Nicholas Lancaster

Research Professor

Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences

Email: nick@dri.edu

Right: Dr. Lancaster on a sand dune in the Gran Desierto of Mexico

Education

Professional Interests

Nicholas Lancaster is the world's foremost expert on desert sand dunes. He has worked in deserts in Africa (Namib, Kalahari, northern and western Sahara), Antarctica, and the western United States (Mojave and Sonoran Deserts). His current collaborative research focuses on: (1) Dune sedimentary processes, including the dynamics of lee slope avalanching; (2) Application of remote sensing to assess aeolian transport potential and paleoenvironments in arid regions; (3) Ground penetrating radar (GPR) and optical dating of dune deposits; (4) Impacts of climatic change on desert regions; and (5) Aeolian processes on planetary surfaces

His work has been recognized by the award of the Dandini Medal of Science from DRI in 1994, a Distinguished Career Award from the Geomorphology Speciality Group of the Association of American Geographers in 1997, and the Farouk El-Baz Award for 2001 from the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the Geological Society of America, and the NSHE Regent's Researcher Award for 2007.

Current Funded Projects

• Sand Seas and Dune Fields of the World: A digital Quaternary Atlas
• Visualization of Desert Sand Dune Development
• Exploring Planetary Surfaces: Earth, Moon, and Mars (NASA EPSCoR; co-PI)
• Nevada Infrastructure for Climate Change Research, Education, and Outreach (co-PI)- for details see:
  http://www.nevada.edu/epscor/nsf-projects.html

Recent Publications

2009

Katra, I. Scheidt, S., Lancaster, N., 2009:

Changes in eolian active sand in the northern Coachella Valley, California, Geomorphology, 105, 3-4, 277-290.

Lancaster, N., 2009:

Dune morphology and dynamics, In: Parsons, A.J. and Abrahams, A.D (eds.) Geomorphology of Desert Environments, 2nd edition, 557-595.

2008

Titus, T.N., Lancaster, N., Fenton, L, Bourke, M., 2008:

Priorities for Future Research on Planetary Dunes, Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 89, 45, 447-448.

Lancaster, N., 2008:

Desert dune dynamics and development: insights from luminescence dating, Boreas, 37, 559-573. 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2008.00055.

Breton, C., Lancaster, N., Nickling, W.G, 2008:

Magnitude and frequency of grain flows on a desert sand dune, Geomorphology, 95, 518-523.

Katra, I. and Lancaster, N., 2008:

Surface-sediment dynamics in a dust source from spaceborne multispectral thermal infrared data, Remote Sensing of Environment, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2008.03.016.

Scheidt, S., Ramsey, M., Lancaster, N., 2008:

Radiometric normalization and image mosaic generation of ASTER thermal infrared data: An application to extensive sand sheets and dune fields, Remote Sensing of Environment, 112, 920-933, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2007.06.020.

2007

Bristow, C.S., Duller, G.A.T., Lancaster, N., 2007:

Age and dynamics of linear dunes in the Namib Desert, Geology, 35, 6, 555-558.

Lancaster, N., 2007:

Low latitude dune fields, in Elias, S.A. (editor), Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Elsevier, 626-642.

2006

Beveridge, C., Kocurek, G., Ewing, R., Lancaster, N., Morthekal, P., Singhvi, A.K., Mahan, S.A., 2006:

Development of spatially diverse and complex dune-field patterns: Gran Desierto Dune Field, Sonora, Mexico, Sedimentology, 53, 6,1391-1409.

Selected Older Publications

Bristow, C.S., Lancaster, N., Duller, G.A.T., 2005:

Combining ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys and optical dating to determine dune migration in Namibia, Journal of the Geological Society, London, 162, (2) 315-322.

Bristow, C.S. and Lancaster, N., 2004:

Movement of a small slipfaceless dome dune in Namibia. Geomorphology, 59,1-4, 189-196.

Lancaster, N., 2004:

Relations between aerodynamic and surface roughness in a hyperarid cold desert: McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 29, 853-867.

Lancaster, N., Kocurek, G., Singhvi, A.K., Pandey, V., Deynoux, M., Ghienne, J-P.,

Lo, K., 2002, Late Pleistocene and Holocene dune activity and wind regimes in the western Sahara of Mauritania, Geology, 30 (11), 991-994.

Kocurek, G. and N. Lancaster, 1999:

Aeolian system sediment state: Theory and Mojave Desert Kelso Dunefield example. Sedimentology, 46, 505-516.

Ramsey, M.S., P.R. Christensen, N. Lancaster, and D.A. Howard, 1999:

Identification of sand sources and transport pathways at the Keso Dunes, California using thermal infrared remote sensing. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 111, 646-662.