At Bates, faculty advise student theses on a range of topics. To get a sense of what is possible in EACS, have a look at the list of theses and e-copies of theses that have been done over the last several years. If the e-copy is not available, please reach out to the advisor.

List of EACS/Geology Theses (2011- Present)

2023

Madison Broda – Geology – Analyzing Mono Basin Surface Waters for Stable Isotopes (δ18O and δ2H) and Major Cations to Assess Basin-Wide Evaporation and Geochemical Inputs – First Advisor: Anne Fetrow

–

Eli Gundersen – Geology – The Application of 239+240Pu to Quantify Soil Erosion and Deposition Rates in a Deforested Watershed in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest– First Advisor: Raquel Castro Portes

–

Alana Margerum – Geology – Plant Succession and Soil Chemical Weathering on Post-glacial Landscapes, SE Alaska – First Advisor: Raquel Castro Portes

–

Natalie Meenan – Geology- A Paleoseismic Investigation of the Central Seismic Gap and Rupture Extent of the AD1505 Earthquake: Northwest Himalaya, India – First Advisor: Shreya Arora

–

Maeve S. Mikulski – Geology – Petrogenetic history of lava flows from the Casitas Shield in the Southern Volcanic Zone, Chile – First Advisor: Andrew Wulff

–

2022

Luke Sedor-Protti – Geology – Soil Erosion Rates on Moraine Hillslopes of the Mendenhall Glacier in Southeast Alaska

–

Essie Martin – Geology – Investigation of Laminaria saccharina Burial below Damariscotta River Seaweed Farms Using eDNA and Stable Isotopes

–

Zane Rahabi -Geology – Geochemistry of Three Distinct Lewiston Quadrangle Pegmatites – First Advisor: Eshita Samajpati

–

Maya McDonough – Geology – Holocene marine climate reconstruction through δ18O isotopes of the bivalve Serripes groenlandicus – First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Dewi Henry – Geology – Marine Climate Reconstruction from Early Holocene Arctica islandica from Erdmannflya Peninsula, Norwegian High Arctic – First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Evan Saltman – Geology – A Structural Analysis of the Plumbago Mountain Fault, Pluton, and Associated Pegmatites – First Advisor: Shreya Arora

–

Emma Christman – Geology – Reconstructing early Holocene warmth in outer Isfjorden, Svalbard using stable isotope analysis on the ocean quahog, Arctica islandica – First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Ceci Gichner – Geology – Quantifying Crevassing, Damage, and Deformation on the Vaughan Lewis Icefall, Alaska – First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Meg O’Brien – Geology – Spatial Elevation Dynamics and Carbon Sequestration Variability Within Sprague Marsh, Phippsburg, Maine – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Emily Torkelson – Geology – A comparison of carbon sequestration and vegetation history in two Maine salt marshes – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Rex Chen – Geology – Road Salt Retention and Its Impacts on the Water Quality of the Impaired Hart Brook Watershed (Lewiston, Maine) – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Chenemi Maji – Geology –Nitrogen isotopes in Zostera marina: tracking anthropogenic nitrogen in Casco Bay.– First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Parker Caswell – Geology – Methane emissions, carbon sequestration, and groundwater hydrology along the freshwater margin of the Sprague River salt marsh.  – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Henry King – Geology – Assessing the Impacts of a Ditch Plug on Groundwater Hydrology, Sedimentation, and Carbon Dynamics in a Salt Marsh, Phippsburg ME – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

2021

Owen Daniell – Geology – Post cleanup composition and geochemical analysis of historic gold processing residues – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Olympia Fisher – Geology – Quantifying Changes in Snow Melt Conditions and Water Equivalent as Result of Arctic Warming in Linnédalen, Svalbard – First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Peter Galloway – Geology – Geometry of Brittle and Ductile Bedrock Structures Influencing Groundwater Hydrology Adjacent to the Chlor-alkali Superfund Site, Berlin, NH – First Advisor: Dyk Eusden

–

Liza Folsom – Geology – Bedrock Geology, Geochronology, and Tectonic History of the Bronson Hill Anticlinorium in Northern New Hampshire – First Advisor: Dyk Eusden

–

Summer Dias – Geology – Impacts of sea-level rise, accretion, and subsidence on recent changes in elevation of the Sprague Marsh in Phippsburg, Maine -First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Briana Karboski – Geology – The effect of tidal flow restriction on carbon density in Sprague and Small Point marsh, Phippsburg, Maine – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Evelyn Randazzo – Geology – Flow banding formation in spherulitic felsic dikes at Mt. Jasper, Berlin, New Hampshire – First Advisor: Genevieve Robert

–
Tommy Sheils – Geology – The Nature of the Bronson Hill Anticlinorium – Central Maine Terrane Contact in the North Berlin 7.5” Quadrangle, New Hampshire – First Advisor: Dyk Eusden

–
Carolyn Snow – Geology – A Comparison of Sediments from Above and Below a Tidal Restriction and the Proposed Geologic History of the Back River Marsh, Woolwich, ME– First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Vanessa Lee Paolella – Data Analysis and Spatial Mapping of Dissolved Oxygen in the Surface Waters of the Androscoggin River from 1930-2019

2020

Christopher Sargent – Geology – Estimating the Displacement on the Norumbega Fault System Using Quartz Microstructures – First Advisor: Calvin Mako

–

Emma Wheeler – Geology – Hydroclimate Reconstruction in the Changing High Arctic Maritime Environment, Linnédalen, Svalbard – First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Hannah Johnson – Geology – Late Glacial to Holocene Sea Level History of Kapp Linné, Svalbard, Norwegian High Arctic – First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Emily Erard-Stone – Geology – The Effects of Fluorine on the Viscosity of Melts in the (Na, K) ALSiO4-SiO2 System – First Advisor: Genevieve Robert

–

Forrest Hamilton – Geology – Impact of Lead Mining on Sediments in a Proximal Pond to the Mascot Mine in Gorham, New Hampshire – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

Samuel Kent Onion – Geology – A Historical Account of Atmospheric Lead Deposition in Basin Pond, Fayette, Maine – First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

2019

Michael Cooper – Geology – Exploring the Possibility of Liquid Immiscibility in the Ste. Dorothée Sill near Montréal, Québec– First Advisor: Genevieve Robert

–

Carter Goodell – Environmental Studies – Assessing the effectiveness of a salt marsh restoration project in Georgetown, Maine

2018

Hazel Cashman – Geology – The Alderbrook and Riverton Stages of Glacial Lake Israel and their Significance to the Indigenous Peoples of the Israel River Complex

–

Nicholas F. Barker – Environmental Studies – An Investigation of a Buried Sand/Stump Horizon in Scarborough Marsh

–

John Doyle – Geology – Eelgrass Bed Carbon Storage in Casco Bay

–

Ashley L. Kulesza – Geology – Assessing the Amount of Carbon Stored in Maine Salt Marshes

–

Gabriel H. P. McGinn – Geology – Sediment trap analysis in high-arctic lake Linnévatnet indicates a recent shift in the annual hydrological regime

–

A. Douglas McNab – Geology – A Zooarchaeological and Paleoclimate Analysis of Gadus Morhua Otoliths Recovered from the Sandwick South Site, Shetland Islands, United Kingdom

–

Thorn King Merrill – Geology – Structure and Kinematics of the Jefferson Oliverian Dome in the Southern Half of the Mt. Crescent 7.5’ Quadrangle, New Hampshire

–

Kurt A. Niiler – Geology – Bedrock Mapping of the Southern Portion of the 7.5 Minute Mt. Crescent Quadrangle, Northern New Hampshire

–

Sam Rickerich – Geology – The postglacial sea level history of Ingøya, northern Norway

–

Hannah Rae Slattery – Geology – Urbanization: Impact on Dissolved Oxygen and Sedimentation in the Hart Brook Watershed (Lewiston, Maine)

–

Mary Elizabeth Szatkowski – Geology – Analysis of Thermal Properties of Permafrost, and Modeling

–

2017

Madeline Stella Bruno – Geology – The effect of fluorine on melt viscosity in the NaAlSiO4 – KAlSiO4 system

–

Olin Rico Carty – Geology – The Effect of Fluorine on the Viscosity of Jadeite-Leucite Melts

–

Kelsey Chenoweth – Geology – Methane Emissions Above and Below a Ditch Plug, Sprague River Marsh, Phippsburg, ME

–

Erik James Divan – Geology – Salinic to Neoacadian Deformation within the Migmatite Zone of the Central Maine Belt in Western Maine

–

Ian W. Hillenbrand – Geology – Newly Discovered Albee Formation in the Northern Half of the Jefferson, NH 7.5’ Quadrangle: Detrital Zircons, Structure, and Tectonics

–

Colin Robert Kraft – Geology – Petrology of the hastingsite-riebeckite Granite of Mt. Cabot, NH

–

Claire Lockwood Markonic – Geology – A Mid-Late Holocene Multi-Proxy Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Northern Finnmark Using a Sediment Core from the Island of Ingøy, Norway

–

Noel L. Potter – Geology – Late-Season High-Sedimentation Events in a Sediment Trap Record from Linnévatnet, Svalbard, Norway

–

Yacine Sylla – Geology – Stable Isotopic Evidence for Nutrient Cycling at Two Zostera marina Meadows in Cape Cod, MA

–

Audrey Wheatcroft – Geology – Bedrock Geology, Stratigraphy and Geochronology in the Migmatite Terrain of the Southern Gilead 7.5’ Quadrangle, Western Maine

–

Gwenyth Williams – Geology – Paleoenviromental Reconstruction from the Sediment Record of the Varved Proglacial Linnévatnet, Svalbard, Norwegian High Arctic

–

Daniel Stames – Geology – Assessing the effectiveness of using Typha as a proxy for estimating seasonal methane emissions on Maine’s southeastern salt marshes

2016

Christopher William Bradbury – Geology – The Influence of pressure and temperature on the metal-silicate partitioning of V, Cr, and Mn: implications for the formation of the Earth’s core

–

Andre Brittis-Tannenbaum – Geology – Monitoring the Effects of Marine Derived Nitrogen due to an Alewife Migration at Nequasset Lake, Woolwich, Me

–

Jordan Leigh Cargill – Geology – Structure and Geochronology of the Jurassic Pliny Range Caldera Complex: 7.5’ Jefferson Quadrangle, Northern New Hampshire

–

Nicole Marie Cueli – Geology – Recent Changes To The Dynamic Sandy Beach System At The Mouth Of The Kennebec River, Mid-Coast Maine

–

Cailene M. Gunn – Geology – Methane emissions along a salinity gradient of a restored salt marsh in Casco Bay, Maine

–

Sarah G. Koe – Geology – Applications of LiDAR in the study of landscape geomorphology, Sandwich Range, White Mountain National Forest

–

Mae J. Lubetkin – Geology – Hydrothermal oxide and nontronite deposits at Seamount 3, Wolf-Darwin lineament, Galapagos Archipelago, Ecuador

–

Samuel Zimet Mark – Geology – Mid-Holocene Marine Paleoclimate Reconstruction Through Schlerochronological Analysis of Arctica islandica from Finnmark, Rolvsøya, Northern Norway

–

Christiane P. McCabe – Geology – High Resolution XRF Sediment Analysis of Late Season Precipitation Events in a High Arctic Glaciated Watershed: Svalbard, Norway

–

Elizabeth Weis Patterson – Geology – Stocks and Sources of Carbon Buried in the Salt Marshes and Seagrass Beds of Patos Lagoon, Southern Brazil

–

Julia Margaret Savage – Geology – A Late-Holocene Marine Climate Reconstruction Using the Bivalve Arctica islandica from Northern Norway

–

Rebecca Anne Smith – Geology – The Effect of Na:K Ratio on Melt Viscosity within the SiO2-NaAlSiO4-KAlSiO4 System

–

Sarah S Stanley – Environmental Studies – Climate Change In The Canadian Arctic

2015

Eleanor D. Briggs – Geology – Mobilization of Metals by Fungi in Historic Cemeteries

–

Timothy D. Campbell – Geology – A Paleolimnological Study Reconstructing Organic Carbon Accumulation and Climate History; Mealy Mountains, Labrador, Canada

–

Michelle Devoe – Geology – Deformation Post-Doming: New mapping of the Oliverian Jefferson Dome, Mt. Dartmouth 7.5′ Quadrangle, New Hampshire

–

Christine Elizabeth Dong – Geology – Analysis and Comparison of Physical Properties and Morphology of Impact Melt Flows on Venus and the Moon to Determine Atmospheric Controls

–

Sean W. Enos – Geology – Reconstruction of the Post-Glacial Formation of the Peddocks Island Salt Marsh, Hull, MA

–

Benjamin Gray Merkert – Geology – Paleoclimatic implication of lake sediment geochemistry in Linnévatnet, Spitsbergen, Svalbard

–

Graham Grear Oxman – Geology – Petrogenesis and Paleostress Analysis of the Mesozoic Mill Brook Dike Zone in the Mount Dartmouth 7.5′ Quadrangle, New Hampshire

–

Tess L. Walther – Geology – Analysis of Sediment Traps in Linnévatnet, Svalbard for Reconstruction of Annual Sediment Flux and Lacustrine Processes

–

Sarah Mei Xiao – Geology – Bedrock Geology of the Mt. Dartmouth 7.5′ Quadrangle, New Hampshire

2014

Saebyul C. Choe – Geology – Petrographic Analysis and Tectonic Implications of the Plutons in the Gilead 7.5 Quadrangle: Connections to the Piscataquis Volcanic Arc and Sebago Batholith

–

Cameron A. Held – Geology – Using LiDAR to Map the Geomorphology of the Swift River Region of the White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire

–

Cameron Russ – Geology – Stable Carbon Isotope Analyses of Sediment Cores and the Origin of the Sprague River Marsh, Phippsburg, Maine.

–

Joshua T. Sturtevant – Geology – LiDAR as a Tool for Lineament Mapping and the Reevaluation of Bedrock and Glacial Geology: Examples from the Mount Moosilauke Region of the White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire

–

Sula Q. Watermulder – Geology – Depositional Setting and Deformation History of Central-Western Maine: Silurian Stratigraphic Revisions for the Newry-Gilead Region

–

Alexandra Michelle Balter – Geology – A Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Linnédalen, Svalbard using Geochemical and Productivity Proxies

–

–Wells Tanner Cunningham – Geology – Nutrient dynamics of an alewife migration in Nequasset Lake: Evidence and modeling efforts First Advisor: Beverly Johnson

–

– Christopher Trent Halsted – Geology – A Physical and Mineralogical Analysis of Late Holocene Sand Deposits: A Case Study of Little Ice Age Coastal Change in the Shetland Islands, UK First Advisor: Michael Retelle

–

Megan L. Kearns – Environmental Studies – Water Quality and Phosphorus Budget of Lake Auburn in Auburn, Maine

–

Sarah May El Assaad – Environmental Studies – Monitoring Sedimentation Patterns and Inlet Migration at Popham, Seawall and Small Point Beaches, Phippsburg, Maine

2013

Chester Chiao – Geology – Assessing the impact of marine-derived nutrient on nitrogen cycling in Nequasset Lake in reponse to the 2012 migration of anadromous alewives (Alosa pseudoherangus)

–

Colin W. Dowey – Geology – 600 Years of Late Holocene Climate Variability Inferred from a Varved Proglacial Sediment Record Linnévatnet, Svalbard, Norway

–

Lauren Brett Farnsworth – Geology – A Geomorphic and Sedimentological Study of the Periglacial Processes and Environments, Vardeborgsletta, Western Spitsbergen Svalbard

–

Amanda LaFarge Goss – Geology – Analysis of brittle Paleogene structures in the Svea region, eastern Spitsbergen, Svalbard

–

David J. Harning – Geology – A geochemical investigation of Late Holocene lake sediment cores from Pyramid Lake, Fiordland, New Zealand

–

Conor M. Maginn – Geology – Variations in hypoxia and productivity along the Oregon Margin during the Younger Dryas and Early Holocene

–

Margaret Alice Pickoff – Geology – Maine’s blue carbon: estimating carbon stocks in Maine saltmarshes

–

Amanda Lee Wescott – Geology – Tracking Seasonal and Storm Induced Recession of the Popham-Seawall Barrier Beach Complex, Phippsburg, Maine

–

Rachel C. Morrison – Interdisciplinary Studies – Isotopic Reconstructions of Swordfish Diets in the Gulf of Maine

2012

Brigit Anderson – Geology – cretaceous unroofing history from apatite fission-track ages, cog railroad Mt. Washington, New Hampshire

–

Colin H. Barry – Geology – A Study of the Impact of Ditch-plug Alteration on the Hydrogeology of the Sprague River Marsh, Phippsburg, Maine

–

Heather A. Doolittle – Geology – Determining P-T Paths of Metamorphism Based on Mineral Textures and Pseudosection Analysis in Small Point, Maine

–

Ian T. Dulin – Geology – New Evidence of a Post-Laurentide Local Cirque Glacier on Mount Washington, New Hampshire

–

Jennifer A. Lindelof – Geology – Bedrock and Groundwater Interaction: Tracing the Potential for Cation Contamination in Groundwater, Small Point, Maine

–

Jennifer A. Lindelof – Geology – Using Sedimentary and Geochemical Proxies for Little Ice Age Climate Climate Change Reconstructions, South Mainland Shetland

–

Peter Kent Miller – Geology – Kinematics of the Phippsburg Shear Zone at Hermit Island and the Wood Islands, Small Point, Maine

–

Haley Russell Sive – Geology – The Structure and Stratigraphy of Small Point, Maine: D3 Inverted Transtensional Map-Scale Folds of Neoacadian Provenance

–

Elizabeth Emily Sonshine – Geology – The Characterization of Organic Carbon from Sedimentary Cores from Zostera marina beds, Maquoit Bay, Casco Bay, Maine

–

Ethan O. Yackulic – Geology – Evaluation of the response and recovery of a forested watershed to human disturbances based on a multi-proxy analysis of sediments in Trout Pond, Lyme, NH

2011

Gregory Edward Flynn – Geology – Nitrogen Isotopes in Zostera marina: a Potential Indicator of Anthropogenic Nutrient Loading in Casco Bay, Gulf of Maine

–

Carrie Maxene Harris – Geology – Stable Isotopic Shifts in Late Holocene Fish Bones from Multiple Archaeological Coastal Middens in Penobscot Bay, Maine

–

Carter A. Kindley – Geology – Paleostress Analysis of Mesozoic Extension in Fractures and Basalt Dikes, Great Gulf, NH

–

Ingrid Knowles – Geology – A Biogeochemical Study of Ditchplug and Natural Pools in Sprague River Marsh, Phippsburg, ME

–

Keegan Timothy Runnals – Geology – The Vogar Fissure Swarm, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland: Aseismic Kinematics of an Oblique Rift Zone