Arjun M. Heimsath

School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE), Arizona State University (ASU)

Tempe, AZ 85287-1404

(480) 965-5585 (office) (603) 401-0645 (mobile)

(480) 965-8102 (FAX) Arjun.Heimsath@ASU.edu

Education

B.S. 1989 Yale College (Honors, Mechanical Engineering)

M.S. 1993 Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Ph.D. 1999 University of California, Berkeley (Geology)

Relevant Positions

2007-Present Associate Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, ASU

2000-2007 Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College

1999-2000 NSF Post-doctoral Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra

1989-1991 Water Development Engineer, US Peace Corps, Kenya

Select Academic Honors

2007-2008 Guggenheim Fellowship: Soil Erosion and Sustainability

2006 Crosby Distinguished Lectureship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2004 Dartmouth College Junior Faculty Fellowship

2004 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)

2003-2007 NSF CAREER Award (5 yr) for research on Geomorphic Transport Laws

2001-2002 Jan De Ploey Prize for contributions to Process Geomorphology

1999-2000 NSF Post-doc Fellow (2 yr) for research on sediment transport rates

1995-1998 NASA Graduate Student Fellowship in Global Change Research

1994-1995 Switzer Environmental Graduate Fellowship

Research Interests

Geomorphology; Tectonic geomorphology; digital terrain modeling; Quaternary climate changes; Carbon sequestration and the carbon budget; Exposure-age dating (¹⁰Be & ²⁶Al); Glacial geomorphology; Erosion and cliff retreat; Natural hazard assessment and prediction (landslides); Weathering processes and rates; ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al concentrations and production rates; Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and short lived isotopes (²¹⁰Pb, ⁷Be, ¹³⁷Cs, ²⁴¹Am) toward sediment transport processes; Human impacts on the landscape.

Field Experience

Soil production and erosion: California and Oregon Coast Ranges, Southeastern Australia, Northern Territories of Australia, South Africa, Nepal, Tibet, Chugach Range in Alaska (using cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al and topographic studies), South Africa.

Bedrock weathering: Southern Tibet, Nepal, Central and northern Australia, Southern California, Oregon Coast Range, Hubbard Brook, NH, Chugach Range in Alaska.

Exposure age dating: Southern Tibet, Nepal, Central Australia, Chugach Range in Alaska

Optically stimulated luminescence: Southeastern Australia

Carbon Sequestration: Southeastern Australia, northern California, Oregon Coast Range

Quaternary Climate Changes: Northern and southeastern Australia, Tibet, Nepal, China

Human Impacts: Central and coastal Kenya, South Africa, Indian Himalaya, Nepal Himalaya, Tibet, Oregon and California Coast Ranges.

Personal * Hindi as a second language, fluency in kiSwahili and Nepali.

* Rock climbing, mountaineering, triathlons, creative writing (poetry and stories).
Refereed Publications (* denotes student or post-doc author)

DiBiase, R.A., Whipple, K.X., Heimsath, A.M., and Ouimet, W.B. Landscape form and millennial erosion rates in the San Gabriel Mountains, CA. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, In Review.

Amundson, R., Dietrich, W.E., Bellugi, D., Ewing, S., Nishiizumi, K., Chong, G., Ebling, A., Owen, J., Finkel, R., Heimsath, A.M., and Caffee, M. Geomorphic evidence for the Late Pliocene onset of hyperaridity in the Atacama desert. GSA Bulletin. In Review.

Kaste, J.M.*, Bostick, B.C., Heimsath, A.M., Steinnes, E., and Friedland, A.J. The dynamics of Al, Fe, and Mn in aging organic matter: Insight from ²¹⁰Pb dating in the O horizon. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, In Review.

Pratt-Sitaula, B.A.*, Burbank, D.W., Heimsath, A.M., Humphrey, N., Oskin, M., Putkonen, J. Hypsometric control of asynchronous glacial advances in the Nepalese Himalaya. Geology. In Revision.

Burke, B.* Heimsath, A.M., and Kaste, J.M.*. Quantifying the spatial variability of chemical weathering across soil-mantled landscapes. Geoderma. In Revision.

Heimsath, A.M., Hancock, G.R., and Fink, D., 2009. The ‘humped’ soil production function: Eroding Arnhem Land, Australia. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. In press.

Heimsath, A.M., Chappell, J., and Fifield, K., 2009. Eroding Australia: Rates and processes from Bega Valley to Arnhem Land. Geological Society of London, Special Publication. In press.

Furbish, D.J., Haff, P.K., Dietrich, W.E., and Heimsath, A.M., 2009. Statistical description of slope-dependent soil transport and the diffusion-like coefficient. J. of Geophysical Research, In press.

O’Farrell, C.R.*, A.M. Heimsath, D.E. Lawson, L.M. Jorgensen*, E.B. Evenson, and G. Larson., 2009. Above the glacier: non-glacial erosion rates and processes feeding the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. In Press.

Dixon, J.L.*, Heimsath, A.M., Kaste, J.M.*, and Amundson, R., 2009. Climate driven processes of hillslope weathering. Geology. In press.

Dixon, J.L.*, Heimsath, A.M., and Amundson, R., 2009. The critical role of climate and saprolite weathering in landscape evolution. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. DOI: 10.1002/esp.

Cook, K.L.*, Whipple, K.X., Heimsath, A.M., and Hanks, T., 2009. Rapid incision of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon – insights from channel profiles, local incision rates, and modeling of lithologic controls. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. DOI: 10.1002/esp. 1790.

Burke, B* A.M. Heimsath, J. Chappell, and K. Yoo*, 2009. Weathering the escarpment: Chemical and physical rates and processes, southeastern Australia. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. DOI: 10.1002/esp.1764.

Heimsath, A.M. and McGlynn, R.S.*, 2008. Quantifying headwall retreat rates in the Nepal High Himalaya. Geomorphology, 97(1-2): 5-23. DOI:10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.02.046.

Pratt-Sitaula, B.A.*, Garde, M.*, Burbank, D.W., Oskin, M., Heimsath, A.M., and Gabet, E. 2007. Bedload ratio, regional erosion rate, and rapid bedrock incision from Himalayan landslide-dam lake record. Quaternary Research, 68: 111-120.

Harkins, N.*, Kirby, E., and Heimsath, A.M., 2007. Transient fluvial incision in the headwaters of the Yellow River, northeastern Tibet, China. J. of Geophysical Research. 112: F03S04.

Kirby, E., Johnson, C.*, Furlong, K., and Heimsath, A.M., 2007. Transient channel incision along Bolinas Ridge, California: Evidence for differential rock uplift adjacent to the San Andreas Fault. J. of Geophysical Research, 112, F03S07.

Yoo, K.*, R. Amundson, A. M. Heimsath, W. E. Dietrich, and G. H. Brimhall, 2007. Integration of geochemical mass balance with sediment transport to calculate rates of soil chemical weathering and transport on hillslopes. J. of Geophysical Research, 112: F02013.

Kaste, J.M.*, Heimsath, A.M. and Bostick, B. C., 2007. Short-term soil mixing quantified with fallout radionuclides. Geology, 35(3): 243-246.

Salant, N.L.*, Renshaw, C.E., Magilligan, F.J., Kaste, J.M.*, Nislow, K.H., and Heimsath, A.M., 2007. The use of short-lived radionuclides to quantify transitional bed load transport in a regulated river. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32: 509-524.

Burke, B* and Heimsath, A.M., and White, A.F., 2007. Coupling chemical weathering with soil production across soil mantled landscapes. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 32: 853-873.

O’Farrell, C.R.*, Heimsath, A.M., and Kaste, J.M.*, 2007. Quantifying hillslope erosion rates and processes for a coastal California landscape over varying timescales. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32: 544-560.

Magilligan F.J., Salant, N.L.*, Renshaw, C.E., Nislow, K.H., Heimsath, A.M., and Kaste, J.*, 2006, Evaluating the impacts of impoundment on sediment transport using short-lived fallout radionuclides, In: Sediment Dynamics and The Hydromorphology of Fluvial Systems (Ed. Rowan, J. and Werrity, A.), The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Special Publication 306, IAHS Press, Wallingford, UK, pp. 159-165.

Kaste, J.M.*, Bostick, B.C., and Heimsath, A.M. 2006. Determining ²³⁴Th and ²³⁸U in rocks, soils, and sediments via the doublet gamma at 92.5 keV. Analyst, 131(6): 757-763.

Heimsath, A.M., 2006. Eroding the land: Steady-state and stochastic rates and processes through a cosmogenic lens. In Siame, L.L., Bourles, D.L., and Brown, E.T. (eds.), Application of cosmogenic nuclides to the study of Earth surface processes: the practice and the potential. GSA Special Paper 415, p. 111-129, DOI 10.1130/2006.2415(07).

Kaste, J.M.*, Heimsath, A.M., and Hohmann, M., 2006. Quantifying sediment transport across an undisturbed prairie landscape using Caesium-137 and high-resolution topography. Geomorphology, 76: 430-440.

Heimsath, A.M., Chappell, J., Finkel, R.C., Fifield, K., and Alimanovic, A., 2006. Escarpment erosion and landscape evolution in southeastern Australia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 398, p. 173-190. doi: 10.1130/2005.2398(10).

Heimsath, A.M., Furbish, D.J., and Dietrich, W.E., 2005. The illusion of diffusion: Field evidence for depth dependent sediment transport. Geology, 33(12): 949-952.

Yoo, K.*, Amundson, R., Heimsath, A.M., and Dietrich, W.E., 2005. A process based model linking pocket gopher (Thomomys Bottae) activity to sediment transport and soil thickness. Geology, 33(11): 917-920.

Niemi, N., Oskin, M., Burbank, D., and Heimsath, A.M., 2005. Effects of bedrock landsliding on cosmogenically determined erosion rates. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 237: 480-498.

Yoo, K.*, Amundson, R., Heimsath, A.M., and Dietrich, W.E., 2005. Erosion of upland hillslope soil organic carbon: Coupling field measurements with a sediment transport model, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 19, GB3003, doi:10.1029/2004GB002271.

Garvin, C.*, Hanks, T.C., Finkel, R.C., and Heimsath, A.M., 2005. Episodic incision of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon, Utah. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 30(8): 973-984.

Yoo, K.*, Amundson, R., Heimsath, A.M., and Dietrich, W.E., 2005. Spatial patterns of soil organic carbon on hillslopes: Integrating geomorphic processes and the biological C cycle. Geoderma, 130(1-2): 47-65.

Wobus, C.*, Heimsath, A.M., Whipple, K.X., Hodges, K., 2005. Active surface thrust faulting in the Central Nepalese Himalaya. Nature, 434: 1008-1011.

Pratt-Situala, B.*, Burbank, D.W., Heimsath, A.M., and Ojha, T., 2004. Landscape disequilibrium on 1,000 to 10,000 year scales: Marsyandi River, Nepal, central Himalaya. Geomorphology, 58(1-4): 223-241.

Dietrich, W.E., Bellugi, D., Heimsath, A.M., Roering, J.J., Sklar, L., and Stock, J.D., 2003. Geomorphic Transport laws for predicting landscape form and dynamics. In Prediction in Geomorphology, Wilcock, P. and Iverson, R. (eds), American Geophysical Union monograph No. 135, Washington, D.C., p. 103-132.

Heimsath, A.M. and Farid, H., 2003. “Hillslope topography from unconstrained photographs” by A.M. Heimsath and Hany Farid – Reply. Mathematical Geology, 35(3): 351-352.

Heimsath, A.M. and Farid, H, 2002. Hillslope topography from unconstrained photographs. Mathematical Geology, 34(8): 929-952.

Pratt, B.*, Burbank, D.W., Heimsath, A.M., and Ojha, T., 2002. Alluviation during Early Holocene strengthened monsoons, Central Nepal Himalaya. Geology, 30(10): 911-914.

Heimsath, A.M., Chappell, J.C., Spooner, N.A., Questiaux, D.G., 2002. Creeping soil. Geology. 30(2): 111-114.

Heimsath, A.M., Dietrich, W.E., Nishiizumi, K., and Finkel, R.C., 2001. Stochastic processes of soil production and transport: erosion rates, topographic variation and cosmogenic nuclides in the Oregon Coast Range. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 26: 531-552.

Heimsath, A.M., Chappell, J.C., Dietrich, W.E., Nishiizumi, K., and Finkel, R.C., 2001. Late Quaternary erosion in southeastern Australia. Quaternary International, 83-85: 169-185.

Braun, J., Heimsath, A.M., Chappell, J.C., 2001. Sediment transport mechanisms on soil mantled landscapes. Geology, 29(8): 683-686.

Heimsath, A.M., Chappell, J.C., Dietrich, W.E., Nishiizumi, K., and Finkel, R.C., 2000. Soil production on a retreating escarpment in southeastern Australia. Geology, 28(9): 787-790.

Heimsath, A.M., Dietrich, W.E., Nishiizumi, K., and Finkel, R.C., 1999. Cosmogenic nuclides, topography, and the spatial variation of soil depth. Geomorphology, 27(1/2): 151-172.

Heimsath, A.M., Dietrich, W.E., Nishiizumi, K., and Finkel, R.C., 1997. The soil production function and landscape equilibrium. Nature, 388: 358-361.

Other Publications

Heimsath, A.M., and Ehlers, T., 2005. Quantifying Rates and Timescales of Geomorphic Processes. Editorial, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 30(8): 917-922. (Editorial)

Heimsath, A.M., 2004. Swayambu’s Shadow & Walking the Dusty Road (poems), and The Inner Gorge & Manasalu’s Cloud (photos), Woodsmoke, Spring.

Heimsath, A.M., 2001. Courtyard. Seedhouse Literary Journal, Fall Volume. (poem).

Heimsath, A.M., 2000. Himalayan Erosion. Seminar, 486: 19-25. (essay).

Heimsath, A.M., 2000. Human Impacts on Ancient Environments. Book Review. Society for Archaeological Sciences Bulletin, 23(2):16-18.

Heimsath, A.M., 1993. A comparison of stream flow from agricultural and forested watersheds in the Middle Hills, Nepal. Working Paper #63, Tropical Resources Institute, Yale, New Haven. 62 p.

Non-science

Mesa Refuge: Writing Refuge Fellowship, Common Council Foundation, Pt. Reyes, CA, Fall, 2003.

Books in progress: Himalayan Wanderer (essays) and Walking the Horizontal Well (poems).

Poems, essays and short stories are always in progress and submitted periodically for publication.

Landscape Photography taken and submitted, published periodically.

Scientists with whom the I’ve had a collaboration in the past 48 months

William E. Dietrich, Kunihiko Nishiizumi, Ronald Amundson (UCB)

Doug Burbank (UC Santa Barbara), Robert C. Finkel (Lawrence Livermore Nat’l Lab)

John Chappell, Jean Braun, Ed Rhoades (ANU)

Garry Willgoose and Greg Hancock (The University of Newcastle)

Ben Bostick, Hany Farid, Frank Magilligan (Dartmouth)

Kip Hodges and Kelin Whipple (MIT, now at Arizona State University)

Devendra Lal (UC San Diego – SCRIPPS); Eric Kirby (Penn State)

Post-Doc collaborator: John Chappell, Australian National University

Ph.D. advisor: William E. Dietrich, University of California, Berkeley

M.S. advisor: Paul K. Barten, Yale University

Synergistic/Committee Work

Associate Editor, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.

Frontiers of Science Symposium: National Academy of Sciences/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science – Dec. 2005. Member of Organizing Committee for Dec. 2006 meeting. Co-Chair, 2007.

Dartmouth Environmental Initiative: planning committee (Ongoing).

Organize and Chair symposia at the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Goldschmidt geochemical conferences, as well as joint AGU – European Geophysical Union (EGU) international conferences – ongoing commitment.

Guest Editor for two special issues of Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 2004-2005: Quantifying Rates and Timescales of Geomorphic Processes.

NSF-CAREER symposium on Research and Education: Sept. 2003.

Software development (with Hany Farid, Dartmouth College) for free distribution that enables topographic map generation from hand-held photographs.

Assisting with and appearing in two documentary films based on the collaborative research project in Nepal. Stephen Fisher directing and producing a Nova/Discovery Channel type programs.

NSF-sponsored Science Initiative on CRONUS-Earth Project – Cosmic Ray Produced Nuclide Systematics on Earth: 2002-2004.

NSF-sponsored MARGINS Science Initiative on Source-to-Sink: planning symposia, 2000-2001.

Dickey Center for International Learning Steering Committee (2004-Present). Dartmouth Venture Fund Review Committee (2004-Present). Dartmouth Committee for Off-Campus Activities (2001-2003). Four faculty search committees.

Professional Affiliations/Membership

American Geophysical Union

Geological Society of America

Sigma Xi – The Scientific Research Society

The Geochemical Society

Union of Concerned Scientists

Referee for the following selected journals:

Science, Nature, Geology, Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters, GSA Bulletin, American Geophysical Union Monographs, American Journal of Science, Environmental Science and Technology, Geomorphology, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Catena, Journal of Geophysical Research – Earth Surface, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (also as Guest Editor), Water Resources Research, Geoderma, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Referee for the following funding agencies

US National Science Foundation, Austrian Science Foundation, Danish Agency of Sciences, US Dept. of Agriculture, NASA, Australian Research Council, Switzer Foundation/New Hampshire Charitable Trust, National Geographic, IGPP.

Courses Taught and Offered

At Arizona State University

Geology 101: Introduction to Earth Sciences

School of Sustainability 110: The Sustainable World

Geology 591: Advanced Geomorphology Seminar

At Dartmouth College

Earth Sciences 2: Earth History

Earth Sciences 7: Humans and the Environment

Earth Sciences 33 (including lab): Earth Surface Processes and Landforms

Earth Sciences 88: Culminating Experience Seminar

Earth Sciences 110, Watershed Processes (Graduate and upper division undergraduate)

Earth Sciences 121 and 122: Graduate Seminar in Geomorphology

Earth Sciences 46 (STRETCH); Field Geomorphology (off-campus, taught in California).

Earth Sciences 201: Hillslope Processes: Advanced Geomorphic Concepts and Methods

Student Theses Supervised (To be updated)

Graduate

Matt Jungers (PhD, in progress)

Jean Dixon (PhD, 2008): Coupling Climate with Erosion: Quantifying Erosion Rates and Processes Along Climate Gradients.

Ben Burke (PhD, 2006): Examining Chemical Weathering in Soil Mantled Landscapes.

Jim Kaste (PhD, 2003): Tracing the retention and redistribution of Pb and other particle-reactive atmospheric fallout in soils.

Elizabeth Johnson (MS, 2008): Rock Matters: Lithologic Controls on Landscape Evolution.

Colin O’Farrell (MS, 2005): Quantification of Non-glacial Sediment Inputs to the Glacial Sediment Budget of the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska.

Cris Garvin (MS, 2004): Determining Incision Rates of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon Using Cosmogenic, U-series and OSL Methods.

Robert McGlynn (MS, 2003): Headwall retreat in the Nepal Himalaya.

Undergraduate

Carmen Springer (BS, 2007): The Anthropogenic Effects on Increased Sedimentation Rates from Off-Road Vehicle Use in the Union Valley Watershed.

Laura Jorgenson (BS, 2005): Quantifying Non-glacial Suspended Sediment Flux into the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska.

Deane Sommerville (BS, 2005): Landslide quantification using hand-held digital photogrammetry.

Alex Hamlin (BS, 2003): Nose Job: A Study of Hillslope Morphology and Sediment Transport Laws on the Noses of Storr's Pond, NH.

Colin O’Farrell (BS, 2003): Quantification of short-term hillside erosion rates in coastal California.

Emily Lesher (BS, 2002): Landscape Development of the Santa Cruz Marine Terraces, California: a Test of Landscape Age.

External Advisor to:

Beth Pratt-Situala (PhD, 2005, University of California, Santa Barbara)

Cameron Wobus (PhD, 2005, MIT)

Kyungsoo Yoo (PhD, 2004, University of California, Berkeley)

Undergraduate Lab Interns

2001: Emily Lesher, Tim Bartholomaus, Sora Kim, Alex Hamlin

2002: Allette Vayda, Ephraim Taylor, Deane Somerville, Vaibhav Rajan

2003: Laura Jorgensen, Lisa Melvin, Marta Darby, Barry Hashimoto

2004: Oceana Castaneda, Chris Farmer, Cara Foster, Paul Mozur, Alicia Cruz-Uribe

2005: Iona Woolmington, Sam Rust, Jonathan Kroft, Sarah Rosa, Elijah Rosen

2006: Elijah Rosen, James Marlow, Pam Phojanakong, Sam Rust

2008: Joseph Walsh, Allie Stern, Sean De Bruin