Dr. Neil F. Humphrey

Professor

Glaciology, Earth Surface Processes

Office Phone: (307) 314-2332

Geology and Geophysics
Dept. 3006, University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming 82071 Office Room No: GE 320
Email: neil@uwyo.edu

➤ Personal Website

Education

Geology, PhD, University of Washington, 1987
Geology, MS, University of Washington, 1983
Geology, BS, University of British Columbia, 1978

Publications

For publications please see my personal web site.

Courses

GEOL2150 - Geomorphology
GEOL4880 - Surficial Processes
GEOL4888 - Glaciology

Current Graduate Students:

• Jon Prewett - MS Candidate

Research Statement

For current research projects, and more information, go to my personal web site.

My research has emphasized the study of cold regions, however undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral co-workers are studying a breadth of projects. Most of the projects have received outside funding, and much of my research is collaborative with other universities and is carried out at remote field sites.

Current major projects include:

• Measurement of in situ-stress and strain in glaciers involves a glaciological field program in south central Alaska including the 3-D instrumentation of a 200m cube of ice, and subsequent theoretical and analytical modeling of the ice rheology. This is an ongoing project that requires field workers as well as work in computer/theoretical analysis.
• An ongoing study of chemical denudation in cold assesses the contributions of alpine and continental glaciations on the geochemical budgets of the Earth?s surface. Fieldwork is primarily in Alaska.
• Modeling long-time scale and large-space scale interactions of rivers and landscapes involves theoretical and numerical simulation of large-scale interactions of rivers and the landscape, based on simplified kinematic and diffusion modeling of river behavior. Very large scale Geomorphology!
• A study of sediment transport by river ice evaluates the prevalence, importance and mechanisms of the creation of anchor ice and subsequent sediment transport events in rivers of cold regions. Current work is in Wyoming
• Downstream fining of grain size in river systems by floodplain weathering is examined by using a combination of field studies, tumbling mill experiments, and experiments with radio tracking of river rocks.
• Analysis of rock glaciers for alpine climate records is a new project studying the feasibility of obtaining ice cores from alpine rock glaciers in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming for analysis of past climate. A pilot study is planned to begin (with University of Colorado researchers) near Cody, Wyoming, in the summer of 1997.