Matthew Lachniet

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Professor of Geology

Expertise: Climate Change, Quaternary Geology, Paleoclimatology

Biography

Matthew Lachniet, a professor in the department of geoscience, focuses on understanding the controls on Earth’s climate on time scales ranging from seasonal to hundreds of thousands of years, with a particular focus on tropical, desert southwest, and arctic past climates. These data inform understanding of modern and anthropogenic climate change.

Lachniet uses light stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry, hydrology, speleology, glacial geology, geomorphology, and the sedimentary record to answer questions of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change. His primary research areas are Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Alaska, and the Great Basin. His research goal is to constrain past climate changes in these regions using proxy records. He is particularly interested in generating rainfall histories for Central America and to evaluate the climate forcings of climate change and variability in the neotropics.

Education

B.S., Geology, Antioch College
M.S., Geology, Michigan State University
Ph.D., Geology, Syracuse University

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Matthew Lachniet In The News

The monsoon season and the rain it usually produces has been abnormally dry this summer in Las Vegas. The season, which runs from June through mid-September, has dropped just 0.08 inches of rain here, according to the National Weather Service.

Hersfelder Zeitung

Two unknown people destroyed an ancient rock formation in Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada, USA, in just a few seconds. A video showing the two men in the act has been circulating on X (formerly Twitter) since the beginning of April. The national park authorities have therefore initiated an investigation and are asking the public to help find the perpetrators.

Anchorage Daily News

A video posted to social media this month captured two men destroying ancient rock formations at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada. National park rangers are asking for the public’s help in identifying the visitors, who could face federal charges for vandalizing protected land.

Earlier this month, a video posted to social media captured two men destroying ancient rock formations at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada. National park rangers are asking for the public’s help in identifying the visitors, who could face federal charges for vandalizing protected land.