Directory

Robert E. Nelson
Sabbatical: 09/01/2009 - 12/31/2009
Professor of Geology
Geology



Phone: 207-859-5804
Fax: 859-5868
Email:
renelson@colby.edu

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
  • Early history of the first insects
Other Courses Taught
Course Course Title
GE151j Introduction to Volcanoes & Volcanology
GE354 Glacial & Quaternary Geology
Current Research

1) Modern ground beetle fauna of Maine

2) Earliest history of insects on Land: the Trout Valley Formation (early Middle Devonian), north-central Maine

3) Vegetation response to catastrophic volcanic events, Aniakchak, Alaska

4) Post-glacial environments of Devlin Park, Front Range, Colorado

Publications

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

(* designates student co-author)




Gastaldo, Robert A., Robert E. Nelson, Sarah C. Bandow*, Carolyn F. Lindley*, and Melissa K.Trout*, 2001. Early Middle Devonian Terrestrial Ecosytems of Maine: The Trout Valley Formation Revisited. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 33, no. 1, p. A-63.

Allen, Jonathan P.*, Robert A. Gastaldo and Robert E. Nelson, 2001: Sedimentological Framework of the Trout Valley Formation, Middle Devonian, Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 33, no. 6, p. A-75.

Nelson, Robert E., Robert A. Gastaldo, Jonathan P. Allen*, Carolyn F. Lindley*, Michael G. Terkla* and Melissa K.Trout*, 2001. Early Middle Devonian Arthropod Remains from the Trout Valley Formation of North-Central Maine, USA. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 33, no. 6, p. A-265.

Nelson, Robert E., 2001: Bioclimatic implications and distribution patterns of the modern ground beetle fauna (Insecta: Coleoptera: Carabidae) of the Arctic Slope of Alaska, U.S.A. Arctic, v. 54 (4), p. 425-430.

Terkla, M. G.*, J. P. Allen*, R. E. Nelson and R. A. Gastaldo, 2002. Lower Middle Devonian Eurypterid Remains from the Trout Valley Formation of North-Central Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 34, no. 1, p. A-72.

Terkla, M. G.*, J. P. Allen*, R. E. Nelson and R. A. Gastaldo, 2002. Lower Middle Devonian Eurypterid Remains from the Trout Valley Formation of North-Central Maine. The Maine Geologist, v. 28, no. 2, p. 8.

Nelson, Robert E., and Richard VanderHoek, 2002: Impact of the Aniakchak 3500 BP pyroclastic flow on the environments of the lower Alaska Peninsula. Program and abstracts of the 17th biennial meeting, American Quaternary Association (Anchorage, Alaska); p. 104.

Allen, Jonathan P.*, Robert A. Gastaldo and Robert E. Nelson, 2002: Wetland Plant Assemblages of the Trout Valley Formation, Middle Devonian, Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 34, no. 6, p. 18-19.

Nelson, Robert E., Sara H. Lubkin and Peter Nester, 2002: Paleoenvironments of the Hyde Park, New York, Mastodon Site, Based on Subfossil Coleopteran Remains. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 34, no. 6, p. 547.

Nelson, Robert E., and Richard VanderHoek, 2002: A Postglacial Volcanically Dominated Pollen Record from the Pacific Coast of the Central Alaska Peninsula. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 34, no. 6, p. 126.

Selover, Robert H.*, Robert E. Nelson and Robert A. Gastaldo, 2002: Middle Devonian Estuarine Macrofauna from the Trout Valley Formation of North-Central Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with programs, v. 34, no. 6, p. 357-358.

VanderHoek, Richard, and Robert E. Nelson, 2003: Ecological Roadblocks on a Constrained Landscape: The Cultural Effects of Catastrophic Holocene Volcanism on the Alaska Peninsula, Southwest Alaska. Abstracts of the Fifth World Archaeological Congress, June 21-26, 2003, Washington D.C. p. 332-333.

VanderHoek, Richard, and Robert E. Nelson, 2003: Dead Zone on a Constrained Landscape: The Cultural Effects of Catastrophic Holocene Volcanism on the central Alaska Peninsula, Southwest Alaska. American Association for the Advancement of Science 54th Arctic Science Conference: Extreme Events; Understanding Perturbations to the Physical and Biological Environment, September 21-24 2003, Fairbanks, Alaska, p. 177.

Nelson, Robert E., 2003: Plant Life of the Quaternary Cold Stages: Evidence from the British Isles, by Richard G. West. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2000; 320 pp. + CD-ROM. Arctic, Antarctic & Alpine Research, v. 35, no. 3, p. 409 (book review)

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.

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, 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. 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