People

Jack Ridge
Professor, Chair
Glacial and Quaternary Geology, Geomorphology

Education
B.S. 1977 Lehigh University
M.S. 1983 Lehigh University
Ph.D. 1985 Syracuse University

Courses Taught
EOS 2: Environmental Geology
EOS 32: Geomorphology
EOS 115: Quaternary and Glacial Geology

Research Interests
My research interests lie in the reconstruction of the last deglaciation in the northeastern U.S., primarily as indicated by the annual layering (varves) of sediments from glacial lakes.

This work has involved correcting the New England Varve Chronology, calibrating it with radiocarbon ages, and expanding its paleomagnetic declination record in order to correlate varve stratigraphy across a wider geographic area.

An example of a core
containing glaciolacustrine varves

The main goal of this research is to assemble high-precision (annual) records of terrestrial glacial events in the northeastern U.S. that can be compared to regional and global records of climate. This comparison can be used to test a number of hypotheses regarding the mechanisms for rapid climate change events at the end of the last glaciation and the interactions of terrestrial ice sheets, the ocean, and the atmosphere in the North Atlantic region as they relate to ice age climate. Thus far varve record have been correlated to climatic events and used to test the rates and timing of glacial readvances and ice recession.

Varve records and related records of deglaciation and climate in New England are also key factors in understanding the earliest occupation of the landscape by humans and other organisms. For more information about my current research, please go to the North American Glacial Varve Project Website.