Colby College
4000 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, ME 04901
P: 207-859-4000
 
Robert E. Nelson
Professor of Geology
Geology



Phone: 207-859-5804
Fax: 859-5868
Email:

Mailing Address:
5804 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, Maine 04901-8858

Semester Schedule
Education

B.A. (Geology) San Francisco State University (California) 1972;
M.S. (Geology) 1979, Ph.D. (Multidisciplinary Quaternary Paleoecology) 1982 - both from University of Washington (Seattle)

Areas of Expertise:
  • Environments and climates of the late Cenozoic Era ("Ice Age")
  • Palynology (study of spores and pollen) of Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs
  • Ground beetles of Maine
  • Glacial geology of Alaska and northern New England
  • Origin of Arctic tundra
  • Beetles of Quaternary Period ("Ice Age") and of modern North America
Professional Information

Webmaster for Colby Geology web pages (http://www.colby.edu/geology/)
and for the Maine Entomological Society web pages (http://www.colby.edu/MES/).
Editor of The Maine Entomologist, quarterly newsletter of the Maine Entomological Society.

Other Courses Taught
Course Course Title
GE129 Geology of Islands
GE372 Quaternary Paleoecology
Current Research

1) Modern ground beetle fauna of Maine
2) Vegetation response to catastrophic volcanic events, Aniakchak, Alaska
3) Late- and Post-glacial environments of Devlin Park, Front Range, Colorado
4) Origins of the Norridgewock Sand Plain, central Maine
5) Macrofossil evidence for environmental change at the Turner Farm Archeological Site, North Haven Island, Maine
6) Biochemistry of defensive secretions in the hygrophilous ground beetle genus Chlaenius (in collaboration with Dr. Dasan Thamattoor, Dept. of Chemistry)

Publications

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

(* designates a Colby student co-author)

Selover, R. W.*, R. A. Gastaldo and R. E. Nelson, 2005: An Estuarine Assemblage from the Middle Devonian Trout Valley Formation of Northern Maine; Palaios, v. 20, p. 192-197.

Bagley, Patrick H.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: Latest Pleistocene marine molluscs of Central Maine: Evidence for Paleosalinity and Paleobathymetry in the Waning Phases of the Presumpscot Formation and Subsequent Marine Emergence. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 73.

Cantor, Bradford M.*, C. Kittinger Clark*, Hannah H. Coleman*, Mary M. Distinti*, Taylor M. Kilian*, Newton W. Krumdieck*, Elizabeth F. Littlefield*, Sophia S. Newbury*, Samuel B. Reid*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: Late Holocene vs. Modern Environments of Central Maine: Comparison of Pollen, Plant Macrofossil, and Coleopteran Assemblages With the Historical Record. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 74.

Kline, Jamie E.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: Marine ostracodes from the latest Pleistocene of Central Maine: Evidence for Paleosalinity and Paleobathymetry in the Waning Phases of Marine Emergence. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 73.

Krumdieck, Newton W.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: The Origins of the Norridgewock Sand Plain, Somerset County, Central Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 89.

Littlefield, Elizabeth F.*, and Robert E. Nelson. 2007: Foraminifera from the Presumpscot Formation: Evidence For Paleosalinity And Paleobathymetry in the Waning Phases of Marine Emergence of Central Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 73.

Nelson, Robert E., Jennifer P. Moody*, Aaron I. Olcerst*, Leslie H. Wardwell* and Frank A. Fekete, 2007: Characterization of the Pervasiveness of Mercury and Antibiotic Resistance Due to Co-Selection Using Population Studies from Holocene Sphagnum Cores in Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, p. 65.

VanderHoek, R., and R. E. Nelson, 2007: Ecological Roadblocks on a Constrained Landscape: The Cultural Effects of Catastrophic Holocene Volcanism on the Alaska Peninsula, Southwest Alaska, p. 135-152 in Living Under the Shadow: The Archeological, cultural and Environmental Impact of Volcanic Eruptions (J. Grattan, ed.); London: UCL Press.

Nelson, Robert E., Sara H. Lubkin and Peter Nester, 2007: Paleoenvironments of the Hyde Park, New York, Mastodon Site, Based on Subfossil Coleopteran Remains; p. 165-170 in Mastodon Paleobiology, Taphonomy, and Paleoenvironment in the Late Pleistocene of New York State: Studies on the Hyde Park, Chemung, and Java Sites. W. Allmon, P. Nester, and J. Chiment, eds., Palaeontographica Americana, no. 61.

Kilian, Taylor M.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2008: A Late Pleistocene Coleopteran Fauna from Presumpscot Formation Sediments in Portland, Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, no. 2, p. 60.

Wardwell, Leslie H.*, Brooke A. Jude, Jennifer Moody*, Aaron Olcerst*, Ruth A. Gyure, Robert E. Nelson, and Frank A. Fekete, 2009: Co-selection of Mercury and Antibiotic Resistance in Sphagnum Core Samples Dating Back 2000 Years. Geomicrobiology Journal, v. 26, p. 351-360.

Blackwell, Bonnie A. B., J. J. J. Gong, Anne R. Skinner, Andree Blais-Stevens, Robert E. Nelson, and Joel I.B. Blickstein, 2010: ESR Dating Pleistocene Barnacles from BC and Maine: A New Method for Tracking Sealevel Change. Health Physics v. 98, no. 2, p. 417-426.

Nelson, Robert E., C. Kittinger Clark*, Elizabeth F. Littlefield* and Newton W. Krumdieck*, 2010: Palynology of Three Bog Cores Shows Complex European Impact on the Forests of Central Maine. Northeastern Naturalist, v. 17, p. 63-76.

Thompson, Woodrow B., Carol B. Griggs, Norton G. Miller, Robert E. Nelson, Thomas K. Weddle, and Taylor M. Kilian*, 2011: Associated Terrestrial and Marine Fossils in the Late-Glacial Presumpscot Formation, Southern Maine, U.S.A., and the Marine Reservoir Effect on Radiocarbon Ages. Quaternary Research, v. 75, p. 552-565.

Nelson, Robert E., Newton W. Krumdieck*, Daniel F. Belknap, and Ramsey T. Meigs*, n.d.: Isostatically Induced Fluvial Origin of the Norridgewock Sand Plain, Central Maine, USA. Submitted to The Holocene [under revision as per reviewer's comments].