Our REsearch Projects
MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS
As Earth’s atmospheric temperatures and human populations increase, more people are becoming vulnerable to natural and human-induced disasters. This is particularly true in Central America, where the growing human population is experiencing climate extremes and the region is susceptible to a multitude of geological hazards. We are a group of 65+ scientists that are working on an International Continental Scientific Drilling Program project in the Lake Izabal Basin. The Lake Izabal Basin contains the longest continental records of tectonics, climate, and environmental change in the northern tropics. The goals of the project are to explore climate and ecological changes in the region during the last 8 million years and to establish a plate boundary observatory that can help monitor seismicity in the region. This project provides the opportunity to increase societal awareness of geosciences in Guatemala, a country that is faced with several hazards yet knowledge on these is generally lacking. Learn more about ICDP and the projects that they support here.
TECTONIC PROJECTS
LISA - Lake Izabal seismic array
Seismic monitoring plays a pivotal role in our ability to understand and mitigate the impacts of earthquakes, providing real-time data that helps scientists and authorities assess seismic activity and potential hazards, and respond effectively to seismic events. In preparation for the LIBRE project, Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner, Dr. Stephen Gao, and M.Sc. student Grant Clark we will be traveling to Guatemala to install 40 seismic stations in the vicinity of the 1976 Guatemala Earthquake epicenter, sponsored by the US National Science Foundation. By deploying a network of seismometers, accelerometers, and other sensitive instruments, we will detect ground vibrations and record seismic waves generated by earthquakes. This data will allow us to pinpoint the location, depth, and magnitude of earthquakes. This data will help us with ongoing research on the mechanics of earthquakes, fault behaviors, and the earth’s internal dynamics, and help us assess seismic risk for the region.
unveiling past earthquakes
Unveiling past earthquakes is important to comprehend Earth’s complex geological history. By studying evidence of past earthquakes, such as fault scarps, ground ruptures, and sedimentary evidence, we can reconstruct a timeline of seismic events that is not documented in historical records. Our goals are to better understand seismic events in the country of Guatemala and establish a knowledge base that can help devise effective strategies to mitigate future seismic risk. To accomplish our goals, we have been trenching the Motagua Fault and coring several lakes in the vicinity of active tectonic faults, sponsored by the US National Science Foundation. Our work will provide a better understanding of Guatemala’s earthquake history, allowing us to contribute to more accurate predictive models and enabling Guatemalan communities to be better prepared against the impacts of future earthquakes.
PALEOCLIMATE PROJECTS
reconstructing late holocene hydroclimate
Late Holocene paleoclimate reconstructions are pivotal to unravel the intricate dynamics of Earth’s climate system and to contextualize current climatic changes. By studying proxy records in sediment cores, we can reconstruct past climate conditions with remarkable accuracy. This project is led by US National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow Dr. Derek Gibson in collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner, Dr. Alex Correa-Metrio, Dr. Melissa Berke, and scientists from the Autoridad para el Manejo Sustentable de la Cuenca del Lago de Atitlán y su Entorno and from the Instituto Nacional de Bosques. The goals are to determine the timing, magnitude, and spatial patterns of precipitation variability across western Central America during the last 2000 years. By providing a long-term perspective on climatic changes, we can provide a valuable perspective on the potential implications of ongoing global warming and aid in efforts to mitigate its impacts and develop resilient strategies for the future.
paleolimnology of guatemalan lakes
We are working on a large-scale project looking at the paleoclimatic and environmental history of five lakes in Guatemala. We have been collaborating with AMSCLAE, AMASURLI, INAB, CONAP, USAC, and Defensores de la Naturaleza to study lakes Atitlán, Ayarza, Lachuá, Chichoj, and Izabal. We successfully collected sediment gravity cores from the five lakes in March 2023 and are planning on collecting longer sediment cores in January of 2024. Our goals are to study sediment cores that provide insights into past climatic and environmental changes. We have a group of scientists and students interested in reconstructing past climate (Dr. Derek Gibson, Ph.D. student Suvrajit Ghosh, Dr. Melissa Berke), environmental monitoring and land use changes (Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner, Ph.D. students Oluwakunle Ogunsakin and Victor Anyanna), natural hazards (Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner, Dr. Nigel Wattrus, Ph.D. student Trenton McEnaney, M.Sc. student Quin Stangeland), ecosystem evolution (Dr. Liset Perez, Dr. Paula Echeverria Galindo, Dr. Jeffery Stone), and carbon cycle and accumulation (Dr. Peter Douglas, Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner). Our multi-prong approach offers a unique perspective into Earth’s history and provides critical data for addressing contemporary environmental, climate, and ecological challenges.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE PROJECTS
BIODIVERSITY ON A CHANGING PLANET project
Coastal freshwater ecosystems are well-known for being biologically diverse and they provide important services to humans worldwide. With continued global warming and melting of ice sheets, these coastal systems are at risk of being flooded by marine waters. Around 8,000 years ago, Lake Izabal, Lake Golfete, and the surrounding wetlands were inundated by marine waters, causing a catastrophic environmental change to the freshwater system. We are a group of scientists sponsored by the US National Science Foundation to study how the ecosystem responded to this abrupt environmental change. Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner, Dr. Melissa Berke, Dr. Jeffery Stone, Dr. Trisha Spanbauer, and Dr. Caleb McMahan and their students will be traveling to Guatemala to study lakes Izabal and Golfete. Our goals are to reveal how the environment and biota responded to the marine water inundation, providing crucial information to assess how this and other at-risk ecosystems will respond to future sea-level rise. We aim to provide essential data for managers and entities to safeguard these important biological hotspots, establish strong international relationships, and engage with local communities and governmental and educational institutions in Guatemala.
revealing the history of the lake izabal basin
The Lake Izabal Basin in Guatemala preserves one of the longest records of continental sediments in the tropics, allowing us to study and develop a better understanding of how the area responded to key climate and environmental events in the past. Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner and Dr. Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe and their students have a US National Science Foundation funded project to investigate and understand how environmental and ecological conditions changed in the continental tropics during several key intervals in Earth’s history. We are combining information from sediment cores and outcrops to study the infill of the Lake Izabal Basin.
EDUCATION
GUATEMALA GEOHAZARDS PROJECT
The Guatemala GeoHazards program is an internship opportunity sponsored by the US National Science Foundation for US undergraduate students that features one-on-one faculty-student mentoring of research both in the field in Guatemala and in the lab at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The project is led by Dr. Tina Niemi, in collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Obrist-Farner, Dr. Alison Graettinger, Dr. Francisco Gomez, and Guatemalan collaborators Omar Flores, Sergio Moran, Carla Gordillo, and Carlos Perez. Learn more about the project or how to apply here.
Madre tierra
Madre Tierra or Mother Earth is a book focused on the territory of Guatemala that, through engaging infographics, explores the formation of our planet and its tectonic movements, the nature of volcanoes, the region’s privileged climate, and the variety of ecosystems that characterize the land of eternal spring. This work is essential for any reader who wants to understand the geological and ecological transformation of the world through the lens of Earth sciences, and it also serves as an urgent call to action to understand, protect, and give a breather to the environment in the face of pollution and destruction that threaten our well-being.
You can download a copy of the book here.