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 molluscs. I also direct the Stable Isotope Laboratory in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences.

Current Research:

• Climate variability 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 so-called Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) transition.
• Reconstructing ocean variability and radiocarbon reservoir changes north of Iceland during the last millennium using sclerochronological techniques coupled with shell geochemistry from long-lived bivalves.
• Documentation of the oceanic Suess effect in the mid-to-high latitudes in the North Atlantic using carbon isotopes from biogenic carbonates.
• Biomineralization in carbonates, and the development of new geochemical techniques and proxies using molluscs, corals, and corallines.
• Sclerochronology and isotope geochemistry of long-lived biogenic carbonates, and the development of advanced sclerochronology techniques.

Dissertation Research:

• Late Holocene ocean climate variability in the Gulf of Maine, USA.
• Development of culture-based paleothermometry techniques using the isotope and elemental geochemistry from shell carbonates.

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

Butler, P.G., Richardson, C.A., Scourse, J.D., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Shammon, T.M., and Bennell, J.D., (2009) Temperature and stratification 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 (in press).

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., 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.

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.

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.

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.