University of Washington ESS Home

Short Biography

Portrait of Katharine Huntington

Katharine Huntington
  Assistant Professor
  Office: JHN-353
     ESS Mailing Address
  Phone: 206-543-1750
  Fax: 206-543-0489 (shared)
  E-Mail: kate1 @ u.washington.edu
  Homepage: http://faculty.washington.edu/kate1

  Research Groups: Climate and Paleoclimate, Sedimentology/Stratigraphy/Sedimentary Petrology, Structural Geology, Tectonics and Geodynamics, Geomorphology

Areas of Interest:
Tectonics & landscape evolution.

Education:
Ph.D. : Geology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006
BS : Geological Sciences and Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001

Current Research Interests:
My research investigates the interactions of deformational, thermal, and surface processes that shape mountain systems and landscapes.

My latest interests include topographic and drainage basin evolution, temporal and spatial scales of sediment delivery, transients in mountain ranges related to climate change, and regional geology including Himalaya-Tibet, western North America, and the European Alps.

The research tools I use & develop draw from the fields of regional tectonics, geochronology, structural geology, geomorphology, isotope geochemistry, and sedimentology, and include field-based, laboratory, and numerical modeling approaches.

I am particularly enthusiastic about the application of two new tools - detrital thermochronology of modern river sediments and 'clumped' 13C-18O carbonate thermometry. Together, they can shed light on erosion, surface processes, the thermal evolution of the crust, and the elevation and climatic history of Earth's surface.

* Visit http://faculty.washington.edu/kate1 to read more about projects and opportunities in my lab.

Selected Publications:
( "Ruhl, K."   =   "Huntington, K. W." )

Huntington, K.W., Bourgeois, J., Gelfenbaum, G., Lynette, P., Jaffe, B., Yeh, H., and Weiss, R., 2007. Sandy signs of a tsunami's onshore depth and speed, EOS, Trans., AGU. Lead article, 88(52), 577-578.

Huntington, K.W., Ehlers, T.A., Hodges, K.V., Whipp, D.M. Jr., 2007. Topography, exhumation pathway, age uncertainties, and the interpretation of thermochronometer ages, Tectonics, 26, TC4012, doi: 10.1029/2007TC002108.

Huntington, K.W., Blythe, A., and Hodges, K., 2006. Climate change and Late Pliocene acceleration of erosion in the Himalaya, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 252, 107-118.

Huntington, K.W., Hodges, K., 2006, A Comparative study of detrital mineral and bedrock age-elevation methods for estimating erosion rates, Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 111(F3), F03011 10.1029/2005JF000454.

Ruhl, K.W., and Hodges, K.V., 2005. The use of detrital mineral cooling ages to evaluate steady-state assumptions in active orogens: An example from the central Nepalese Himalaya, Tectonics v. 24, TC4015.

* Please visit http://faculty.washington.edu/kate1 to find and download my complete publication list and full CV.