Graphics
Here I'm showing a few of the graphics and maps that I've created over the course of my PhD. Some of these were for class projects, some were made while developing assignments for teaching, some were part of my research, and others were simply visualizations I made in my spare time.
Left:
A striking phenomenon occurs along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia: depending on your perspective, either the land is rising out of the sea, or sea level is falling relative to land. The emergence of land from the sea along the Swedish and Finnish coasts is rapid enough that local people have been aware of the phenomenon for many centuries, long before scientists began studying it. Starting in the 19th century, scientists proposed theories for why the coast was rising, ranging from global sea level fluctuations, changes in Earth's orbit, and supernatural effects. In reality, the changing coastline was caused by the weight of the Fennoscandian ice sheet, the last remnants of which only melted ~8,000 years ago.
Here I made a figure showing an interpolation (spline, for the curious) of tide gauge data from Scandinavia. Data are from NOAA. While most tide gauges across the globe show sea level rising on the order of 0-3 mm/year (thanks to climate change), the opposite is true in places that were glaciated during the last glacial maximum. When thick ice sheets extended across the northern hemisphere 30,000-10,000 years ago, the weight of the ice weighed down the crust, creating a depression that cradled the ice sheet. The ice sheets have since melted, but because movement of the crust is limited by the viscosity of the mantle (which is very viscous), the depressions are taking their time to disappear. Today, we can see the recovery of these large depressions that once held the ice sheets in tide gauge data where the land rises out of the sea.
Tools used: Python, ArcGIS Pro, Adobe Illustrator
Right: Cartoon diagrams showing idealized depictions of geologic settings can be powerful tools in explaining complicated ideas in Earth science. Sometimes the simple act of making the diagrams is enough to change your own thinking regarding the model or hypothesis you're trying to illustrate. I made these highly realistic cartoon diagrams for a fellow graduate student who was trying to show how different vegetation and climate regimes could affect the transport of nutrients out of mountains to the oceans. Making these diagrams changed their thinking, and they never ended up using the figures, but I learned s lot from the process of making them.
Software used: Google Earth, Adobe Illustrator
Left: This cartoon diagram is less detailed realistic than the one above, but managed to get me some research funding. It illustrates some proposed arrangements for a series of ancient lakes perched on a now-extinct mountain range that occupied western North America called the Nevadaplano.
Software used: ArcGIS Pro, Adobe Illustrator
Aerial and Satellite views of the Earth
As a geologist, I spend a lot of time browsing Google Earth (maybe too much time) looking for interesting landforms, textures, and geologic features. Occasionally I come across a place that is so visually arresting that I save a screenshot. The examples below are lightly edited for proper exposure, and sometimes the result of compositing multiple Google Earth captures from different years in Photoshop in order to get the right mix of surface texture, shadow, and detail.
Technical Scientific Figures
The following are some of the technical figures from my research that I am most proud of.
Above: A map I made to summarize our understanding of the structural geology of the Grapevine and Funeral Mountains in Death Valley National Park.
Left: A complex thermochronology figure showing the dependence of modeled cooling histories on the selected geothermal gradient. The color scheme here was selected to be colorblind friendly while still clearly linking the different panels of the plot. The colors are a warm-cool gradient corresponding to the steep-shallow geothermal gradients.
This figure shows that modeling choices can affect whether the data appear to support a specific geologic history. In this case, a subtle change in geothermal gradient changes whether the model supports rapid cooling at ~12 Ma.
Below: The following pair of figures are from my work in the Lesser Caucasus and Pontides mountains of Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. These maps and swath profiles show some of the spatial relationships between our thermochronology samples (colored circles and triangles) and the complex topography of these old mountain ranges.
Above: Swath profiles of elevation across the Pontides and Lesser Caucasus mountains with low-temperature thermochronology projected onto the profile. These profiles reveal some unsual elevated low-relief surfaces that suggest the ranges are not in steady-state.
Above: This is probably the figure which took the greatest amount of effort of any I made during my PhD. It's an oversized plate showing the measured sections from the biggest project of my dissertation: the mapping of the Titus Canyon Formation in Death Valley, California. You can read more about this project on the research page here.
Each graphical column represents a stack of sedimentary rocks that, with the assistance of my able undergraduate collaborator Bianca Gallina, we measured and described in detail over the course of five weeks in the field. We then correlated and dated (using uranium-lead radiometric dating) several volcanic tuffs in the sections to confirm the relationships between the sections we proposed in the field.
Other Figures
Left: Once you have a slight reputation for enjoying graphic design (and knowing how to use that scary program, Adobe Illustrator), people come to you for design projects. I made the Map the Red Hills design with the idea of creating a series of stickers. It uses the incredibly useful Image Trace function in Adobe Illustrator. I use image trace so often, and to such great effect, that it feels like giving away an industry secret.
The MGU cover never got used because the conference was cancelled due to COVID-19. It features a stunning 1997 space shuttle photo of Michigan from space.
Software: Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Illustrator
Left: When designing materials for teaching, being able to quickly whip together a diagram showing a simple concept visually is a huge benefit, and one of the skills I've found most useful over the years.
Adobe Illustrator
