Paul E. Olsen - Columbia University
About
Press
Papers
We're Hiring!
Paul E. Olsen
Columbia University
Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology
Faculty Member
Followers
50,043
Following
146
Co-authors
21
Public Views
I am a professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observaory since 1984. Having an undergraduate degree in Geology and PhD in Biology, both from Yale, I am a broadly trained geologist and paleobiologist with more than 50 years of experience examining patterns of evolution and extinction as a response to and cause of climate change, especially in early Mesozoic continental ecosystems, as well as mapping the chaotic history of the solar system using environmental archives. My gradute students, interns, and I use a multitude of disciplines and techniques, including sedimentology, paleontology, geochemistry, geophysics, and time series analysis, and we frequently employ scientific drilling to obtain deep-time environmental archives. Using cores and outcrops, we have successfully demonstrated how those records reflect major events in Earth and life history, and precisely and accurately map evolution of the planetary system.My teaching at Columbia focuses, for undergraduates, on broad and accessable introductory courses, such as Dinosaurs and the History of Life that serve mostly non-majors, aiming to teach more about scientific reasoning in an attractive venue, than to produce more future scientists, with the goal of help molding informed and scientificaly literate future political, financial, and ethical leaders. My graducate student and post-doc mentoring focuses on intellectual independence while following interesting basic science questions with whatever is necessary and wherever it goes, always with an eye towards what can be uniquely learned in deep time and how answers inform societal issues, including within the mentoring process itself.
less
Related Authors
Jayjit Majumdar
University of Kalyani
Nima Nezafati
Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum
Nicolas Coltice
École Normale Supérieure
Hemin Koyi
Uppsala University
Jose Ruben Guzman-Gutierrez
Universidad Humanista de las Americas
Armando Marques-Guedes
UNL - New University of Lisbon
James I . Kirkland
Utah Geological Survey
Andrew Heckert
Appalachian State University
Peter Moon
Universidade de São Paulo
girolamo fiorentino
University of Salento
Interests
View All (17)
Uploads
Papers by Paul E. Olsen
The fossil trackway Pteraichnus; not pterosaurian, but crocodilian
Journal of Paleontology
, 1984
The fossil trackway Pteraichnus saltwashensis Stokes 1957, from the Momson Formation of Arizona, ...
more
The fossil trackway Pteraichnus saltwashensis Stokes 1957, from the Momson Formation of Arizona, originally attributed to a pterodactyloid pterosaur, is reassessed. We conclude that the assignment was incorrect because: 1, Pteraichnus has five toes on the manus (all pterosaurs have four); and 2, pterosaurs did not walk quadrupedally. However, trackways similar in detail to the poorly preserved Pteraichnus can be simulated experimentally by a small caiman, and we suggest that Pteraichnus could have been made by a crocodilian. Experimental work on trackways, coupled with considerations of limb kinematics and substrate conditions, will permit the most robust inferences about paleoichnologic trackmakers, and will thus maximize the utility of fossil footprint data.
Triassic–Jurassic climate in continental high-latitude Asia was dominated by obliquity-paced variations (Junggar Basin, Ürümqi, China)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
, Mar 10, 2015
format_quote
Paleoclimate data indicate strong obliquity-dominated cyclicity in Junggar Basin during Triassic-Jurassic, influencing climate variability.
format_quote
Milankovitch Forcing in Jurassic Lacustrine Stratigraphy in the Lower Portion of the Portland Formation of the Hartford Basin
Abstracts with programs
, 2022
Pre-Quaternary Milankovitch Cycles and Climate Variability
Encyclopedia of earth sciences
, Jan 19, 2009
format_quote
Atmospheric greenhouse gases from human activities are impacting Earth's climate, aligned with IPCC reports on severe potential societal consequences.
format_quote
The Geological Orrery: Using Earth's Geological Record to Map the Chaotic Evolution of the Solar System
A classical Orrery is clockwork physical planetary model that illustrates or predicts the relativ...
more
A classical Orrery is clockwork physical planetary model that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the bodies of the Solar System, usually according to the heliocentric model in a Newtonian context, named after the 4th Earl of Orrery, Charles Boyle, and dating from the early 18 th Century to the present (1). The Digital Orrery (2) was an early parallel computer designed to do the
The Triassic-Jurassic boundary in eastern North America
Lunar and Planetary Inst., Global Catastrophes in Earth History: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Impacts, Volcanism, and Mass Mortality
, 1988
Modes of Pangean lake level cyclicity driven by astronomical climate pacing modulated by continental position and p CO2
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
, Nov 7, 2022
Orbital cyclicity is a fundamental pacemaker of Earth’s climate system. The Newark–Hartford Basin...
more
Orbital cyclicity is a fundamental pacemaker of Earth’s climate system. The Newark–Hartford Basin (NHB) lake sediment record of eastern North America contains compelling geologic expressions of this cyclicity, reflecting variations of climatic conditions in tropical Pangea during the Late Triassic and earliest Jurassic (~233 to 199 Ma). Climate modeling enables a deeper mechanistic understanding of Earth system modulation during this unique greenhouse and supercontinent period. We link major features of the NHB record to the combined climatic effects of orbital forcing, paleogeographic changes, and atmospheric p CO 2 variations. An ensemble of transient, orbitally driven climate simulations is assessed for nine time slices, three atmospheric p CO 2 values, and two paleogeographic reconstructions. Climatic transitions from tropical humid to more seasonal and ultimately semiarid are associated with tectonic drift of the NHB from ~ 5   ° N to 20   ° N . The modeled orbital modulation of the precipitation–evaporation balance is most pronounced during the 220 to 200 Ma interval, whereas it is limited by weak seasonality and increasing aridity before and after this interval. Lower p CO 2 at around 205 Ma contributes to drier climates and could have led to the observed damping of sediment cyclicity. Eccentricity-modulated precession dominates the orbitally driven climate response in the NHB region. High obliquity further amplifies summer precipitation through the seasonal shifts in the tropical rainfall belt. Regions with other proxy records are also assessed, providing guidance toward an integrated picture of global astronomical climate forcing in the Late Triassic and ultimately of other periods in Earth history.
Onset of long-lived silicic and alkaline magmatism in eastern North America preceded Central Atlantic Magmatic Province emplacement
Geology
The White Mountain magma series is the largest Mesozoic felsic igneous province on the eastern No...
more
The White Mountain magma series is the largest Mesozoic felsic igneous province on the eastern North American margin. Previous geochronology suggests that magmatism occurred over 50 m.y., with ages for the oldest units apparently coeval with the ca. 201 Ma Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, the flood basalt province associated with the end-Triassic mass extinction and the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. We use zircon U-Pb geochronology to show that emplacement of White Mountain magma series plutons was already underway at 207.5 Ma. The largest volcanic-plutonic complex, the White Mountain batholith, was emplaced episodically from ca. 198.5 Ma to ca. 180 Ma and is ~25 m.y. older than published ages suggest, and all samples we dated from the Moat Volcanics are between ca. 185 Ma and 180 Ma. The Moat Volcanics and the White Mountain batholith are broadly comagmatic, which constrains the age of a key Jurassic paleomagnetic pole. Our data indicate that a regional mantle thermal anomaly i...
© 1998 by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology TYPE MATERIAL OF THE TYPE SPECIES OF THE CLASSIC THEROPOD FOOTPRINT GENERA
ABSTRACT-The classic Early Jurassic age theropod footprints Eubrontes giganteus. Anchisauripus si...
more
ABSTRACT-The classic Early Jurassic age theropod footprints Eubrontes giganteus. Anchisauripus sillil1Ulni. and Grallator parallelus were established by Edward Hitchcock in 1836-1847 and are the type ichnospecies of their respective ichnogenera. We identify, describe, and figure the type specimens in detail for the first time since they were named. We also figure and describe the other elements of the type series as well as specimens mistakenly thought to be the types. All of the tracks corne from cyclical lacustrine and marginal lacustrine to fluvial strata from an interval spanning about one million years in the Early Jurassic age Meriden and Agawam groups of the Hartford and Deerfield basins of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Based on osteometric comparisons with skeletal material, these three ichnospecies were most likely made by theropod dinosaurs, as usually assumed. Although treated here as distinct ichnogenera, it is possible that their major proportional differences derive f...
Two-pronged kill mechanism at the end-Triassic mass extinction
Geology
, 2022
High-resolution biomarker and compound-specific isotope distributions coupled with the degradatio...
more
High-resolution biomarker and compound-specific isotope distributions coupled with the degradation of calcareous fossil remnants reveal that intensive euxinia and decalcification (acidification) driven by Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) activity formed a two-pronged kill mechanism at the end-Triassic mass extinction. In a newly proposed extinction interval for the basal Blue Lias Formation (Bristol Channel Basin, UK), biomarker distributions reveal an episode of persistent photic zone euxinia (PZE) that extended further upward into the surface waters. In the same interval, shelly taxa almost completely disappear. Beginning in the basal paper shales of the Blue Lias Formation, a Lilliput assemblage is preserved consisting of only rare calcitic oysters (Liostrea) and ghost fossils of decalcified aragonitic bivalves. The stressors of PZE and decalcification parsimoniously explain the extinction event and inform possible combined causes of other biotic crises linked to emplace...
Lake algal-rafted lithic and biotic debris and the origin of insect Lagerstätten
Deep-water, microlaminated facies of early Mesozoic eastern North American rift lakes contain wel...
more
Deep-water, microlaminated facies of early Mesozoic eastern North American rift lakes contain well-preserved fossil fishes, reptiles, and continental arthropods, notably spinocaudatans (clam shrimp) and insects, some occurrences of which qualify as Konservat-Lagerstätten(1). Also abundant are distinctive 0.3-1.0 cm clusters of mm-scale lithic clasts (colloquially termed “blebs”). These were first noted in fish-bearing strata in Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA(2), but now they have been found in all of these Triassic-Jurassic basins. Blebs occur globally in strata of various ages and tectonic environments: the Devonian Caithness Flagstones (Scotland), Mississippian Albert Shale (Canada), and the Eocene Green River Formation (western USA). In the Late Triassic “Solite” Lagerstätte (North Carolina, USA) and in the Early Jurassic East Berlin Formation (Connecticut and Massachusetts) there are similar clusters of small, complete spinocaudatans, and at “Solite”, insect clusters. These ...
Long-Lived and Localized Post-Orogenic Magmatism on the Eastern North American Margin: Insights from Zircon U-PB Geochronology
Biomarkers and Isotopes in the End-Triassic Extinction: Implications for the δ13Corg Record and Extinction
Goldschmidt Abstracts
, 2020
Magnetic Polarity Stratigraphy and Rock Magnetism of the Continuous Cores of the Triassic Moenkopi Formation Strata Recovered from the Colorado Plateau Coring Project (CPCP) Phase 1
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
, 2019
Sandstone and Conglomerate Shoreline Deposits in Triassic-Jurassic Newark and Hartford Basins of Newark Supergroup: ABSTRACT
AAPG Bulletin
, 1985
Sandstone and Conglomerate Shoreline Deposits in Triassic-Jurassic Newark and Hartford Basins of ...
more
Sandstone and Conglomerate Shoreline Deposits in Triassic-Jurassic Newark and Hartford Basins of Newark Supergroup Three types of sandstones and conglomerates in the Newark and Hartford basins of the lower Mesozoic Newark Supergroup are similar to Holocene and to presently forming dehaic and wave-sorted shoreline deposits in modern, block-fauUed, closed basins in the western United States. (1) Sandstones and siltstones with internal, "deceleration-offlow" sequences dominated by climbing ripple cross-lamination that comprise 2 to 4-m thick, low-angle, inclined foresets. The foreset beds intertongue with silty shale at their toes. Stacks of these foresets define coarsening-upward sequences that are interpreted as small, Gilbert-like delta fronts stacked on the topset plain due to fluctuations in lake level. (2) Sheetlike, decimeter-scale, muddy sandstone beds. These are composed of graded, deceleration-of-flow sequences similar to those described above but contain mudstone partings with large polygonal cracks and soft-sediment deformation structures. Fining-upward sequences of these beds are interpreted as broad, flat delta fronts formed by flash-flooding streams intersecting an expanding shallow lake. (3) Cobble and pebble conglomerates with well-sorted sand or granule matrbc. These rocks are typically associated with well-sorted, medium to coarse-grained sandstones with planar, horizontal lamination or oscillatory ripple cross-lamination. These beds are interpreted as wave-sorted alluvial fan-toe deposits. The Gilbert-like deltaic sandstones and the sheetlike muddy sandstones in the Newark and Hartford basins generally have low porosity and, therefore, would be poor reservoir rocks. The wave-sorted conglomerates, which are limited to the faulted basin margins, are potentially excellent reservoir rocks, in many places occurring directly in contact with black shales. Thick shoreUne sandstones and conglomerates deposited in deeper lakes may occur in the Newark and Hartford basins, but they were probably restricted to the basin margins and may have been removed by subsequent faulting or erosion, or possibly they have not yet been recognized due to the scarcity of large outcrop exposures.
Fossil Great Lakes of the Newark Supergroup in New Jersey
First record ofErpetosuchus(Reptilia: Archosauria) from the Late Triassic of North America
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
, Jan 19, 2001
Late Triassic-earliest Jurassic geomagnetic polarity reference sequence from cyclic continental sediments of the Newark rift basin
Dan River-Danville Basin, North Carolina and Virginia
American Geophysical Union eBooks
, 1989
Redescription of Sphodrosaurus pennsylvanicus Colbert, 1960 (Reptilia) and a reassessment of its affinities
Annals of Carnegie Museum
, Aug 30, 1993
Sphodrosaurus pennsylvanicus Colbert, 1960 from the Upper Triassic of Lancaster County, Pennsylva...
more
Sphodrosaurus pennsylvanicus Colbert, 1960 from the Upper Triassic of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was originally classified as a procolophonid. The holotype and only known specimen is preserved in a homfelsed mudstone of the Hammer Creek Formation, which may be early Norian in age. The recently prepared holotype is a natural mold of a partial skull and skeleton and was restudied using high-fidelity latex rubber casts. The alleged cranial frill comprises the posterior ends of both mandibular rami. The atlanto-occipital joint is placed well forward of the jaw articulation. The centra of the cervical and most of the dorsal vertebrae have strongly developed mid-ventral keels. Sphodrosaurus is clearly not a procolophonid, but it can be referred to the Diapsida on the basis of several skeletal features. Its affinities within Diapsida, however, remain unresolved, although it is probably a neodiapsid.
format_quote
Only 22 post-atlantal vertebrae were counted, contrary to the previously reported 26, indicating potential differences in previous analyses.
format_quote
or
or
reset password
Need an account?
Click here to sign up
About
Press
Papers
Topics
Academia.edu Journals
work
We're Hiring!
help
Find new research papers in:
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Health Sciences
Ecology
Earth Sciences
Cognitive Science
Mathematics
Computer Science
Content Policy
Academia ©2026