Geosciences Department
John I. Garver outside by a river in winter

John I. Garver

Job Title
Professor of Geosciences
F.W. Olin Center 317

Areas of expertise

Tectonics, sedimentation, geochronology, Mohawk River, water quality

Research interests

Primary interests are on flood hazards, watershed analysis, the sediment record of environmental change, tectonics, the systematics of zircon, and environmental radioactivity. The main research focus in the area of tectonics is on the evolution of orogenic belts in the Pacific Rim using geochronology of detrital minerals. Studies of radioactivity involve understanding the distribution of uranium and radon in natural rocks. Research in the Hudson and Mohawk watersheds is directed at understanding hydrology, sediment budget, pathogens and water quality, and the effects of climate change in the watershed. Part of this work is directed to assessing water quality in local streams and rivers using fecal indicator bacteria.

Field Areas: Pacific Rim, including Alaska; Maine, Mohawk watershed

Teaching interests

GEO 117: Natural Disasters
GEO 160: Environmental Challenges in the Mohawk Watershed
GEO 201: Stratigraphy And Depositional Environments of New York

Publications

Garver, J.I., (2018). Ice Jam flooding on the lower Mohawk River and the 2018 mid-winter ice jam event In: Cockburn, J.M.H. and Garver, J.I., Proceedings from the 2018 Mohawk Watershed Symposium, Union College, Schenectady NY, 23 March 2018, v. 10, p. 13-18.

Garver, J.I., Capovani, E., and Pokrzwka D., (2018). Photogrammetric models from UAS mapping and ice thickness estimated of the 2018 mid-winter Ice jam on the Mohawk River, NY, In: Cockburn, J.M.H., and Garver, J.I., Proceedings from the 2018 Mohawk Watershed Symposium, Union College, Schenectady NY, 23 March 2018. p. 19-24.

Hardie, RA, Schneider, DA, Garver, JI, (2017). (U-Th)/He thermochronology of the Ottawa Embayment, Eastern Canada: the temperature-time history of an ancient, intracratonic rift basin, Journal of Geology, v. 125.

Davidson, C. and Garver, JI, (2017). Age and origin of the Resurrection Ophiolite and associated turbidites of the Chugach-Prince William terrane, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, Journal of Geology, v. 125.

Montario, M.J., and Garver, J.I., 2009 The thermal evolution of the Grenville Terrane revealed through U-Pb and Fission-Track analysis of detrital Zircon from Cambro-Ordovician quartz arenites of the Potsdam and Galway Formations, vol. 117, no. 6, p. 595-614.

Draper, S., Evans, J., Garver, J.I., and Kirschner, D. and Janecke, S.U. 2009, Arkosic rocks from the San Andreas Fault observatory at Depth (SAFOD) borehole, central California: implications for tectonics along the San Andreas Fault. Lithosphere 1; p. 206-226.

Gombosi, D.J., Barbeau, D.L., Garver J.I., 2009. New thermochonometric constraints on the rapid Paleogene exhumation of the Cordillera Darwin complex related thrust sheets in the Fuegian Andes. Terra Nova (in press).

Enkelmann, E., Zeitler, P.K., Pavlis, T.L., Garver, J.I., Ridgway, K.D. 2009. Intense Localized Rock Uplift and Erosion in the St. Elias Orogen of Alaska. Nature Geoscience 2, no. 5, 360-363.

Perry, S.E., Garver, J.I., and Ridgeway, K., 2009, Transport of the Yakutat Terrane, southern Alaska, evidence from sediment petrology and detrital zircon fission-track and U/Pb double dating. Journal of Geology. V. 117, n. 3. p. 156-173.

Garver, J.I., 2008, Fission-track dating. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, V. Gornitz, (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Earth Science Series, Kluwer Academic Press, p. 247-249.

Garver, J.I., Reiners, P.R., Walker, L.J., Ramage, J.M., Perry, S.E., 2005, Implications for timing of Andean uplift based on thermal resetting of radiation-damaged zircon in the Cordillera Huayhuash, northern Perú, Journal of Geology, v. 113, n. 2, p. 117-138.

Garver, J.I., and Cockburn, J.M.H. 2009. A historical perspective of Ice Jams on the lower Mohawk River. In: Cockburn, J.M.H. and Garver, J.I., Proceedings from the 2009 Mohawk Watershed Symposium, Union College, Schenectady NY, p. 25-29.

Bucci, A., and Garver, J.I., 2009, The temporal pace of landslide movement determined from growth asymmetry in Tsuga canadensis, Bowman Creek, Mohawk River watershed, NY. In: Cockburn, J.M.H. and Garver, J.I., Proceedings from the 2009 Mohawk Watershed Symposium, Union College, Schenectady NY, p. 8-11.

Cockburn, J.M.H., Garver, J.I., and Kern, A., 2009, Current trends and future possibilities: monitoring for the future and how watershed dynamics may be affected by global climate change. In: Cockburn, J.M.H. and Garver, J.I., Proceedings from the 2009 Mohawk Watershed Symposium, Union College, Schenectady NY, p. 14-18.

Additional media

Academic credentials

B.A., Middlebury College; M.S., University of Washington; Ph.D., University of Washington