Taylor F. Schildgen

Contact Information:        Massachusetts Institute of Technology    Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences    77 Massachusetts Ave 54-1022    Cambridge, MA  02139   USA      Office phone: (617) 253-5735      E-mail: tfs@mit.edu

Present Research

I'm presently working on my Ph.D. studying canyon incision history as a proxy for Altiplano uplift in southern Peru.  Low-temperature thermochronology (apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He), ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of volcanic flows, and cosmogenic exposure age modeling of abandoned bedrock straths all give information about incision history.  I hope to learn about the geomorphic response time of the system by looking at how the timing of incision-induced cooling changes along the valley length, and by looking at how the river responds to more recent perturbations (i.e., landslide dams). I'm also working to learn more about the style of tectonic deformation that led to the latest phase of Altiplano uplift through mapping and by looking at patterns of higher-temperature thermochronometers.  My research is supported by grant no. EAR-0409359 from the NSF Tectonics Division.

Advisors: Kelin Whipple and Kip Hodges (both at Arizona State University)

Collaborators: Peter Reiners (University of Arizona), Malcolm Pringle (MIT), Arjun Heimsath (Dartmouth College), Todd Ehlers (University of Michigan)

Other incredibly helpful people: Dave Whipp, Katrina Cornell, Tyson Smith, Gerhard Wörner, Jean-Claude Thouret, Julie Bradley, Larky Hodges, Stefan Nicolescu, Marc Goddard, GianMarco Vellutino, Santiago Ibanez, Christian Duran, Sergio Velsecchi, Pato Velsecchi, Vincent Taylor, and Javier Bustamante

Field Photos (click on links):

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Dept, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA; September 2002 to present
Intended degree: Ph.D.; Thesis: River incision history in southern Peru as a proxy for Altiplano uplift.
Advisors: Kelin Whipple and Kip Hodges

University of Edinburgh
Geography Department, Drummond Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2PF, Scotland;  October 2000 to September 2001
Degree: M.Sc. with Distinction in Geographical Information Systems
Dissertation: Exploring effects of snow cover on cosmogenic exposure age dating, Cairngorms, Scotland.
Supervisors: Ross Purves and William Phillips

Williams College
Williamstown, MA, 01267, USA; September 1996 to June 2000
Degree: B.A. in Geosciences, highest honors from department, summa cum laude, GPA 3.98
Thesis: Fire and Ice: Geomorphic History of Middle Boulder Creek as Determined by Isotopic Dating Techniques, CO Front Range.

Advisor: David Dethier
 

Publications

PAPERS

Schildgen, TF, Whipple, KX, Hodges, KV, Reiners, PW, Pringle MS,  2007, Uplift of the western Altiplano from canyon incision history, southern Peru, Geology, v. 35, no. 6., p. 523-526; doi: 10.1130/g23532A.1.

Schildgen, TF, Purves, RS, and Phillips, WM, 2005, Simulation of Snow Shielding Corrections for Cosmogenic Nuclide Surface Exposure Studies, Geomorphology, v. 64, no. 1-2, p. 67-85.

Hodges, KV, Wobus C, Ruhl K, Schildgen, T, Whipple K, 2004, Quaternary deformation, river steepening, and heavy precipitation at the front of the Higher Himalayan ranges, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 220, no. 3-4, p. 379-389.

Schildgen, TF, Dethier, DP, Bierman, P, and Caffee, M, 2002, 26Al and 10Be dating of late Pleistocene and Holocene fill terraces: a record of glacial and non-glacial fluvial deposition and incision, Colorado Front Range, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 27, p. 773-787.

Cox, R., Atkinson, RK, Bear, BR, Chokel, CB, Comstock, JC, Gutmann, ED, Interess, LB, Schildgen, TF, Teplitzky, SJ, and Willis, MP,. 2000, Changes in a fringing reef complex over a thirty-year period: coral loss and lagoon infilling at Mary Creek, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Bulletin of Marine Science, v. 66, no. 1.


ABSTRACTS

Schildgen, TF, Purves, RS, and Phillips, WM, 2002, Modeling Effects of Snow Burial on Cosmogenic Exposure Age Modeling, Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland, and Wind River Range, Wyoming, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Program.

Hodges, KV, Whipple, KX, Ruhl, K, Schildgen, TF, and Wobus, C, 2002, Miocene-Recent history of the Main Central Thrust System in the Marsyandi Valley, central Nepal and the possibility of steady-state orogenesis in the Himalaya, Geological Society of America Abstract with Programs.

Dethier, DP, Nelson, RE, and Schildgen, TF, 1998, Latest Pleistocene emergence and repopulation history at three sites in the Northern Puget Lowland, Washington, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 30(7).

Schildgen, TF, and Dethier, DP, 2000, Fire and Ice: using isotopic dating techniques to interpret the geomorphic history of Middle Boulder Creek, Colorado, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 32(7).

Dethier, DP, Schildgen, TF, Bierman, P, and Caffee, M, 2000, The cosmogenic isotope record of late Pleistocene incision, Boulder Canyon , Colorado, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Pringle, MS, Schildgen, TF, Lee, MR, Nicolaysen, K, Parsons, I, and the ODP Leg 183 Scientific Staff, 2001, Age and provenance of conglomerate clasts recovered from Elan Bank, Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean, EUG 2001, Strasbourg, France, Apr 2001.

Dethier, DP, Bierman, P, Caffee, M, Schildgen, TF, 2001, Cosmogenic analysis of the Rocky Flats Alluvium near Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Links

EAPS    Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Department at MIT

Cusipata    The source of our fearless rafting guides in southern Peru (Arequipa)

American Whitewater    A very useful site

Zoar Outdoor    The reason I'm still alive (excellent whitewater kayaking school in western Mass)

LAST UPDATED: 7 MAY 2007