Most of my research has involved wind-blown sediments on the Great Plains (Quaternary) and on the Colorado Plateau (Pennsylvanian through Jurassic). A recently completed project focused on rain-slumped strata within the Navajo Sandstone along the Utah-Arizona border. Clint Rowe and I have been trying to use the cross-strata in the Navajo to figure out atmospheric circulation over the supercontinent Pangea during the Early Jurassic. I've also been working in recent years with vertebrate paleontologists on some exciting Cretaceous sites in Mongolia, China, and Patagonia.

The Nebraska Sand Hills cover nearly one fourth of the state of Nebraska and provide some "ground truth" for interpretations of ancient wind-blown sandstones. More important, however, is their record of Quaternary climate change on the Great Plains. Recent work has shown that most of this giant dunefield--including bedforms up to 400 feet high--was active only a few thousand years ago. Jim Swinehart of the Conservation and Survey Division of University of Nebraska, my students, and I have been studying the interactions of streams, dunes, and lakes on the Great Plains during the latest Pleistocene and the Holocene. A group of UNL ecologists, meteorologists, hydrogeologists, and geologists recently were awarded a large ($1.8 million), 4-year grant, Sand Hills Biocomplexity: Intergrating Biogeophysical Processes Across Space and Time", from the National Science Foundation's Biocomplexity Program.

The UNL Geosciences' Luminescence Geochronology Lab has been a real stimulus to our work in the Sand Hills. Colleague Ron Goble's new OSL dates come directly from eolian deposits; we no longer have to rely on dating buried carbon-rich soils or peats for our chronology of drought events.

Class websites

• Geology 101
• STRAT-SED WEB

Supplementary materials

• Photos - Gobi Desert Dinosaurs
• Photos - Caicos Platform Carbonates
• Photos - Himalayas, Nepal--Annapurna Circuit
• Photos - Dino Eggs, Argentina
• Photos - Navajo Sandstone trace fossils
• Photos - Navajo Sandstone- Rain-Induced Slumps
• Photos - Red Chert- Canyonlands
• Photos - Dune Dams, western Sand Hills
• Photos - Bison Tracks, Nebraska Sand Hills
• Photos - Namibia Dunes and Wildlife (view in html)
• Photos - Namibia Dunes and Wildlife (download 53 MB PPT file)
• Poster - Inputs of Tephra and Sulfuric Acid to an Ancient Great Plains Playa (Oligocene of Nebraska)(2.8 MB)
• Poster - Tropical Westerlies over Pangean Sand Seas(912 KB)
• Movie - Grainfall lamina sieves to base of grainflow
• Poster - Dry-Sand Tracks in Dinosaur-Triggered Grainflows(3.9 MB PDF)
• Photos -Type 1 & Type 2 Pin Stripes
• Poster - Wind Erosion of Navajo Sandstone Outcrops (2.6 MB)
• Photos - Large burrow in the Entrada Sandstone filled by eolian cross-strata (1.0 MB); High-resolution color versions of figures in 2006 Journal of Geology article: Fig.5 (8.4 MB; Fig.6 (1.8 MB); Fig.7 (3.7 MB); Fig.8 (11.9 MB); Fig.9 (6.9 MB)
• Photos -trip to Cyprus (view in html)
• manscript text fig1 fig2A Fig 2B Fig3 Fig4 Fig5 Fig6 Fig7 Fig8 fig9 Fig10 Fig11

Selected Research Publications (click on title for PDF)

• Schmeisser, R.L., Loope, D.B., and Mason, J.A., 2010,Modern and late Holocene wind regimes over the Great Plains (central U.S.A.) Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 29, p. 554-566 (1.4 MB)
• Schmeisser, R.L., Loope, D.B., and Wedin, D.A., 2009, Clues to the Medieval destabilization of the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA, from ancient pocket gopher burrows Palaios, v. 24, p. 809-817 (2.3 MB)
• Loope, D.B., Seiler, W.M., Mason, J.A., and Chan, M.A., 2008, Wind scour of Navajo Sandstone at The Wave (Central Colorado Plateau, U.S.A). Journal of Geology, v. 116, p. 173-183 (1.4 MB)
• Milan, J., Loope, D.B., and Bromley, R.G., 2008, Crouching theropod and Navahopus sauropodomorph tracks from the Early Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of USA Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, v. 53 (2), p. 197-205 (696 KB)
• Loope, D.B., 2008, Life beneath the surfaces of active Jurassic dunes: Burrows from the Entrada Sandstone of south-central Utah PALAIOS, v. 23, p. 411-419 (3.7 MB)
• Feng, S., Oglesby, R.J., Rowe, C.M., Loope, D.B., and Hu, Q., 2008, Atlantic and Pacific SST influences on Medieval drought in North America simulated by the Community Atmospheric Model, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 113, D11101, doi:10.1029/2007JD009347 (1.5 MB)
• Rowe, C.M., Loope, D.B., Oglesby, R.J., Van der Voo, R., and Broadwater, C.E., 2007, Inconsistencies between Pangean reconstructions and basic climate controls: Science, v. 318, p. 1284-1286 (472 KB)
• Graversen, O., Milan, J., and Loope, D.B., 2007, Dinosaur tectonics: A structural analysis of theropod undertracks with a reconstruction of theropod walking dynamcs Journal of Geology, v. 115, p. 641-654 (1.3 MB)
• Miao, X., Mason, J.A., Swinehart, J.B., Loope, D.B., Hanson, P.R., Goble, R.J., and Liu, X., 2007, A 10,000 year record of dune activity, dust storms, and severe drought in the central Great Plains Geology, v. 35, p.119-122 (336 KB).
• Milan, J. and Loope, D.B., 2007, Preservation and erosion of theropod tracks in eolian deposits: examples from the Middle Jurassic Entrada Sandstone, Utah, U.S.A.: Journal of Geology, v. 115, p. 375-386 (1.1 MB).
• Ekdale, A.A., Bromley, R.G., and Loope, D.B., 2007, Ichnofacies of an ancient erg: A climatically influenced trace fossil association in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, southern Utah, USA: In: Miller, W. (editor),Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems, Prospects, p. 562-574 (18.3 MB)
• Sridhar, V., Loope, D.B., Swinehart, J.B., Mason, J.A., Oglesby, R.J., and Rowe, C.M., 2006, Large Wind Shift on the Great Plains during the Medieval Warm Period: Science, v. 313, p. 345-347 (1.6 MB).
• Loope, D.B., 2006, Burrows dug by large vertebrates into rain-moistened, Middle Jurassic dune sand: Journal of Geology, v. 114, p. 753-762 (4.7 MB; see above for high-resolution, color versions of figures).
• Loope, D.B.,2006,Dry-season tracks in dinosaur-triggered grainflows: PALAIOS, v. 21, p. 132-142 (8.8 MB)
• Loope, D.B., Mason, J.A., Bao, H., Kettler, R.M., and Zanner, C.W., 2005, Deformation structures and an alteration zone linked to deposition of volcanogenic sulphate in an ancient playa (Oligocene of Nebraska, USA): Sedimentology, v. 52, p. 123-139 (1.5 MB)
• Loope, D.B., Steiner, M.B., Rowe, C.M., and Lancaster, N., 2004,Tropical westerlies over Pangean sand seas: Sedimentology, v. 51, p. 315-322. (340 KB)
• Goble, R.J., Mason, J.A., Loope, D.B., and Swinehart, J.B., 2004,Optical and radiocarbon ages of stacked paleosols and dune sands in the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA: Quaternary Science Reviews, 23, p. 1173-1182 (572 KB)
• Jackson, F.D., Garrido, A., Schmitt, J.G., Chiappe, L.M., Dingus, L., and Loope, D.B., 2004, Abnormal, multilayered titanosaur (Dinosauria : Sauropoda) eggs from in situ clutches at the Auca Mahuevo locality, Neuquen Province, Argentina: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 24, p. 913-922 (716 KB)
• Mason, J.A., Swinehart, J.B., Goble, R.J., and Loope, D.B., 2004,Late-Holocene dune activity linked to hydrological drought, Nebraska Sand Hills, USA: The Holocene, v. 14, p. 209-217 (624 KB)
• Loope, D., Eisenberg, L., and Waiss, E., 2004, Navajo sand sea of near-equatorial Pangea: Tropical westerlies, slumps, and giant stromatolites, in Nelson, E.P. and Erslev, E.A. eds., Field Trips in the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA: Geological Society of America Field Guide 5, p. 1-13. (9.1 MB)
• Loope, D.B. and Rowe, C.M., 2003,Long-lived pluvial episodes during deposition of the Navajo Sandstone: Journal of Geology, v. 111, p. 223-232. (1.4 MB)
• Bao, H., Thiemens, M.H., Loope, D.B., and Yuan, X.-L., 2003, Sulfate oxygen-17 anomaly in an Oligocene ash bed in mid-North America: Was it the dry fogs?Geophysical Research Letters, v. 30, no. 16, 1843, doi:10.1029/2003GL016869.(2.4 MB)
• Loope, D.B. and Abegg, F.E., 2001, Recognition and geologic preservation of ancient carbonate eolianites: SEPM Special Publication 71, p. 3-16. (7.2 MB)
• Loope, D.B., Rowe, C.M., and Joeckel, R.M., 2001, Annual monsoon rains recorded by Jurassic dunes: Nature, v. 412, p. 64-66. (284 KB)
• Sweeney, M.R. and Loope, D.B., 2001,Dune-sourced alluvial fans of the Nebraska Sand Hills: Geomorphology. v. 38 p. 31-46. (956 KB)
• Bao, H., Thiemens, M.H., Farquhar, J., Campbell, D.A., and Loope, D.B., 2000, Anomalous 17O compositions in massive sulfate deposits on the Earth: Nature, v. 406, p. 176-178. (172 KB)
• Chiappe, L., Dingus, L., Jackson, F., Grellet-Tinner, G., Coria, R., Clarke, J., Garrido, A., and Loope, D., 2000, Sauropod eggs and embryos from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia: First International Symposium on Dinosaur Eggs and Babies [Isona, Spain]: Extended Abstracts, p. 23-29 (2.9 MB)
• Muhs, D.R., Swinehart, J.B., Loope, D.B., Been, J. Mahan, S.A., and Bush, C.A., 2000, Geochemical evidence for an eolian sand dam across the North and South Platte Rivers in Nebraska: Quaternary Research, v. 53, p. 214-222.
• Loope, D.B. and Dingus, L., 1999, Mud-filled Ophiomorpha from Upper Cretaceous continental redbeds of Southern Mongolia: An ichnologic clue to the origin of detrital, grain-coating clays: PALAIOS, v. 14, p. 452-459. (5.4 MB)
• Loope, D.B., Mason, J.A., and Dingus, L., 1999, Lethal sandslides from eolian dunes: Journal of Geology, v. 107, p. 707-713. (568 KB)
• Loope, D.B., Dingus, L., Swisher, C.C. III, and Minjin, C., 1998,Life and death in a Late Cretaceous dunefield, Nemegt Basin, Mongolia: Geology, v. 26, p. 27-30. (3.4 MB)
• Kilibarda, Z. and Loope, D.B., 1997, Jurassic eolian oolite on a paleohigh in the Sundance Sea, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming: Sedimentology, v. 44, p. 391-404. (5.9 MB)
• Loope, D.B., Swinehart, J.B., and Mason, J.P., 1995, Dune-dammed wetlands and buried paleovalleys of the Nebraska Sand Hills: Intrinsic vs.climatic controls on the accumulation of lake and marsh sediments: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 107, p. 396-406. (5.9 MB)
• Loope, D.B., 1986, Recognizing and utilizing vertebrate tracks in cross section: Cenozoic hoofprints from Nebraska: PALAIOS, v. 1, p. 141-151.(4.7 MB)

Articles for a Broader Audience

• Dingus, L. and Loope, D.B., 2000, Death in the Dunes, Natural History Magazine, v. 109, no. 6, p. 50-55. (3.7 MB)

• Loope, D.B., and Swinehart, J.B., 2000, Thinking Like a Dune Field: Great Plains Research, v. 10, p. 5-35. (2 MB)
• Loope, D.B., and Rowe, C.M., 2005, Seasonal Patterns of Wind and Rain Recorded by the Navajo Sandstone, Canyon Legacy, v. 54, p. 8-12. (7.4 MB)
• Loope, D.B., and Mason, J.A., 2009, Wind erosion of the wind-deposited Navajo Sandstone, USA, Geology Today, v. 25, no. 2, p. 65-70. (3.7 MB)

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• UNL Department of Geosciences Home Page
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