Home , Go Back to faculty page R. LAWRENCE EDWARDS Distinguished McKnight University Professor PhD, 1988, California Institute of Technology Office: 208A Pillsbury Hall Phone: (612) 626-0207 Fax: (612) 625-3819 Email: edwar001@...

        I oversee a laboratory that includes two thermal ionization mass spectrometers, an inductively-coupled magnetic sector mass spectrometer, and three clean rooms. Most of my group's research takes advantage of the capabilities of these instruments to solve problems in geology that require high-precision, high-sensitivity isotopic and elemental measurements. Members of my research group work at field sites that encompass most of the tropical oceans, including sites in the Caribbean and South Pacific. We also work at a number of cave sites worldwide.

Professional Society Memberships

• American Geophysical Union
• Geological Society of America
• Geochemical Society
• American Association for the Advancement of Science

• 2004, Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Science
• 2001-present, Distinguished McKnight University Professor
• 1999, C.C. Patterson Award (Environmental Medal Geochemistry of the Geochemistry Society)
• 1995, Taylor Distinguished Research Award

• The Dynamic Earth: An Introduction to Geology
• Isotope Geology
• Mineralogy
• Geochemical Principles
• Freshman Seminar: Ice Ages and Climate Change

• Wang, Y.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., He, Y.Q., Kong, X.G., An, Z.S., Wu, J.Y., Kelly, M.G., and Dykoski, C.A. 2005. The Holocene Asian Monsoon: links to solar changes and North Atlantic climate. Science 308, 854-857.
• Dykoski, C.A., Edwards, R.L., Cheng, H., Yuan, D.X., Cai, Y.J., Zhang, M.L., Lin, Y.S., An, Z.S., and Revenaugh, J. 2005. A high resolution, absolute-dated Holocene and deglacial Asian monsoon record from Dongge Cave, China. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 233, 71-86.
• Moran, S.B., Shen, C.-C., Edwards, R.L., Edmonds, H.N., Scholten, J.C., Smith, J.N., and Ku, T.-L. 2005. Pa-231 and Th-230 in surface sediments of the Arctic Ocean: implications for Pa-231/Th-230 fractionation, boundary scavenging, and advective export. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 234, 235-248.
• Sinha, A., Cannariato, K.G., Stott, L.D., Li, H.-C., You, C.-F., Cheng, H., and Edwards, R.L. 2005. Evidence for solar forcing of centennial cycles in Southwest Indian Monsoon precipitation during the Bolling-Allerod. Geology 33, 813-816.
• Asmerom, Y., DuFrane, A., Mukasa, S.B., Cheng, H., and Edwards, R.L. 2005. Time-scale of magma differentiation in arcs from protactinium-radium isotopic data. Geology 33, 633-636.
• Vacco, D.A., Clark, P., Mix, A., Cheng, H., and Edwards, R.L. 2005. A speleothem record of Younger Dryas cooling, Klamath Mountains, Oregon. Quaternary Research 64, 249-256.
• Shen, C.-C., Lee, T., Liu, K.K., Hsu, H.H., Edwards, R.L., Wang, C.H., Lee, M.Y., Chen, Y.G., Lee, H.J., and Sun, H.T. 2005. An evaluation of quantitative reconstruction of past precipitation records using coral skeletal Sr/Ca and ?18O data. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 237, 370-386.
• Wang, X.-F., Auler, A.S., Edwards, R.L., Cheng, H., Cristalli, P.S., Smart, P.L., Richards, D.A., and Shen, C.-C. 2004. Wet periods in northeastern Brazil over the past 210 kyr linked to distant climate anomalies. Nature 432, 740-744.
• Yuan, D.X., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Dykoski, C., Kelly, M.J., Zhang, M.L., Qing, J.M., Lin, Y.S., Wang, Y.G., Dorale, J.A., An, Z.S., and Cai, Y.J. 2004. Timing, duration, and transitions of the Last Interglacial Asian Monsoon. Science 304, 575-578.
• Edwards, R.L., Gallup, C.D., Cutler, K.B., and Cheng, H. 2004. Geochemical Evidence for Quaternary Sea Level Changes, Chapter 17, v.6, in Treatise on Geochemistry, H.D. Holland and K.K. Turekian: Executive Editors, H. Elderfield: Volume 6 Ed.

*designates student author

• 8/2003 to 8/2006, Comer Science and Education Foundation, Rates, timing, and causes of abrupt changes in the Asian Monsoon and their relationships to abrupt climate change in other regions
• 3/2004 to 12/2005, National Geographic Society, A high resolution record of climate and vegetation from Amazonian caves
• 5/2004 to 4/2007, NSF, Holocene/deglacial abrupt climate change and variability of the Western Pacific Warm Pool from multi-decadal to century-scale coral climate records
• 6/2004 to 5/2007, NSF, A high resolution speleothem record of Holocene, Late Glacial and Last Interglacial climate and vegetation from the North American mid-continent
• 6/2005 to 5/2008, NSF, Full-Holocene decadal-scale isotopic Paleoclimate record from speleothems, Oregon Coast Range
• 8/2005 to 7/2010, NSF, High resolution absolute-dated histories of northern and southern low latitude precipitation: links between low and high latitude climate over glacial-interglacial cycles
• 9/2005 to 7/2007, NSF, Evolution of marine mammal foraging behavior based on Ca and C isotope ratios in bioapatite