André W. Droxler Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics Research Interests: Marine Geology, Paleoceanography, Carbonate Sedimentology, and Evolution of Carbonate Platforms More Information About André Droxler Tel (713) 527-4885 Fax (713) 285-5214 Email andre@rice.edu

Research | Publications | Graduate Students

RESEARCH:
My past and current research programs involve detailed studies of carbonate periplatform sedimentary records and environments. Areas where research has been and is conducted include the Nicaragua Rise and Belize (Caribbean Sea), the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas (Northwestern Atlantic Ocean), the Maldives (equatorial Indian Ocean), and the Queensland Plateau/Great Barrier Reef (Southwest Pacific Ocean).

My current students and I are involved in comparative research programs of Holocene, Pleistocene, and Neogene sediments deposited in deep environments surrounding shallow carbonate platforms. We are focusing our studies on:

(1) processes related to recent carbonate sedimentation and

(2) the understanding of variations through time of carbonate mineralogy, micropaleontology and geochemistry in periplatform sediments with direct global and regional implications with respect to paleoceanography, paleoclimatology, and paleoecology.

Another objective of our research is to better understand the Cenozoic, especially Neogene, evolution of modern carbonate platforms by means of bathymetric and high resolution seismic surveys, coring and dredging, as well as drilling. In the past ten years, I have been directly involved with the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and have participated as sedimentologist at four ODP Legs, Leg 101 in the Bahamas (1985), Leg 115 in the Maldives (1987), Leg 133 in Northeast Australia (1990), and Leg 165 in the Caribbean (1996). With my graduate students, I am working on:

• the Cenozoic evolution of Pedro Channel, a deep basin on the northern Nicaragua Rise

• on the Oligocene and Miocene evolution of carbonate platforms in the Maldive Inner See

• on the Pliocene and Quaternary evolution of the mixed carbonate system of the Belize continental margin. We have also imaged with 24 channel, 2.5D, 3D very high resolution seismic

• on the late Quaternary Southern Bank, a one km-wide in diameter coralgal bank that established itself during the first part of the Last Deglaciation (18-11 ka) on the South Texas shelf edge offshore Corpus Christi

• on the global marine neritic and pelagic carbonate systems during the mid Brunhes within an emphasis on oxygen isotope stage 11

In addition, I teach several undergraduate and garduate courses in paleoceanography/paleoclimatology, sedimentology, oceanography, marine geology, and supervise a High Resolution Seismic Acquisition Facility.

PUBLICATIONS:

• "Proc. ODP, Init. Repts., 165": Ocean Drilling Program, 1997, with H. Sigurdsson, R.M. Leckie, G.D. Acton, and shipboard scientific party.

• "Neritic and elagic carbonate sedimentation in the arine environent:ignorance is not bliss." Geol. Rundsch, 85, (1996) p. 496-504, with Milliman, J.D.

• "Metastable CaCO3 dissolution at intermediate water depths of the Caribbean and western North Atlantic: Implications for intermediate water circulation during the past 200,000 years." Paleoceanography, 11/6, (1996) 701-716, with Haddad, G.A.

• "Seismic stratigraphy and depositional signatures of the Maldives carbonate system (Indian Ocean)." Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 13, no5, (1996) pp. 503-536, with Aubert, O.

SOME FORMER GRADUATE STUDENTS:

• Karen S. Glaser, Ph.D. 1993 - Late Quaternary Periplatform Sediments and Environments on the Northeastern Nicaragua Rise (Caribbean Sea).

• Geoffrey A. Haddad, Ph.D. 1994 - Calcium Carbonate Dissolution Patterns at Intermediate Water Depths of the Tropical Oceans during the Quaternary.

• Olivier Aubert, Ph.D. 1994 - Origin and Stratigraphic Evolution of the Maldives (Central Indian Ocean).

• James P. Schwartz, Masters 1996 - Late Quaternary Periplatform Sediments and Paleoenvironments Analysis of Pedro Channel, Northern Nicaragua Rise, Caribbean Sea.

• Vitor S Abreu, Ph. D. 1997 - Oligocene/Miocene Sea Level Changes Inferred from Seismic and Well Log Sequence Stratigraphy, Calibrated by Oxygen and Carbon Isotope Stratigraphy along the Brazilian Atlantic Margin.

• Andrew D. Cunningham, Ph. D. 1997 - Cenozoic Evolution of Pedro Channel (Northern Nicaragua Rise): Implication for Global Ocean Surface Circulation.

• Andrei Belopolsky, Ph.D candidate - The Pliocene and Quaternary Evolution of the Mixed Carbonate System of the Belize Continental Margin.

• Joy Roth, Masters candidate - The Caribbean Carbonate Crash at the Middle to Late Miocene Transition

• Michelle Shearer, Masters cadidate - Quaternary Carbonate Preservation Records in the Carribean; Proxies for Antarctic Intermediate Water Mass Flux

• Amanda Mosola, Ph. D. candidate

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