Gifford H. Miller
Professor, Department of Geological Sciences.
Fellow, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.
Director, Center for Geochronological Research
Ph.D., 1975, University of Colorado at Boulder
Research Interests:
The record of the recent geological past provides an effective means of evaluating the
range of natural climate variability and a detailed record of the manner in which the
earth system responds to extreme climate forcing (ice ages). To evaluate this record
requires careful stratigraphic studies coupled to a secure geochronology and multi-proxy
tools to evalulate environmental change in terms of specific climate variables. My
research activity combines primary field observations with a suite of established and
experimental geochronological techniques tp [rovide well dat ed records of past
environmental change, concentrating on the past 150 ka, one complete glacial-interglacial
cycle. My interest in dating the recent past to the creation in 1986 of the Center for
Geochronological Research, which I continue to direct.
My current research projects include
- The timing and mechanism of ice-sheet growth and decay in Arctic
Canada and the European Arctic, and the interactions between ice sheets, oceans, and the
atmosphere during the last deglaciation.
- Developing new or improved applications of protein diagenesis in
carbonate fossils to date geological and archaeological events
- The climate-forcing of wet/dry cycles in monsoonal Australia, the
earliest immigration of humans to the continent, and their impact on climate, regional
vegetation and megafauna extinction.
- Providing high-resolution records of environmental change for the
Arctic over for the past 20,000 yr based on the record preserved in lake sediments.
Courses Offered:
- GEOL 5420 Quaternary Dating Methods
Recent Publications:
- Miller, G.H., Magee, J.W., Johnson, B.J., Fogel, M., Spooner, N.A.,
McCulloch, M.T., Ayliffe, L.K., 1999: Pleistocene extinction of Genyornis newtoni: human
impact on Australian megafauna. Science, v.283: 205-208.
- Johnson, B.J., Miller, G.H., Fogel, M.L., Magee, J.W., Gagan, M.K.,
and Chivas, A.R., 1999: 65,000 Years of Vegetation Change in Central Australia and the
Australian Summer Monsoon. Science, v.284: 1150-1152.
- Miller, G.H., Mode, W.N., Sauer, P.E., Wolfe, A.P., Bennike, O.,
Forman, S.L., Short, S.K., Stafford, T.W., Jr., and Williams, K.M., 1999: Stratified
interglacial lacustrine sediment from Baffin Island, Arctic Canada: Chronology and
paleoenvironmental implications. Quaternary Science Reviews, 18:
- Steig, E.J., Wolfe, A.P., and Miller, G.H., 1998: A glacial refugium
on Baffin Island since the middle Wisconsin: implications for the glacial history of the
eastern Canadian Arctic. Geology, 26: 235-238.
- Magee, J.W. and Miller, G.H., 1998: Lake Eyre palaeohydrology from 60
ka to the present: beach ridges and glacial maximum aridity. Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 144: 307-329.
- Johnson, B.J., Fogel, M.L. and Miller, G.H., 1998: Stable isotopes in
modern ostrich eggshell: a calibration for paleoenvironmental applications in semi-arid
regions of southern Africa. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 62, 2451-2462.
- Miller, G.H., Magee, J.W. and Jull, A.J.T., 1997: Low-latitude
glacial cooling in the Southern Hemisphere from amino-acid racemization in emu eggshells.
Nature, v. 385: 241-244.
- Johnson, B.J. and Miller, G.H., 1997: Archaeological applications of
amino acid racemization. Archaeometry, 39, 265-287.
- Kaufman, D.K. and Miller, G.H., 1995: Isoleucine epimerization and
amino acid composition in moecular-weight separations of Pleistocene Genyornis eggshell.
Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta, v. 59: 2757-2765.
- Miller, G.H., and DeVernal, A., 1992: Will greenhouse warming lead to
Northern Hemisphere ice sheet growth? Nature, 355:244-246.
Home page: miller.html
Email address: Gifford.Miller@Colorado.EDU
Phone: (303)492-6962
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