Saxon E. Sharpe

Associate Research Professor

Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences

Email: Saxon.Sharpe@dri.edu

Right: Dr. Sharpe preparing to collect packrat middens from a cave in the White Pine Range, Nevada. Photo courtesy of Joseph FitzGerald.

Education

Professional Interests

My research focuses on inferring paleoclimate from past biotic systems. These analyses estimate past climate variability and place our current climate into a long-range context. Specifically, I am interested in the interaction between biotic systems and climate: how climate variation can affect individual species and communities and their various responses to climate change. Some of my most recent work indicates that the ionic composition and concentration of water can be estimated using spring and wetland mollusks, thus creating a new methodology for assessing past geochemistry, hydrology, and climate. I also use the stable isotopic composition of oxygen ( δ¹⁸O) in mollusk shell carbonate to help determine the relations among past geochemistry, hydrology, and climate. These two lines of evidence, used separately or together, can enhance our understanding of past hydrologic and climate variability, thus providing insight into future variability. Additionally, I analyze plant remains in packrat middens to reconstruct vegetation, landscape, and climate change over time. I feel that it is essential to apply the results of paleoenvironmental studies to help solve problems facing urban and natural areas such as water quality and availability, natural versus human-induced climate variation, loss of biodiversity, and the effects of global warming on natural biotic communities and agriculture.

Research

Selected Publications and Professional Papers

Sharpe, S.E. and Forester, R.M. (in press, accepted manuscript)

Continental-aquatic mollusk hydrochemical occurrence patterns: Implications for population dynamics and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Quaternary International.

Sharpe, S. E. (2007)

Using the Precession Methodology to Time Past Glacial and Interglacial Climates in "GSA Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 39", 28-31 October, 2007. Denver, CO. ISSN 0016-7592. (Poster). http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/responses/2007AM/251.pdf.

Sharpe, S.E. (2007)

Using modern through mid-Pleistocene climate proxy data to bound future variations in infiltration at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in Levich, R.A., and Stuckless, J.S., eds., The Geology and Climatology of Yucca Mountain and Vicinity, Southern Nevada and California: Geological Society of America Memoir 199, p. 155-205, doi: 10.1130/2007.1199(05).

Sharpe, S.E., M.E. Cablk, and J.M. Thomas (2007)

The Walker Basin, Nevada and California: Physical Environment, Hydrology, and Biology. Desert Research Institute Technical Report #41231, May 2007, 63 p.

Johnson, W.G., Sharpe, S.E., Bullard, T.F. and Lupo, K. (2005)

Characterizing a First Occurrence of Bison Deposits in Southeastern Nevada. Western North American Naturalist 65(1): 24-35.

Sada, D.W. and Sharpe, S.E. (2004) (eds.)

Conference Proceedings. Spring-fed Wetlands: Important Scientific and Cultural Resources of the Intermountain Region. http://www.wetlands.dri.edu

Sharpe, S.E. (2004)

Solute Composition: A Parameter Affecting the Distribution of Freshwater Gastropods In Conference Proceedings. Spring-fed Wetlands: Important Scientific and Cultural Resources of the Intermountain Region. http://www.wetlands.dri.edu

Sharpe, S.E. (2004)

Chapter 6, Climate: Past Present and Future, Yucca Mountain Site Description Revision 02. Civilian Radioactive Waste Management System Management and Operating Contractor. Yucca Mountain Project.

Waugh, J., S. Link, E. McDonald, D. Rhode, and S. Sharpe. (2003)

Characterization of the Environmental Envelope for the Design of Long-Term Covers: Closeout Report. GJO-2003-485-TAC, Environmental Sciences Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, CO.

Sharpe, S.E. (2003)

Future Climate Analysis – 10,000 to 1,000,000 Years After Present. Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. MOD-01-001 Rev. 01. Yucca Mountain Project (http://hrcweb.nevada.edu/qa/Report/MOD-01-001.pdf).

Sharpe, S.E. (2002)

Constructing Seasonal Climograph Overlap Envelopes From Holocene Packrat Midden Contents, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado. Quaternary Research 57:306-313.

Sharpe, S., McDonald, E., Bullard, T., and Rhode, D. (2001)

Work Plan for Natural and Archaeological Analog Studies at the CERCLA Waste Disposal Cell, Monticello, Utah. Prepared for Environmental Sciences Laboratory US DOE.

Sharpe, S.E. and Forester, R.M. (2001)

Reconstructing Past And Forecasting Future Climate At Yucca Mountain, Nevada In "Back to the Future - Managing the Back End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle to Create a More Secure Energy Future," Proceedings of the 9th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM), April 29 - May 3, 2001, Las Vegas, Nevada. La Grange Park, Illinois: American Nuclear Society.

Sharpe, S.E. (2000)

Section 6, Climatology and Meteorology, Yucca Mountain Site Description, Civilian Radioactive Waste Management System Management and Operating Contractor. TDR-CRW-GS-000001 Rev 01 ICN 01. Yucca Mountain Project.

Curriculum Vitae, Publications, and Presentations