Professional Interests:
I love to work with a range of data sets to solve complex puzzles, from continental deformation to interdisciplinary environmental science problems. My main area of research focuses on sedimentary basins and the structural evolution of continental extension. My students and I work in the central Basin and Range, east of Las Vegas, and use a variety of tools to examine the tectonic and geomorphic evolution of the area. I currently have an EDMAP grant to support this work, and am working with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology as well as the United States Geological Survey on this Lake Mead project. I also work with local community partners, such as the City of Woodbury and The Nature Conservancy, to explore vegetation changes, stormwater management issues, and stream restoration. These hands-on projects give students in Environmental Science courses the chance to collect and analyze real data, learn about environmental issues and effective solutions, explore career options, and advance the Common Good, a key part of our mission at St. Thomas. I also led a project for the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization as part of our Environmental Science capstone class.
I love to engage undergraduate students in research and give them the opportunity to present their work at regional and national conferences. I also love to help students with designing and realizing their careers, how to get ‘paid to play’!
Courses
- ESCI 132: Introduction to Environmental Science
- GEOL 115: Environmental Geology
- GEOL 130: Earth History
- GEOL 211: Earth Materials
- GEOL 260: Regional Geology and Geological Field Methods
- GEOL 340 and 360: Fundamentals of the Lithosphere I and II (Petrology, Tectonics and Structural Geology)
- GEOL 460: Advanced Geological Field Methods
- ESCI 430: Environmental Science Capstone.
Recent Publications:
Hickson, T.A., Theissen, K.M., Lamb, M.A., Frahm, J., 2016, Lower Pahranagat Lake: modern analogue for extensive carbonate deposition in paleolakes of the Miocene Rainbow Gardens and Horse Spring Formations, Journal of Paleolimnology, doi 10.1007/s10933-016-9923-1.
Lamb, Melissa, Beard, L. Sue, Hickson, Tom, Umhoefer, Paul, Dunbar, Nelia, Schleicher, Jillian and McIntosh, William, Late Oligocene–early Miocene landscape evolution of the Lake Mead region during the transition from Sevier contraction to Basin and Range extension, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2015, v. 127, no. 7-8, p. 899-925, doi:10.1130/B31144.1
Umhoefer, P., Lamb, M., and Beard, L.S. (Eds), 2010, Miocene Tectonics of the Lake Mead Region, Geology Society of America Special Volume 463, 441 p.
Lamb, M., Martin, L., Hickson, T., Umhoefer, P. & Eaton, L., 2010, Deposition and age of the lower Horse Spring Formation in the Longwell Ridges Area, southern Nevada, In Umhoefer, P., Lamb, M., and Beard, L.S. (Eds), Miocene Tectonics of the Lake Mead Region Geology Society of America Special Volume 463, p. 171-202.
Hickson, T., Ness, A., & Lamb, M., 2010, Deposition and age of the Bitter Ridge Limestone member of the Horse Spring Formation, Bitter Ridge to Gale Hills, Lake Mead, Nevada, In Umhoefer, P., Lamb, M., and Beard, L.S. (Eds), Miocene Tectonics of the Lake Mead Region Geology Society of America Special Volume 463, p 121-146.
Abstracts:
Sciamanda, Marianne, Kellner, Jack R., Lamb, Melissa, Clotts, Rebecca, Pastika, Daniel W., Welter, Dylan J., Brown, Jessica M., Schuweiler, Taylor K., Mohanty, Rani B., Vang, Kaja M., Nichols, Kathryn S., Lorah, Paul A., and Robinson, Derek O., 2016, Piping Plover Habitat Loss at the Nature Conservancy’s John E. Williams Preserve, Central North Dakota: an Interdisciplinary Study of Alkaline Prairie Pothole Glacial Lakes, Groundwater, Gravel Beaches and Vegetation Encroachment, American Geophysical Union National Meeting, December 2016.
Brundrett, Chelsea, Lamb, Melissa and Beard, L. Sue, 2014, Determining the Location and Magnitude of Basin and Range and Laramide Faulting, Southern Nevada, American Geophysical Union National Meeting, December 2014.
Lamb, Melissa, Cashman, Sue, Dorsey, Rebecca, Bennett, Scott, Loveless, John Goodliffe, Andrew, 2014, Incorporating Cutting Edge Scientific Results from the Margins-Geoprisms Program into the Undergraduate Curriculum, Rupturing Continental Lithosphere Part I: Introducing Seismic Interpretation and Isostasy Principles Using Gulf of California Examples, American Geophysical Union National Meeting, December 2014.
Loveless, John, Bennett, Scott, Cashman, Sue, Dorsey, Rebecca, Goodliffe, Andrew, and Lamb, Melissa, 2014, Incorporating Cutting Edge Scientific Results from the Margins-Geoprisms Program into the Undergraduate Curriculum, Rupturing Continental Lithosphere Part II: Introducing Euler Poles Using Baja-North America Relative Plate Motion Across the Gulf of California, American Geophysical Union National Meeting, December 2014.
Lamb, M.A., Anderson, Z.W., Pomerleau, Crystal, Umhoefer, P.J., Dunbar, N., and McIntosh, W., 2014, Determining styles of hanging-wall deformation in continental extension, the Lovell Wash Member of the Horse Spring Formation, Lake Mead area, Nevada, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 46, No. 5, p. 97.
Bernardi, Francesca, Brundrett, Chelsea, Moe, Connor, Bramigk, Collin, and Lamb, Melissa, 2014, Researching Basin and Range extension: discovering growth faults in an advanced undergraduate field course in the Lake Mead area, southern Nevada, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 46, No. 5, p. 36.
Umhoefer, P.J., Lamb, M.A., Hickson, T.A., Cains, A., Winston, J., Borer, D., Dunbar, N., McIntosh, W., and Beard, L.S., 2014, Paleogeography of the Horse Spring Formation in the Lake Mead domain (Nevada) from 18 to 12 Ma: did a river flow into or through it? Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 46, No. 5, p.97
Pomerleau, C., Lamb, M., and Hickson, T.A., 2014, Climatic and tectonic controls on lacustrine isotopic variability within the Miocene Horse Spring Formation, southern Nevada, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 46, No. 5, p.97.
Dunbar, N. W., McIntosh, W.C., Umhoefer, P.J., Lamb, M.A., and Hickson, T.A., 2013, Tephra Deposits in Lake Mead Miocene Sediments: Characteristics, Chronology, and Sources: American Geophysical Union National Meeting, Fall 2013.
Pomerleau, Crystal, Hickson, Thomas, and Lamb, Melissa A., 2013, Large Isotopic Database on Lacustrine Carbonates of the Horse Spring Formation Characterizes the Extreme Variability of Continental Rift Lakes, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 45, No. 7, p. 818.
Anderson, Z.W., Lamb, Melissa A., Umhoefer, P.J., and Hickson, Thomas, 2013, Structural and Basin Evolution of the Upper Horse Spring Formation Along the Eastern Terminus of the Las Vegas Valley Shear Zone, Lake Mead Domain, Nevada, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 45, No. 7, p. 171.
Hickson, Thomas, Theissen, Kevin, Lamb, Melissa A., Frahm, Jacob, Pomerleau, Crystal, Edwards, Conor, and Chatmas, Emily, 2013, Lower Pahranagat Lake: Modern Analogue for Lacustrine Carbonate Microbial Facies of the Horse Spring Formation?, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 45, No. 7, p. 674.
Lamb, Melissa A., Beard, L. Sue, Foster, Malia, Pomerleau, Crystal, Dunbar, Nelia, McIntosh, William, Hickson, Thomas, and Umhoefer, Paul J., 2013, Pushing Back the Onset of Extension in the East-Central Basin and Range: a previously unrecognized unconformity in the Lower Horse Spring Formation, Lake Mead Area Southern Nevada, Provides Evidence of Regional Uplift, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 45, No. 7, p. 56.
Foster, Malia, Lamb, Melissa A., Beard, L. Sue, Pomerleau, Crystal, Dunbar, Nelia, McIntosh, William, Hickson, Thomas, and Umhoefer, Paul J., 2013, Sandstone Provenance of the Rainbow Gardens Member, Miocene Horse Spring Formation, Southern Nevada, Provides Evidence of Regional Uplift, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 45, No. 7, p. 562.
Hickson, Thomas, Lamb, Melissa A., De Lambert, Jane, and Kennedy-Harper, Anna, 2012, Facies Architecture and Mineralogy of Miocene Microbially-dominated Carbonate Lakes of the Horse Spring Formation, Southern Nevada, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 44, No. 7, p. 438.
Schanzenbach, Ana Maria, Lamb, Melissa A, Tobin, Brett J. and Hickson, Thomas A., 2011, Late Miocene fossil lakes of the Lake Mead Region: implications for paleogeography and transtentional faulting during Basin and Range extension, Geological Society of America National Meeting, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 43, No. 5, p. 276.
Lamb, Melissa, Beard, Sue, Hickson, Thomas, Umhoefer, Paul, Schliecher, Jillian, Kopp, Jessie, and Sitton, Mark, 2011, Oligocene-Miocene paleogeography of the Lake Mead region: The Rainbow Gardens Member of the Horse Spring Formation records pre-extensional tectonics of the central Basin and Range, Rocky Mountain (63rd Annual) and Cordilleran (107th Annual) Joint Meeting, Logan, Utah (18–20 May 2011), Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 70.
Hickson, Thomas, Umhoefer, Paul and Lamb, Melissa, 2011, Status of research on climate, tectonics, and landscape evolution in Cenozoic basins of the central and northern Basin and Range, Rocky Mountain (63rd Annual) and Cordilleran (107th Annual) Joint Meeting Logan, Utah (18–20 May 2011), Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 70.
Jenzen, Erynn, Hickson, Thomas, and Lamb, Melissa, 2011, Paleosols of the Rainbow Gardens Member of the Miocence Horse Spring Formation, Lake Mead region, Nevada: paleoenvironments, tectonics and landscape evolution, Rocky Mountain (63rd Annual) and Cordilleran (107th Annual) Joint Meeting (18–20 May 2011), Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 13.
Umhoefer, Paul, Hickson, Thomas, and Lamb, Melissa, 2011, Climatic versus tectonic controls on sedimentary facies in the Oligocene-Miocene Horse Spring Formation, Lake Mead Domain, Nevada, Rocky Mountain (63rd Annual) and Cordilleran (107th Annual) Joint Meeting (18–20 May 2011), Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 70.
Hickson, Thomas, Lamb, Melissa, Umhoefer, Paul and Beard, Sue, 2010, Using basin analysis to test models of transtensional faulting and the inception of extension in the Lake Mead region, 2010 GSA Denver Annual Meeting (31 October –3 November 2010), Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 42, No. 5, p. 366.
Kopp, Jessie, Hickson, Thomas, and Lamb, Melissa, 2010, Novel approach to isotope stratigraphy: using lateral variation in stable δ13C isotopes to determine basin position, 2010 GSA Denver Annual Meeting (31 October –3 November 2010), Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 42, No. 5, p. 304.
Lamb, Melissa, Hickson, Thomas, Umhoefer, Paul, and Beard, Sue, 2010, Understanding upper-plate deformation through basin analysis and structural studies in a large-offset extensional system, Lake Mead region, Nevada, presented at the National 2010 Structural Geology and Tectonics Forum, Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, Geological Society of America, Madison, WI, May 19-22, 2010.
Umhoefer, P., Lamb, M., and Beard, L.S., 2010, Updates on the tectonics and paleogeography of the Lake Mead region from ~25 to ~8 Ma: lakes and local drainages in an extending orogen, but no through-going river?, presented at the Colorado River Evolution 2 Conference, Flagstaff, AZ, May 24-25, 2010.