested in resources, pollution, forests, and the oceans. His passions include mountaineering, volcanoes, and whitewater. Bob has taught on the Semester-At-Sea program twice, and has directed foreign study programs in London, England, and in Asturias, Spain. Most of his research is on Quaternary geology in Washington, northeastern Oregon, northwestern Wyoming, and Mongolia. |
Recent and planned research with Whitman students:
| 2010 | Mongolia: Geology of Hovsgol Nuur, Northern Mongolia |
| 2009 | Terracettes: Mammals or Mass Wasting? |
| 2008 | Quaternary Tectonic and Geomorphic Evolution of the Deluun Nuruu, Mongolian Altai, Western Mongolia |
| 2006 | Geology of the Hangay Mountains, Central Mongolia |
| 2005 | Saddle Mountain Faults, Olympic Peninsula, Washington |
| 2004 | |
| 2003 | |
| 2002 | Quaternary geology of the Albion Range, south-central Idaho Cirque containing Independence Lakes Bob and snowfield, with Mount Independence in background Snowfield on Cache Peak, with tunnel that a rodent filled with soil Inactive rock glacier on Cache Peak |
| 2000 | Glacial geology of northern Mongolia |
| 2000, 1998 | Geomorphology in front of the Mendenhall, Herbert, and Eagle Glaciers, Juneau Icefield, Alaska |
| 1999 | Late Cenozoic evolution of the John Day and Grande Ronde Rivers, northeastern Oregon and adjacent Washington |
| 1998-1999 | Geology of Steamboat Rock, Grand Coulee, Washington |
| 1998 | Glacial geology of the Elkhorn Mountains, northeastern Oregon |
| 1994-1997 | Glacial geology of the Clarks Fork lobe of the Yellowstone ice sheet, Absaroka and Beartooth Ranges, northwestern Wyoming and adjacent Montana Grasshopper Glacier from Mt. Rearguard, Beartooth Mountains. Ice-rafted granite boulder above the floor of ancient Glacial Lake Sunlight. |
Selected publications:
Walker, R.T., A. Bayasgalan, R. Carson, R. Hazlett, L. McCarthy, J. Mischler, E. Molor, P. Sarantsetseg, L. Smith, B. Tsogtbadrakh, and G. Tsolmon, 2006, Geomorphology and structure of the Jid right-lateral strike-slip fault in the Mongolian Altay mountains: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 28, p. 1607-1622. Carson, R.J., 2001, Where the Rockies meet the Columbia Plateau: Geologic field trip from the Walla Walla Valley to the Wallowa Mountains, Oregon: Oregon Geology, v. 63, no. 1, p. 13-16, 21-35. Carson, Bob, and Scott Babcock, 2009, Hiking Guide to Washington Geology: Sandpoint, Idaho, Keokee Books, 272 p. Crosby, C.J., and R.J. Carson, 1999, Geology of Steamboat Rock, Grand Coulee, Washington: Washington Geology, v. 27, no. 2/3/4, p. 3-8. Carson, R. J., and K. R. Pogue, 1996, Flood basalts and glacier floods: roadside geology of parts of Walla Walla, Franklin, and Columbia Counties, Washington: Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Information Circular 90, 47p. Spencer, P. K., and R. J. Carson, 1995, The Enterprise Gravel: the ancestral Wallowa River and neotectonism in northeastern Oregon, Northwest Science, v. 69, no. 1, p. 60-71. Carson, R. J., and J. L. Sadd, 1991, Land-use planning writing assignment for environmental-geology course: Journal of Geological Education, v. 39, p. 206-213. Carson, R.J., 1988, The natural history of Saddle Mountain,
Clatsop County, Oregon: Cumtux (Clatsop County Historical Society Quarterly),
v. 8, no. 3, p. 2-14. Easterbrook, D. J., J. L. Roland, R. J. Carson, and N. D. Naeser, 1988, Applications of paleomagnetism, fission-track dating, and tephra correlation to Lower Pleistocene sediments in the Puget Lowland, Washington: in D. J. Easterbrook, ed., Dating Quaternary sediments: Geological Society of America Special Paper 227, p. 139-165. Westgate, J. A., D. J. Easterbrook, N. D. Naeser, R. J. Carson, 1987, Lake Tapps tephra: an early Pleistocene stratigraphic marker in the Puget Lowland, Washington: Quaternary Research, v. 28, p. 340-355. Carson, R. J., T. L. Tolan, and S. P. Reidel, 1987, Geology of the Vantage area, south-central Washington: An introduction to the Miocene flood basalts, Yakima Fold Belt, and the Channeled Scabland: Geological Society of America Centennial Field Guide - Cordilleran Section, p. 357-362. Carson, R. J., 1987, Creation of our scenic wonders (geology of the south coast of Clatsop County, Oregon): Cumtux (Clatsop County Historical Society Quaterly), v. 7, no. 2, p. 2-13. Carson, R. J., 1984, Ground and aerial photography for monitoring
and predicting volcanic activity, with emphasis on the 1980 eruption of
Mount St. Helens, Washington, in Renewable resources management, applications
of remote sensing: Falls Church, Virginia, American Society of Photogrammetry,
p. 647-654. Grimstad, Peder, and R. J. Carson, 1981, Geology and ground-water resources of eastern Jefferson County, Washington: Washington Department of Ecology Water Supply Bull. 54, 125 p. Wilson, J. R., M. J. Bartholomew, and R. J. Carson, 1979, Late Quaternary faults and their relationship to tectonism in the Olympic Peninsula, Washington: Geology, v. 7, p. 235-239. Carson, R. J., C. F. McKhann, and M. H. Pizey, 1978, The Touchet beds of the Walla Walla Valley, in V. R. Baker and Dag Nummedal, eds., The Channeled Scabland, a guide to the geomorphology of the Columbia Basin, Washington: Office of Space Science, N.A.S.A., Washington, D.C., p. 173-177. Smith, Mackey, and R.J. Carson, 1977, Relative slope stability of the southern Hood Canal area, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Map I-853-F. Carson, R. J., Mackey Smith, and B.L. Foxworthy, 1975, Geologic conditions related to waste-disposal planning in the southern Hood Canal area, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Map I-853 D. Eddy, Paul, and R.J. Carson, 1973, Geohydrology of the Chehalis River Valley, Elma to Oakville, Grays Harbor County, Washington: Washington Department of Ecology Monograph No. 3. Porter, S.C., and R.J. Carson, 1971, Problems of interpreting radiocarbon dates from dead-ice terrain, with an example from the Puget Lowland of Washington: Quaternary Research, v. 1, p. 410-414. Carson, R.J., 1968, Physical stratigraphy of the post Beekmantown pre Liberty Hall limestones, central Rockbridge County, Virginia: Tulane Studies in Geology, v. 6, no. 2, p. 41-70. Carson, R.J., 1964, Tolley's Cave: Virginia Minerals, v. 10, no. 1, p.1-6. |
