Faculty

Alan D. Wanamaker Jr.
Assistant Professor
Climate Change, Paleoclimate, Stable Isotope Geochemistry

12 Science I
Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-3212
Phone (515) 294-5142
Email: adw@iastate.edu

Stable Isotope Laboratory: (515) 294-6090

Education
B.A. Earth Sciences Teaching, University of New Hampshire, 1997
M.A.T. Secondary Education, University of New Hampshire, 1998
Ph.D. Earth Sciences, University of Maine, 2007

Research Interests

My research is largely devoted to documenting and understanding past climates, especially in the North Atlantic Ocean during the last millennium. Additionally, I am interested in developing new geochemical tools and proxy records for paleoceanographic applications. For my research, I primarily utilize light stable isotopes in biogenic carbonates. I am an active sclerochronologist who mostly works with mollusks. I also direct the Stable Isotope Laboratory in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences.

Wanamaker Research Group Website: SIPERG

Current Research

• Climate variability, and mechanisms of climate change, in the northern North Atlantic Ocean during the Holocene.
• Dynamics of atmospheric and oceanic shifts in the North Atlantic region during recent climate anomalies, especially during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) transition.
• Using the radiocarbon signature (Delta R) in long-lived bivalves, which have been absolutely-dated via crossdating techniques, as a tracer of ocean circulation.
• Documentation of oceanic δ13C DIC dynamics (including the 13C Suess effect) in extratropical settings using stable carbon isotopes from biogenic carbonates.
• Biomineralization in carbonates, and the development of new geochemical techniques and proxies using mollusks, corals, and corallines.
• Sclerochronology and isotope geochemistry of long-lived biogenic carbonates, and the development of advanced sclerochronology techniques.
• Development of novel paleothermometry techniques using the isotope and elemental geochemistry from biocarbonates.

 

Current Research Grants

NSF, “P2C2: Collaborative research: Construction of a continuous, high resolution and absolutely-dated marine chronology from the Gulf of Maine during the last millennium” (PI, start date- 15 July 2010, end date- 14 July 2013).

 

Teaching
I teach courses in Oceanography (GEOL 108/ ENV S 108), Stable Isotopes in the Environment (GEOL 426/526), and Paleoclimatology (GEOL 415/515).

Peer-Reviewed Publications

2011

Butler, P. G., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Scourse, J.D., Richardson, C.A., and Reynolds, D.R., (2011) The stability of shell δ13C with respect to biological age in mature specimens of the long-lived bivalve Arctica islandica, Palaeogeography, Palaeclimatology, Palaeoecology, 302, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.03.038.

Halfar, J., Williams, B., Hetzinger, S., Steneck, R.S., Lebednik, P., Winsborough, C., Omar, A., and Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., (2011), 225 years of Bering Sea climate and ecosystem dynamics revealed by coralline algal growth-increment widths, Geology, 39, 579-582, doi:10.1130/G31996.1.

Schöne, B.R., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Fiebig, J., Thébault, J. and Kreutz, K.J., (2011) Annually resolved δ13Cshell chronologies of long-lived bivalve mollusks (Arctica islandica) reveal oceanic carbon dynamics in the temperate North Atlantic during recent centuries. Palaeogeography, Palaeclimatology, Palaeoecology, 302, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.02.002.

Wanamaker, A. D., Jr., S. Hetzinger, and J. Halfar (2011), Reconstructing mid- to high-latitude marine climate and ocean variability using bivalves, coralline algae, and marine sediment cores from the northern hemisphere, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 302, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.12.024.

Wanamaker, A. D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Schöne, B.R., and Introne, D.S., (2011) Gulf of Maine shells reveal changes in seawater temperature seasonality during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, Palaeogeography, Palaeclimatology, Palaeoecology, 302, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.06.005.

2010

Butler, P.G., Richardson, C.A., Scourse, J.D., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Shammon, T.M., and Bennell, J.D., (2010) Marine climate in the Irish Sea: analysis of a 489-year marine master chronology derived from growth increments in the shell of the clam Arctica islandica, Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.07.010.

2009

Butler, P.G., Scourse, J.D., Richardson, C.A., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Bryant, C.L., and Bennell, J.D., (2009) Continuous marine radiocarbon reservoir calibration and the 13C Suess effect in the Irish Sea: results from the first absolutely dated multi-centennial shell-based marine master chronology, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 279, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.12.043.

Butler, P.G., Richardson, C.A., Scourse, J.D., Witbaard, R., Schöne, B.R., Fraser, N.M., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Bryant, C.L., Harris, I., and Robertson, I., (2009), Accurate increment identification and the spatial extent of the common signal in five Arctica islandica chronologies from the Fladen Ground, northern North Sea, Paleoceanography, 24, PA2210, doi:10.1029/2008PA001715.

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Baker, A., Butler, P.G., Richardson, C.A., Scourse, J.D., Ridgway, I., and Reynolds, D.J., (2009) A novel method for imaging internal growth patterns in marine mollusks: A fluorescence case study on the aragonitic shell of the marine bivalve Arctica islandica (Linnaeus), Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 7, 673-681.

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Schöne, B.R., Maasch, K.A., Pershing, A.J., Borns, H.W., Jr., Introne, D.S., and Feindel, S., (2009), A Late Holocene paleo-productivity record in the Western Gulf of Maine, USA, inferred from growth histories of the long-lived ocean quahog (Arctica islandica), International Journal of Earth Sciences, Special Issue, Ocean’s role in climate change- a paleo perspective, 98, doi:10.1007/s00531-008-0318-z.

2008

Halfar, J., Steneck, R.S., Joachimski, M., Kronz, A., and Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., (2008), Coralline red algae as high-resolution climate recorders, Geology, 36, doi:10.1130/G24635A.1.

Owen, E.F., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Feindel, S.C., Schöne, B.R., and Rawson, P.D., (2008), Stable carbon and oxygen isotope fractionation in bivalve (Placopecten magellanicus) larval aragonite, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 72, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2008.06.029.

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Heinemeier, J., Scourse, J.D., Richardson, C.A., Butler, P.G., Eiríksson, J., and Knudsen, K.L., (2008), Very-long lived molluscs confirm 17th century AD tephra-based radiocarbon reservoir ages for north Icelandic shelf waters, Radiocarbon, 50 (3).

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Wilson, T., Borns, H.W., Jr., Introne, D.S., and Feindel, S., (2008), Experimentally determined Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in juvenile bivalve calcite for Mytilus edulis: Implications for paleotemperature reconstructions, Geo-Marine Letters, Special Issue, Advances in mollusc sclerochronology and sclerochemistry: tools for understanding climate and environment, 28, doi:10.1007/s00367-008-0112-8.

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Schöne, B.R., Pettigrew, N.R., Borns, H.W., Jr., Introne, D.S., Belknap, D., Maasch, K.A., and Feindel, S., (2008), Coupled North Atlantic slope water forcing on Gulf of Maine temperatures over the past millennium, Climate Dynamics, 31, doi:10.1007/s00382-0070344-8.

2007

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Borns, H.W., Jr., Introne, D.S., Feindel, S., Funder, S., Rawson, P.D., and Barber, B.J., (2007), Experimental determination of salinity, temperature, growth, and metabolic effects on shell isotope chemistry of Mytilus edulis collected from Maine and Greenland, Paleoceanography, 22, PA2217, doi:10.1029/2006PA001352.

2006

Wanamaker, A. D., Jr., K. J. Kreutz, H. W. Borns, Jr., D. S. Introne, S. Feindel, and B. J. Barber, (2006), An aquaculture-based method for calibrated bivalve isotope paleothermometry, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 7, Q09011, doi:10.1029/2005GC001189.

 

Newsletters and Other Relevant Publications

Ridgway I, Richardson, C.A., Scourse, J.D., Wanamaker, A.D. Jr., and Butler, P.,(2008) The long-lived clam Arctica islandica, a new model species for ageing research, British Society for Research on Ageing, Newsletter, June 2008.

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Scourse, J.D., Richardson, C.A., Butler, P.G., Reynolds, D.J., and Ridgway, I, (2008), Absolute chronologies from the ocean: Records from the longest-lived, non-colonial animals on Earth, Past Global Changes (PAGES) News, Vol.16, No. 3, 4-6.