Dr. Charles E. Jones
 Lecturer and Undergraduate Advisor for the Geology and Environmental Geology B.S. programs
 Dept. of Geology and Planetary Science
503 S.R.C.C. Building
 University of Pittsburgh
 Pittsburgh, PA 15260
 Phone: (412) 624-6347
 Fax: (412) 624-3914
 Email: cejones@pitt.edu
 
     Education 
  • B.S. with honors and distinction, Stanford University, 1988
  • Ph.D. on "Seawater Strontium Isotopes in the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous", Oxford University, 1992
  • Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan, 1996
     Honors and Awards 

  • Rhodes Scholarship (tenable at Oxford University for three years)
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Studies Fellowship (declined)
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Firestone Major Grant for Undergraduate Research (See Jones, 1991, below.)
     Classes Taught

     Geologic Images Web Page

A web database of geologic images such as are commonly shown in introductory geology classes is currently under construction. The list of topics will include:

  • Astronomical images relating to the origin of the Earth and Solar System
  • Minerals
  • Igneous Rocks, Intrusive Bodies, Volcanic Systems
  • Sedimentary Rocks
  • Metamorphic Rocks
  • Geologic Structures
  • Weathering
  • Mass Wasting
  • River Systems
  • Deltas
  • Beaches
  • Glaciers
     Research Interests 

My research involves the geochemistry of sedimentary rocks and fossils as applied to problems in paleoceanography and global climate change. Here is a list of some of the projects I've worked on:

  • Inferring the timing of Andean uplift and changes in continental weathering using Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes from Amazon Fan detrital sediments. Such work is necessary if we are to understand the relationship between uplift, weathering rates, and associated global climate change.
  • Using the seawater Sr-isotope curve to infer major short-term pulses of sea-floor hydrothermal activity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous. These pulses coincided in time with world-wide pulses of black-shale deposition. These shales are major source rocks for the world's oil and must represent remarkable perterbations of the ancient global carbon cycle.
  • Using Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes in eolian sediments recovered from the North Pacific to work out the continental source area of these sediments and to constrain the natural eolian inputs of Nd and Pb to seawater. The former work helps constrain studies that use the size and accumulation rates of marine eolian sediments to document past changes in wind strength of continental aridity while the later provides important information for those seeking to understand the signficance of past variations in oceanic Nd and Pb isotopic ratios.
  • Looking at the preservation of Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes in microscopic fossil fish teeth in order to determine if these teeth can be used to develop paleo-seawater records of Nd and Pb isotopic variations. Such variations are related to changing patterns of deep ocean circulation and changing inputs of Nd and Pb.
  • Dating of ancient limestones using U-Pb isotope systematics. Direct geochronologic age constraints are often the best way to distinguish between one of several possible hypotheses. My work focused particularly on understanding how limestone diagenesis affected the U-Pb isotope system: exactly when did the spread in U/Pb ratios occur (thus setting the clock going) and how sensitive is this sysytem to post-depositional diagenetic change?
  • Using belemnites and oysters to develop a Jurassic and Cretaceous seawater Sr-isotope curve. I developed an excellent dataset that remains the standard for this roughly 100 Myr interval of time. The data are useful for global marine stratigraphic correlation and for understanding relative changes in the rate of sea floor hydrothermal activity and the nature of continental weathering.


     On-Going Projects

  • Geochemistry of Amazon Fan sediments in relation to Andean uplift, continental weathering, and climate change
  • Use of fish teeth in reconstructing history of Nd and Pb isotopic variations in ancient seawater
  • Tracing the provenance of dust using Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes in North Pacific sediments
    Recent Abstracts

  • Jones, C.E., Foglesong, P.A., 1999, Estimated impact of Andean uplift on the Sr-isotope budget of the Amazon River since 55 Ma, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, v. 80, no. 46, p. 1039.
  • Foglesong, P.A., Jones, C.E., 1999, The Cenozoic history of tectonic uplift and weathering in the Amazon Basin as recorded by sediments on the Ceara Rise, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 31, no. 7.

    Publications

  • Jones, C.E. and Jenkyns, H.C., 2002, Seawater Sr isotopes, oceanic anoxic events, and sea floor hydrothermal activity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, American Journal of Science.
  • Jones, C.E., Halliday, A.N., Rea, D.K., and Owen, R.M., 2000, Eolian inputs of Pb to the North Pacific, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 64, p. 1405-1416.
  • Price, G.D., Ruffell, A.H., Jones, C.E., Kalin, R.M., Mutterlose, J., 2000, Isotopic evidence for temperature variation during the early Cretaceous (late Ryazanian-mid-Hauterivian), Journal of the Geological Society, London, v. 157, p. 335-343
  • Erba, E., Channell, J.E.T., Claps, M., Jones, C.E., Larson, R., Opdyke, B., Premoli Silva, I., Riva, A., Salvini, G. and Torricelli, S., 1999, Integrated stratigraphy of the Cismon APTICORE (Southern Alps, Italy): A "reference section" for the Barremian-Aptian interval at low latitudes, in Huber, B., Bralower, T.J., and Leckie, R.M. Biotic Change and Paleoecology of Black Shale Environments: A Memorial to William V. Sliter, Journal of Foraminiferal Research v. 29, p. 371-391.
  • Barrera E., Savin S. M., Thomas E., and Jones C. E. (1997) Evidence for thermohaline circulation reversals controlled by sea-level change in the latest Cretaceous: Geology v. 25, p. 715-718.
  • Weber, E.T., Owen, R.M., Dickens, G.R., Halliday, A.N., Jones, C. E., and Rea, D.K., 1996, Quantitative resolution of eolian continental crustal material and volcanic detritus in North Pacific surface sediment: Paleoceanography, v. 11, p. 115-127.
  • Jones, C. E., Halliday, A. N., and Lohmann, K. C., 1995, The impact of diagenesis on high precision U-Pb dating of ancient carbonates; an example from the Late Permian of New Mexico: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 134, no. 3-4, p. 409-423.
  • Snoeckx, H., Rea, D. K., Jones, C. E., and Ingram, B. L., 1995, Eolian and silica deposition in the central north Pacific: Results from Leg 145 Sites 885/886: ODP Sci Res, v. 145, p. 219 230.
  • Jones, C. E., Halliday, A. N., Rea, D. K., and Owen, R. M., 1994, Neodymium isotopic variations in North Pacific modern silicate sediment and the insignificance of detrital REE contributions to seawater: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 127, no. 1-4, p. 55-66.
  • Jones, C. E., Jenkyns, H. C., Coe, A. L., and Hesselbo, S. P., 1994, Strontium isotopic variations in Jurassic and Cretaceous seawater: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 58, no. 14, p. 3061-3074.
  • Jones, C. E., Jenkyns, H. C., and Hesselbo, S. P., 1994, Strontium isotopes in Early Jurassic seawater: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 58, no. 4, p. 1285-1301.
  • Smalley, P. C., Higgins, A. C., Howarth, R. J., Nicholson, H., Jones, C. E., Swinburne, N. H. M., and Bessa, J., 1994, Seawater Sr isotope variations through time; a procedure for constructing a reference curve to date and correlate marine sedimentary rocks: Geology, v. 22, no. 5, p. 431-434.
  • Jones, C. E., 1991, Characteristics and origin of rock varnish from the hyperarid coastal deserts of northern Peru: Quaternary Research, v. 35, no. 1, p. 116-129.
     

 Updated: January 2006