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Wegmann's Wordle, v. 5.0 — Created from publication abstracts as of January 2016
Overview of Current Research Interests and Efforts
My research interests include the intersections of the fields of geomorphology, active tectonics,geodynamics, paleoseimology, paleoclimatology, and biogeomorphology. I approach research problems in a field-based, process-oriented, multidisciplinary manner.
My current research addresses questions such as:
How do landscapes respond to tectonic and climatic forcing, and are there distinct topographic, erosional, stratigraphic, and bio-genetic signatures of these forces?
How constant in space and time is strain accumulation and release across convergent margins? How do long-term geologic and geomorphic estimates compare to short-term geodetic measurements?
What conspiracy of geologic, seismologic, and climatic factors is important to the initiation of large, deep-seated bedrock landslides?
Within a given region, is the timing of landslide movement clustered or scattered?
Active Grants:
1. NSF-Directorate for Geosciences - Continental Dynamics - Co-PI
Collaborative Research - Intracontinental Deformation and Surface Uplift: Geodynamic Evolution of the Hangay Dome, Mongolia, Central Asia
Start Date: 08/15/2010
End Date: 08/31/2015
2. American Chemical Society - Petroleum Resource Fund, Doctoral New Investigator Grant - PI
Active Outer Forearc Basin Formation by Syn-Convergent Extension above the Hellenic Subduction Zone, Crete, Greece
Start Date: 01/01/2011
End Date: 08/31/2014, with 1-year Extension
PhD Candidate Sean Gallen was recently awarded first place in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences category at the 2012 NC State Graduate Student Symposium for his PRF-funded research
on: Assessing Fault Activity Using Quaternary Marine Terraces: Testing Models for Earthquake Hazards and Topographic Development above the Hellenic Subduction Zone, Crete, Greece.
See the Announcement and interview with Sean
3. US Geological Survey - Co-PI
Assessment of the Potential Association of Stream Bank Erosion and Sedimentation with the Distribution and Abundance of Unionids in Streams at
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Start Date: 08/27/2012
End Date: 06/30/2014
4. NSF - Directorate for Geosciences - Geomorphology and Landuse Dynamics - Co-PI
Start Date: 09/15/2012
End Date: 09/14/2014
DESCRIPTIONS OF SELECTED RESEARCH PROJECTS:
DESCRIPTIONS OF SELECTED RESEARCH PROJECTS:
Geodynamic Evolution Of The Hangay Dome, Mongolia Central Asia (Please see our project website)
Geodynamic Evolution Of The Hangay Dome, Mongolia Central Asia (Please see our project website)
High-elevation, low relief surfaces are common on continents. These intercontinental plateaus influence river networks, climate, and the migration of plants and animals. How these plateaus form is not clear. We are studying the geodynamic processes responsible for surface uplift in the Hangay in central Mongolia to better understand the origin of high topography in continental interiors.
Ancient Hominids may have been Seafarers - Research from Crete that
utilizes marine terrace geochronology from part of my Ph.D. thesis
Visit the Plakias Stone Age Project website for more details
Strasser, T. F., Runnels, C., Wegmann, K., Panagopoulou, E., McCoy, F., Digregorio, C., Karkanas, P., and Thompson, N., 2011, Dating Palaeolithic sites in southwestern Crete, Greece: Journal of Quaternary Science, v. 26, no. 5, p. 553-560.
Strasser, T. F., E. Panagopoulou, C. N. Runnels, P. M. Murray, N. Thompson, P. Karkanas, F. W. McCoy, and K. W. Wegmann (2010), Stone age seafaring in the Mediterranean: Evidence from the Plakias Region for Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Habitation of Crete, Hesperia, 79(2), 145-190.
See article in Science News - January 8th, 2010
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/53219/title/Ancient_hominids_may_have_been_seafarers
See article in The Times (London) online - January 18th, 2010
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article6991643.ece
See online article on The American School of Classical Studies at Athens website - February 1, 2010
http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/News/newsDetails/plakias-survey-finds-stone-age-tools-on-crete/
See article in the New York Times - February 16, 2010 - On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html?hpw
See article on The National Geographic Daily News Site - February 17, 2010 - Primitive Humans Conquered Sea, Surprising Finds Suggest
See article in the May/June 2010 issue of Archaeology - From The Trenches: Bon Voyage, Caveman
Strasser, T.F., Runnels, C., Wegmann, K., Panagopoulou, E., McCoy, F., Digregorio, C. Karkanas, P., and Thompson, N., 2011,
Dating Palaeolithic sites in southwestern Crete, Greece: Journals of Quaternary Sciences, v. 26, no. 5, p. 553-560.
Strasser, T. F., Runnels, C., Panagopoulou, E., Karkanas, P., Thompson, N., Wegmann, K. W., and McCoy, F. W., 2010,
Palaeolitich and Mesolithic Crete: The results of the Plakias Survey: Hesperia, v. 79, no. 2.
Assessing the Environmental Legacy of Colonial and Antebellum-Era
Water Powered Milldams on Geo-Bio Systems of North Carolina Piedmont Streams
Wegmann, K. W., Lewis, R. Q., and Hunt, M. C., 2012, Historic mill ponds and piedmont steram water quality:
making the connectin near Raleigh, North Carolina, in Eppes, M. C., and Bartholomew, M. J., eds.,
From the Blue Ridge to the Coastal Plain: Field Excursions in the Southeastern United States:
Geological Society of America Field Guide 29: Boulder, Geological Society of America, p. 93-121.
Landslide dammed Lakes - paleoseismic archives
In July of 2009, Joe Kasperski (NCSU senior geology major) spent a week collecting samples of rooted snags from the bottom of the Upper and Lower Greenwater Lakes for radiocarbon dating. Joe is working on correlating the timing of landslide movement to known regional paleoseismic events, in order to determine if the landslide damming these two lakes might have been seismically-triggered.
Landslide-dammed Upper Greenwater Lake, July 2009 Underwater photographs of conifer snags rooted in the bottom of Upper Greenwater Lake, July 2009
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