Robert Karlin

Phone: (775) 784-1770
Fax: (775) 784-1833

E-mail: karlinmines.unr.edu

Geology 333 Lectures & Labs

Robert Karlin, Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics in the Department of Geological Sciences, joined the Mackay School of Mines in 1988. Karlin received a B. S. in Geology at the University of Illinois, Urbana, a M. S. in Marine Geology/Sedimentology and a Ph. D. in Marine Geology/Geophysics at Oregon State University. He is a leader in the emerging field of environmental magnetism where magnetochemical techniques are used to understand biogeochemical cycling and paleoenvironments. In the Puget Sound area, landslides and lake deposits are being studied for evidence of past earthquake activity. Other research projects include: geomagnetic secular variation, paleoceanography, and paleoclimate in the Gulf of California, Quaternary paleoceanography of the NE Pacific Ocean; iron diagenesis in marine and lacustrine sediments; deformational history of the Great Basin; the significance of remagnetization in Paleozoic carbonates of the Great Basin; and the paleohydrology and paleoclimatic history of northern Nevada.

Selected Publications:

• Karlin, R. and S. E. Abella, (1996) A history of Pacific Northwest earthquakes recorded in Holocene sediments from Lake Washington, Journal of Geophysical Research, March,101, B3, 6137-6150.
• Karlin, R. and J. Morton (1994) Magnetic anomalies and subsurface structure of the Escanaba Trough, Gorda Ridge, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2022, 77-90.
• Karlin, R. and R. Zierenberg (1994) Sedimentation and Neotectonism in the Escanaba Trough,Gorda Ridge, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2022, 131-142.
• Karlin, R. and S. B. Abella (1992) Paleoearthquakes in the Puget Sound region as recorded in sediments from Lake Washington, U.S.A, SCIENCE, 258,1617.
• Karlin, R. Lyle, M. and R. Zahn (1992) Late Quaternary variations in the calcite compensation depth in the North East Pacific Ocean, Paleoceanography 7,43-61.
• Calvert, S.E., Karlin R., Donahue, D.J., Vogel, J.S., and J.R. Southon (1991) Organic carbon accumulation rates in the modem sediments of the Black Sea, Nature; 350,692-695.
• Karlin, R.(1990) Biogenic magnetite formation and destruction processes in suboxic sediments at Bettis Site W-N, Journal of Geophysical Research, 95, 4421-4436.

Recent Grants:

Paleoseismicity and Seismotectonics in the Puget Sound Region from Geologic and Geophysical Studies of Puget Sound and Nearby Lakes; PI: Robert Karlin; NSF/EAR; March, 1995-August, 1998; $243,296.

Fault block rotation and intracontinental strain in the northern Walker Lane, Basin and Range Province; PI: Patricia Cashman; NSF/EAR; July, 1994-June, lD97; $117,425.

Paleoseismicity of the Puget Sound area as recorded in sediments from Lake Washington:     Second year continuation; PI: Robert Karlin;U. S. Geological Survey; National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program; $48,000; 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1993; $48,000

High resolution paleomagnetic secular variation and sediment history in sediments from the Gulf of California; P.I.: Robert Karlin; National Science Foundation; Marine Geology and Geophysics; 15 July 1990 - I February 1993; $90,026