Paul A Baker, Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences

Paul A Baker
Office Location:  310 Old Chemistry Bldg., Box 90230
Office Phone:  919-684-6450
Email Address: send me a message

Teaching (Fall 2012):

Education:

PhDScripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
MSThe Pennsylvania State University
BAUniversity of Rochester
Specialties:

paleoclimatology
global climate change
geochemistry
oceanography
Research Interests: Climate and paleoclimate reconstruction. Geochemistry of water and sediments. Tropical biodiversity and evolution. Global environmental change.

Current projects: Amazon paleoclimate and paleohydrology, The influence of the Amazon plume on tropical Atlantic climate, Tropical paleoclimate reconstruction using tree-ring isotopes, North American drought reconstruction and their climate forcing of droughts, Geological evolution of the Amazon basin, Ecological regime shifts in Amazon floodplain lakes

Trained as a sedimentary geochemist, I have more recently been undertaking research in problems in climate and paleoclimate. But I also consider myself to be a generalist, with diverse interests in evolution and biodiversity, oceanic and atmospheric circulation, regional geology and geomorphology, and anthropology.

Keywords:

tropical paleoclimate • South America • geochemistry

Recent Publications

  1. Latrubesse, E., Baker, P., and Argollo, J., Geomorphology of natural hazards and human-induced disasters in Bolivia, in Geomorphology of Natural Hazards and Human-Excacerbated Disasters in Latin America (2010) (Elsevier, U.K., p. 181-194.)
  2. Craig, N., Aldenderfer, M., Baker, P., and Rigsby, C., Terminal Archaic Settlement Pattern and Land Cover Change in the Rio Ilave, Southwestern Lake Titicaca Basin, Perú, in The Archaeology of Anthropogenic Environments (2010)
  3. Toney, J., Y. Huang, S.C. Fritz, P.A. Baker, P. Nyren, E. Grimm., Climatic and environmental controls on the occurrence and distribution of long-chain alkenones in lakes of the interior United States., Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta (2010)
  4. Fritz, S.C., Baker, P.A., Ekdahl, E., Seltzer, G.O., and Stevens, L.R, Millennial-scale climate variability during the last glacial period in the tropical Andes, Quaternary Science Reviews (2010)
  5. Ballantyne, A.P., P.A. Baker, J.Q. Chambers, R. Villalba, and J. Argollo, Regional differences in South American monsoon precipitation inferred from the growth and isotopic composition of tropical trees., Earth Interactions (Accepted, 2010)