Dennis Dahms
Affiliate Research Professor
ITTC 215
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Dennis Dahms
Affiliate Research Professor
Ph.D-University of Kansas
MA-University of Colorado
MA-University of Missouri
BJ-University of Missouri.
Quaternary climate change, stratigraphy, and geochronology. Quaternary of the U.S. Rocky Mountain region. Specialty in the history and dynamics of glaciation in the southern and middle Rocky Mountains, the greater Yellowstone region and the Wind River Range of Wyoming.
The recent geological past offers a means to evaluate the range of natural climate variability and provides a detailed record of the manner in which earth systems respond to extreme forcing (glacial periods). We require careful stratigraphic studies combined with proxy data and a reliable geochronology to evaluate this record and integrate it into our climate models. Research involves field observation with a number of relative and numeric age-techniques to provide accurate proxy records of past environmental change, concentrating on the mid-to-late Pleistocene record found in alpine regions of the western United States. Much of my research involves combining relative-age techniques [soil development, lichenometry, geomorphology] with numeric age analyses to solve problems of glacial stratigraphy. An ongoing theme of my work also involves describing the variability of soils developed across different-aged glacial landscapes as an attempt to refine the use of soil development as a relative-age technique.
Current research activities: ● Mid-to-late Pleistocene glacial stratigraphy of the Wind River Range, Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region and relations to Neogene global and regional climate change ● Late Pleistocene record of climate change and relations to ENSO-like cycles in lake sediments from two alpine lakes in the Wind River Range ● Correlation among post-Last Glacial Maximum glacial/climatic sequences of the US Rocky Mountain and southeastern and central Alps of Switzerland ● Recent collaborators: Markus Egli, University of Zurich (Switzerland); Christian Mavris, University of Zurich; Christoph Geiss, Trinity College; Anders Noren, National Lacustrine Core Laboratory (University of Minnesota); Peter Birkeland, University of Colorado (ret).
M. Egli, D. Dahms, M. Dumitrescu, F. Derakhshan-Babaei, M. Christl, D. Tikhomirov, 2020. “Landscape Evolution, post-LGM surface denudation and soil weathering processes from Dickinson Park mire, Wind River Range, Wyoming (USA).” Geomorphology 371, 107433; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107433
Palacios, D., Dahms, D. (& 20 others), 2020. "The Deglaciation of the Americas during the Last Glacial Termination". Earth-Science Reviews 203, 103113.
Raab, G., Scarciglia, F., Norton, K., Dahms, D., Brandova, D., de Castro-Portes, R., Christl, M., Ketterer, M., Ruppli, A., Egli, M. (2019). “Climate and relief-induced controls on the temporal variability of denudation rates in a granitic upland.” Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 44, 2570-2586. DOI: 10.1002/esp.4681.
Dahms, D.E., Egli, M., Brandova, D., de Castro Portes, R., Fabel, D., Harbor, J., Christl, M. (2019) Corrigendum to “Revised Quaternary glacial succession and post-LGM recession, southern Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 212, 219-220; doi.org/10.18172/cig.3233.
Max Boxleitner, Susan Ivy-Ochs, Dagmar Brandova, Marcus Christl, Markus Egli, Dennis Dahms, Max Maisch (2019). The 10Be deglaciation chronology of the Göschenertal, central Swiss Alps, and new insights into the Göschenen Cold Phases. Boreas. doi.org/10.1111/bor.12394. ISSN 0300-9483.
Markus Egli, Allen G. Hunt, Dennis Dahms, Gerald Raab, Curdin Derungs, Salvatore Raimondi, Fang Yu. (2018) Prediction of soil formation as a function of age using the percolation theory approach. Frontiers in Environmental Science: Soil Processes. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2018.00108
Portes, Raquel; D. Dahms; D. Brandová; G. Raab; M. Christl; P. Kühn; M. Ketterer; M. Egli. (2018) Evolution of soil redistribution rates in alpine soils of the Central Rocky Mountains using fallout Pu and 13C). Earth & Planetary Science Letters 496, 257-269. doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.06.002
Dahms, D.E., Egli, M., Brandova, D., de Castro Portes, R., Fabel, D., Harbor, J., Christl, M. (2018) Revised Quaternary glacial succession and post-LGM recession, southern Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 192, 167-184. doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.05.020
Raab, G, Scarciglia, F., Norton, K., Dahms, D., Brandova, D., de Castro-Portes, R., Christl, M., Ketterer, M., Ruppli, A., Egli, M. (2018) Denudation variability of the Sila Massif upland (Italy) from decades to millennia using 10Be and 239+240Pu. Land Degradation and Development 2018, 1-17. doi: 10.1002/ldr.3120
Boxleitner, M., Musso, A., Waroszewski, J., Malkiewicz, M., Maisch, M., Dahms, D., Brandova, D., Christl, M., de Castro Portes, R., Egli, M. (2017) Late Pleistocene-Holocene surface processes and landscape evolution in the central Swiss Alps. Geomorphology, 295:306-322. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.07.006
Dahms, D.E. and M. Egli (2016) Carbonate and elemental accumulation rates in arid soils of mid-to-late Pleistocene outwash terraces, southeastern Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA. Chemical Geology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.12.006
Mavris, C., G. Furrer, D. Dahms, S. Anderson, A. Blum, Goetze, A. Wells, M. Eglli (2015) Decoding potential effects of climate and vegetation change on mineral weathering in alpine soils: A case study in the Wind River Range (Wyoming, USA). Geoderma, 255-256, 12-26. doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2015.04.014
Jäger, H., Achemann, M.,Waroszewski, J., Kabala, C., Malkiewicz, M., Gärtner, H., Dahms, D., Krebs, R., Egli, M. (2015) Pre-alpine mire sediments as a mirror of erosion, soil formation and landscape evolution during the last 45 ka. Catena 128:63-79, doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2015.01.0180341-8162/
Züst, F., D. Dahms, Purves, R., Egli, M. (2014) Surface reconstruction and derivation of erosion rates over several glaciations (1 Ma) in an alpine setting (Sinks Canyon, Wyoming, USA). Geomorphology 219:232-247, doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.05.0170169
Egli, M., D. Dahms, K. Norton, (2014). Soil production rates on silicate parent material in high-mountains: Different approaches – different results? Geoderma 213: 320-333, doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2013.08.016
Dahms, D., F. Favilli, R. Krebs, M. Egli (2012). Soil weathering and accumulation rates of oxylate-extractable phases derived from alpine chronosequences of up to 1Ma in age. Geomorphology, 151-152: 99-113, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.01.021.
Egli, M., F. Favilli, R. Krebs, B. Pichler, D. Dahms (2012). Soil organic carbon and nitrogen accumulation rates in cold and alpine environments over 1 Ma. Geoderma 183-184: 109-123; doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2012.03.017.
Quinton, E., D. E. Dahms, and C. E. Geiss (2011), Magnetic analyses of soils from the Wind River Range, Wyoming, constrain rates and pathways of magnetic enhancement for soils from semiarid climates, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 12, Q07Z30, doi:10.1029/2011GC003728.
Dahms, D.E., Birkeland, P.W., Shroba, R.R., Miller, C. Dan, Kihl, R., 2010. Latest Quaternary Glacial and Periglacial Stratigraphy, Wind River Range, Wyoming. Geological Society of America, Digital Maps and Charts Series #7, 46 p., doi: 10.1130/2010.DMCH007.
Jin, L., Siegel, D.I., Lautz, L.K., Mitchell, M.J., Dahms, D.E., and Mayer, B., 2010. Calcite Precipitation Driven By the Common Ion Effect During Groundwater-Surface Water Mixing: A Potentially Common Process In Streams With Geologic Settings Containing Gypsum. The Geological Society of America Bulletin, 122, 7/8: 1027-1038, doi: 10.1130/B30011.1.
Splinter, D.K., Dahms, D.E., and May, D.W., 2005. Soils and Geomorphology of the Lower Little Cedar River, Northeast Iowa. Physical Geography, 26,1: 52-68.
Dahms, D.E., 2004. Relative and Numeric Age-Data for Pleistocene Glacial Deposits and Diamictons in and Near Sinks Canyon, Wind River Range, Wyoming. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 36(1): 58-76.
Fabel, D., Harbor, J., Dahms, D., James, A., Elmore, D., Horn, L., Daley, K., and Steele, C., 2004. Spatial patterns of glacial erosion at a valley scale derived from terrestrial cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al concentrations in rock. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 94(2): 241-255.
Dahms, D.E., 2004. Glacial Limits in the Middle and Southern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A., south of the Yellowstone Ice Cap. In, Ehlers, J. and Gibbard, P.L., (eds.), Quaternary Glaciations-Extent and Chronology, Part II: North America, p. 269-282. Developments in Quaternary Science, Vol 2b. Amsterdam, Elsevier. Map included on CD-ROM (scale 1:1,000,000).
Applegarth, M.T., and Dahms, D.E., 2004. Eolian Modification of Moraine Soils, Wind River Range, Wyoming. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 29:579-585.
Dahms, D.E., Hall, R.D., Shroba, R.R., Sorenson, C.J., Lynch E.A., and Applegarth, M.T., 2003. The Rocky Mountain glacial model: The Wind River Range, Wyoming: In, Easterbrook, D.J., ed., Quaternary Geology of the United States, INQUA 2003 Field Guide Volume, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, p. 345-364.
Dahms, D.E., 2002. Glacial Stratigraphy of Stough Creek Basin, Wind River Range, Wyoming. Geomorphology, 42(1/2): 59-83.
James, L.A., Harbor, J., Fabel, D., Dahms, D.E., and Elmore, D., 2002. Late Pleistocene glaciations in the Northwestern Sierra Nevada, California. Quaternary Research, 57: 409-419.
Applegarth, M., and Dahms D.E., 2001. Soil catenas of calcareous tills, Whiskey Basin, Wyoming, USA. Catena, 42 (1): 17-38.
Dahms, D.E., and Holliday, V.T., 1998. Soil Taxonomy and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction: A Critical Commentary. Quaternary International, 51/52: 109-114.
Dahms, D.E., 1998. Reconstructing Paleoenvironments from Ancient Soils: A Critical Review. Quaternary International, 51/52: 58-59.
Dahms, D.E., Holliday, V.T., and Birkeland, P.W., 1998. Paleosols and Devonian Forests. Science, 279 (5348): 151a.
Dahms, D.E., Shroba, R.R., Hall, R.D., Reheis, M.C., Gosse, J.C., and Sorenson, C.J., 1997. Relation between soil age and silicate weathering rates determined from the chemical evolution of a glacial chronosequence: Comment. Geology 25(4): 381-382.
Dahms, D.E., and Rawlins, C.L., 1996. A Two-Year Record of Eolian sedimentation from the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Arctic and Alpine Research 28(2):210-216.
Dahms, D.E., 1994. Mid-Holocene Erosion of Soil Catenas on Moraines Near the Type Pinedale Till, Wind River Range, Wyoming. Quaternary Research 42, 41-48.
Dahms, D.E., 1993. Mineralogical Evidence for Eolian Sediments in Soils on Late Quaternary Moraines, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming. Geoderma 59, 175-196.
Dahms, D.E., 1992. Comment on 'Origin of Silt-Enriched Surface Mantles, Indian Basin, Wyoming.' Soil Science Society of America Journal, 56, 991-992.
Dahms, D.E., 1988. Discrepancy in Termination of Pinedale Glaciation, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming. Current Research in the Pleistocene, 5: 81-83.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Mavris, C., G. Furrer, D. Dahms, S. Anderson, A. Blum, J. Goetze, A. Wells, M. Egli (2015) Mineral weathering experiments to explore the effects of vegetation shifts in high mountain region (Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA). European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Session SSS0.3, Abstract EGU2015-15638. Vienna, Austria, 4/12-17.
Mavris, C., S. Anderson, M. Egli, A. Blum, G. Furrer, D. Dahms. Linking Soil chemistry, treeline shifts and climate change: a scenario. 2013 Goldschmidt Conference (Geochemistry), August, 2013, Florence, Italy, Abstracts with Programs.
Egli, Markus, D. Dahms, K. Norton, 2013. “Soil production rates on silicate parent material in high-mountains: different approaches - different results?” European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2013, Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol 15.
Dahms, D., F. Favilli, R. Krebs, M. Egli, 2012. “Soil weathering and accumulation rates of poorly crystalline phases derived from a 1Ma chronosequence.” EuroSoil 2012, Bari, Italy (July).
Dahms, D.E., A. Noren, C. Geiss, J. Dorale, A. Myrbo, 2011. “ENSO-like cycles in Late Pleistocene varve thickness-measurements from two alpine lakes, Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA.” GC51H-1141, American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting, S.F., CA.
Dahms, D.E., 2011. “Pleistocene-Holocene Soil & Glacial Stratigraphy, Rocky Mountains of Wyoming. USA.” University of Zurich (Switzerland): “Geochronology Summer School: Dating anthropogenic and natural changes in a fragile alpine environment.” Bergun, Switzerland; Sept. 4-10.
Dahms, D.E., 2010. “Mapping surficial geologic deposits: Pleistocene/Holocene stream deposits in Red Canyon, Wyoming.” Teaching Geoscience in the Field in the 21st Century; Montana State University, Bozeman, MT; August 13-16.
Dahms, D.E., 2010. Soils and glacio-fluvial stratigraphy of the southern Wind River Range, Wyoming. Abstract #180207, Geological Soc of Am - Ann Mtg, Oct 31-Nov 3, Denver, CO.
Quinton, E.E., D.E. Dahms, C.E. Geiss, 2010. Magnetic properties of a Fluvial Chronosequence from the eastern Wind River Range, Wyoming. Abstract #GP13B-0782, Fall Meeting, American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA.