B.S., University of Wisconsin, Geology and Geophysics, 1980

M.S., University of Washington, Geology, 1983

PhD, University of Washington, Geology, 1987

TEACHING AND RESEARCH AREAS

Dr. Leithold's teaching and research interests center on the study of modern and ancient continental margin sediments and why they tell what they tell us about Earth surface processes. Past research projects have included reconstructions of sediment transport processes and sea-level change history along the coast of California in Plio-Pleistocene time and near the margin of the Western Interior Seaway during the Cretaceous Period. More recently, Dr. Leithold has been investigating the role sedimentary particles in organic carbon cycling. A project recently funded by the National Science Foundation focuses on how the rate of erosion in mountainous watersheds controls the age and reactivity of organic carbon discharged to active continental margins. This work, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Neal Blair, involves investigation of six rivers in northern California, Oregon, and New Zealand.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Blair, N., Leithold, E., Ford, S., Peeler, K., Holmes, J., and Perkey, D., 2002, The persistence of memory: the fate of ancient sedimentary organic carbon in a modern sedimentary system: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Leithold, E.L., and Blair, N.E., 2001, Watershed control on the carbon loading of marine sedimentary particles: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v.65, 2231-2240.

Leithold, E.L., and Hope, R.S., 1999, Deposition and modification of a flood layer on the northern California shelf: lessons from and about the fate of terrestrial particulate organic carbon: Marine Geology, v.154, p.183-195.

Sethi, P.S., and Leithold, E.L., 1994, Climatic cyclicity and terrigenous sediment influx to the early Turonian Greenhorn Sea, southern Utah: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v.B64, p.26-39.

Leithold, E.L., 1994, Stratigraphical architecture at the muddy margin of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, southern Utah: Sedimentology, v.41, p.521-542.

Leithold, E.L., 1993, Preservation of laminated shale in ancient clinoforms: comparison to modern subaqueous deltas: Geology, v.21, p.359-362.