Gail M. Ashley

Professor II; Director, Quaternary Studies Program
Room 239A Wright Geological Laboratory
(732) 445-2221
gmashley@rci.rutgers.edu

Education

• B.S., M.S., University of Massachusetts
• Ph.D., University of British Columbia

Teaching

• Undergraduate: Sedimentology, Geomorphology, The Quaternary Period
• Graduate: Sedimentary Geology, Depositional Environments, Sedimentology in Continental Rifts
• Graduate: Rivers and Floodplains

Research Interests

East African Research - [Link]

My research is focused on the Quaternary epoch, a time of rapid climate change. I study modern physical processes and deposits of glacial, fluvial, lacustrine, arid landscapes, coastal and marine environments and use this information to interpret paleoenvironments.

I have three ongoing projects: (1) reconstruction of paleoenvironments and paleoclimate history in the East African rift valley (Tanzania and Kenya); (2) interpretation of modern, Holocene and Pleistocene rift valley freshwater wetlands; (3) sea-level history of the New Jersey continental margin during the late Quaternary using high-resolution seismics and sedimentology.

“Freshwater wetlands on the Loboi Plain, Lake Bogoria, Kenya”

“ Ashley examining ripple drift sedimentary structures in Noatak Valley, Alaska”

Recent Publications

• Malyk-Selivanova, N., Ashley, G.M., Gal, R., Glascock, M.D., and Neff, H., 1998, Geological-geochemical approach to "sourcing" of prehistoric chert artifacts, Brooks Range, northwestern Alaska: Geoarchaeology; an International Journal.
• Stanford, S.D., Ashley, G.M. and Brenner, G.J., 2001, Late Cenozoic fluvial stratigraphy of the New Jersey Piedmont: a record of glacioeustasy, planation, and incision on a low-relief passive margin. Journal of Geology, v. 109, p. 265-276.
• Ashley, G.M., 2001, Archaeological sediments in springs and wetlands. (in Stein, J.K. and Farrand, W.R., eds.) Sediments in Archaeological Contexts, Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press, p. 183-210.
• Ashley, G.M., 2002, Geologists probe hominid environments, GSA Today. v. 10, n. 2, p. 24-29.
• Ashley, G.M. and Driese, S.G., 2002, Paleopedology and paleohydrology of a volcaniclastic paleosol interval: implications for early Pleistocene stratigraphy and paleoclimate record, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 70, n. 5 p.1065-1080.
• Deocampo, D.M., Blumenschine, R.J., Ashley, G.M., 2002, Freshwater wetland diagenesis, fossil vertebrates, and traces of early hominids in the lowermost Bed II (~ 1.8 myr) playa lake-margin at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Quaternary Research, v. 57, p. 271-281.
• Ashley, G.M., Goman, M., Hover, V.C., Owen, R.B., Renaut, R.W., Muasya, A.M., 2002, Artesian blister wetlands, a perennial water resource in the semi-arid rift valley of East Africa. WETLANDS, 22(4), p. 686-695.
• Blumenschine, R.J., Peters, C.R., Masao, F.T., Clarke, R.J., Deino, A.L., Hay, R.L., Swisher, C.C., Stanistreet, I.G., Ashley, G.M., McHnery, L.J., Sikes, N.E., van der Merwe, N.J., Tactikos, J.C., Cushing, A.E., Deocampo, D.M., Njau, J.K., Ebert, J.I., 2002, Lake Pliocene Homo and hominid land use from western Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Science, v. 299, p. 1217-1221.
• Ashley, G.M. and Hay R.L.,2002, Sedimentation patterns in an Plio-Pleistocene volcaniclastic rift-margin basin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. In Sedimentation in Continental Rifts, SEPM Special Publication 73, p. 107-122.
• Liutkus, C.M. and Ashley, G.M., 2003, Sedimentology and stratigraphy of an ancient freshwater lake-margin wetland, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 73, 5 p. 691-705.
• Hover, V.C. and Ashley, G.M., 2003, Geochemical signatures of paleodepositional and diagenetic environments: a STEM/AEM study of authigenic clay minerals from an arid rift basin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Clays and Clay Minerals. v. 51, p. 231-251.
• Owen, R.B., Renaut, R.W., Hover, V.C., Ashley, G.M., and Muasya, A.M., 2004, Swamps, springs, and diatoms: wetlands regions of the semi-arid Bogoria-Baringo rift, Kenya. Hydrobiologia, v. 518 (1-3), p. 59-78.
• Ashley, G., Maitima Mworia, J.M., Muasya, A.M., Owen, R.B., Driese, S.G., Hover, Renaut, R.W., Goman, M.F., Mathai, S. and Blatt, S.H., 2004, Sedimentation and evolution of a freshwater wetland in a semi-arid environment, Loboi Swamp, Kenya, East Africa. Sedimentology, v. 51, p.1-21.
• Driese, S.G., Ashley, G.M., Li, Z-H., Hover, V.C., and Owen, R.B., 2004, Micromorphology, geochemistry, and stable carbon isotopes of late Holocene wetland and floodplain soils, Loboi Plain, Kenya: wetland pedogenesis in a semi-arid setting. Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 213, p. 231-250