Scholars

Interim Associate Vice President for Research & Associate Dean of Graduate Studies

Positions:

Associate Professor, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Texas A&M University

overview

Our team diagnoses how coastal systems respond to previous climate, sea-level and anthropogenic changes with the goal of predicting how these systems will respond to future changes in these forcings. This is typically achieved through a combined field (piston coring, vibracoring, advanced technical SCUBA diving, geophysical surveying) and laboratory approach (sedimentology, micropaleontology, and isotopic geochemistry). Of particular interest are climate-coastal dynamics on tropical and subtropical carbonate landscapes, where sinkholes, blueholes, and underwater caves provide a vast untapped library of paleoenvironmental information archived in their sediments. Some of the projects our team are currently investigating include: tropical precipitation and vegetation variability, cave and sinkhole sedimentology, biogeochemical cycling in the coastal carbonate zone, how aquifers in carbonate platforms respond to climate forcing, the landscape usage (e.g., groundwater, agriculture) of prehistoric populations (Mayans, Lucayans), coastal sea surface temperature variability, coastal cave ecosystem dynamics, and hurricane variability and coastal flooding.

education and training

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - (Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States), Postdoctoral Training
Ph.D. in Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University - (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) 2010
M.Sc. in Earth and Environmental Sciences, McMaster University - (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) 2008
B.S. in Earth and Environmental Science, summa cum laude, McMaster University - (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) 2005

selected publications

Academic Articles60

Tamalavage, A. E., van Hengstum, P. J., Feakins, S. J., Little, S. N., Coats, S., Winkler, T. S., ... Albury, N. A. (2023). Middle to late Holocene paleolimnology of a sinkhole lake in the northern Bahamas and its linkage to regional climate variability. Journal of Paleolimnology. 70(4), 265-291.
Winkler, T. S., van Hengstum, P. J., Donnelly, J. P., Wallace, E. J., Albury, N. A., D'Entremont, N., ... Woodruff, J. D. (2023). More Frequent Hurricane Passage Across the Bahamian Archipelago During the Little Ice Age. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 38(11),
Peros, M. C., Collins, S., Martinez-Lopez, J. G., Lopez, L., Sosa, M., Brisson, L. F., ... Amador, F. E. (2023). Multi-proxy paleohydrological and paleoecological reconstruction of a subaquatic cave in western Cuba. 627, 111725-111725.
Reinders, J. B., Sullivan, R. M., Winkler, T. S., van Hengstum, P. J., Beighley, R. E., & Munoz, S. E. (2023). A hydraulic modelling approach to study flood sediment deposition in floodplain lakes. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 48(4), 756-769.
Sullivan, R. M., van Hengstum, P. J., Donnelly, J. P., Tamalavage, A. E., Winkler, T. S., Little, S. N., ... Korty, R. (2023). Author Correction: Northeast Yucatan hurricane activity during the Maya Classic and Postclassic periods.. 13(1), 1669.

Chapters1

van Hengstum, P. J., Richards, D. A., Onac, B. P., & Dorale, J. A. (2015). Coastal caves and sinkholes. HANDBOOK OF SEA-LEVEL RESEARCH. 83-103. Wiley.

SDG 13