MICHELLE ANNE KOMINZ
Abbreviated Curriculum Vita

Born : Washington, D.C.

Address :

Department of Geology
Western Michigan University 
1187 Rood Hall Kalamazoo,
MI  49008
(michelle.kominz@wmich.edu )

Education:

PhD: Columbia University (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) (geology) May 1986. 
MS: University of Rhode Island (Graduate School of Oceanography)  (oceanography) December 1978.
BA: Colby College, Waterville, Maine (mathematics, magna cum laude) June 1975.

Honors

Sigma Xi, 1986, Columbia University
Sigma Pi Sigma, 1978, University of Rhode Island
Phi Beta Kappa, 1975, Colby College

 

Memberships:

American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America
Association for Women Geologists

Active Research Grants:

• National Science Foundation, (EAR, Geology and Paleontology): Collaborative Research; Have Ridge Voumes Changed Over the Past 160 Ma?; period: 7/16/04 – 1/15/08
• National Science Foundation, (EAR, Continental Dynamics): Collaborative Research; NSF-NJGS Drilling of the Greenhouse World: The Cretaceous Transect; period: 8/15/03 – 7/31/05

Articles:

1. 2004, Miller, Kenneth G.; Sugarman, Peter J.; Browning, James V.; Kominz, Michelle A.; Olsson, Richard K.; Feigenson, Mark D.; Hernandez, John C., Upper Cretaceous sequences and sea-level history, New Jersey coastal plain. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v.116, p. 368-393.
   
2. 2003, Pekar, SF., Christie-Blick, N., Miller, K.G., and Kominz, M.A., Quantitative constraints on the origin of stratigraphic architecture at passive continental margins: Oligocene sedimentation in New Jersey, U.S.A., : Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 73, p. 227-245.
3. 2003, Miller, K. G., Sugarman, P. J., Browning, J. V., Kominz, M. A., Hernandez, J. C., Olsson, R. K., Van Sickel, W., Feigenson, M. D., and Wright, J. D., A Late Cretaceous chronology of large, rapid sea-level changes: Glacioeustasy during the Greenhouse World, Geology, v. 31, p. 585-588.
4. 2002, Yang, Wan and Kominz, Micelle A., Characteristics, stratigraphic architecture and time framework of multi-order mixed siliciclastic and carbonate depositional sequences, outcropping Cisco Group (Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian), Eastern Shelf, north-central Texas, USA.  Sedimentary Geology, v. 154, p. 53-87.
   
5. 2002, Pekar, Stephen F., Christie-Blick, Nicholas, Kominz, Michelle A., and Miller, K. G., Calibration between eustatic estimates from backstripping and oxygen isotopic records for the Oligocene, Geology, p. 903-906.
6. 2001, Pekar, Stephen F., and Kominz, Michelle A., Two-dimensional paleoslope modeling:  A new method for estimating water depths for benthic Foraminiferal biofacies and paleo shelf margins: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 71, p. 608-620.
7. 2001, Kominz, Michelle A., and Stephen F. Pekar, Oligocene Eustasy From Two-Dimensional, Sequence Stratigraphic Backstripping, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 113, p. 291-304
8. 2001, Pekar, Stephen F., Christie-Blick, Nicholas, Michelle A. Kominz, and Miller, Kenneth G., Evaluating the stratigraphic response to eustasy From Oligocene strata in New Jersey: Geology, v. 29, p. 55-58.
9. 1999, Yang, Wan, Kominz, Michelle A., Testing periodicity of cyclic sequences, Cisco Group (Virgilian and Wolfcampian), Texas: Journal of Sedimentary Research, Section B, p. 1209-1231.
10. 1998, Yang, Wan, Kominz, Michelle A., and Major, R.P., Distinguishing the roles of autogenic versus allogenic processes in cyclic sedimentation, Cisco Group (Virgilian and Wolfcampian), North-Central Texas.  Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 110, p. 1333-1353.
11. 1998, Kominz, Michelle A., Miller, Kenneth G., and Browning, James,  Long-term and short-term global Cenozoic sea-level estimates, Geology, v. 26, p. 311-314.
12. 1998, Miller, Kenneth G., Mountain, Gregory S., Browning, James V., Kominz, Michele A., Sugarman, Pete J., Chrisite-Blick, Nick, Katz, Mimi E., and Wright, James D., 1998b, Cenozoic global sea-level, sequences, and the New Jersey Transect: results from coastal plain and slope drilling: Reviews of Geophysics. v. 36, p. 569-601.
13. 1996 Kominz, M.A., Whither Cyclostratigraphy?  Testing the Gamma Method on Upper Pleistocene Deep-Sea Sediments: North Atlantic Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 609, Paleoceanography. v. 11, p. 481-504.
14.   1995 Kominz, M.A., Thermally subsiding basins and the effect of sediments with application to the Cambro-Ordovician Great Basin sequence, western U. S., Basin Research, v. 7, p. 221-233.
15. 1995 Yang, W., Harmsen, F. and Kominz, M.A., Depositional cyclicity of the Middle and Late Devonian Lost Burro Formation, Death Valley, California - A possible record of Milankovitch climatic cycles", Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. B65, p. 306-322.
16. 1995 Ketcham, R.A., Beam, E.C. and Kominz, M.A., Effects of temperature-dependent material properties and radioactive heat production on simple basin subsidence models, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 130, p. 31-44.
17. 1994 Laine, E.P., Gardner, W.D., Richardson, M.J. and Kominz, M.A., Abyssal currents and advection of resuspended sediment along the Northern Bermuda Rise, Marine Geology, v. 119, p. 159-171.
18. 1994 Feng, J., Buffler, R.T., and Kominz, M.A., Laramide orogenic influence on Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic subsidence history, w1993 Bond, G.C., W.J. Devlin, Kominz, M.A., Beavan, J. and McManus,  J., Evidence of astronomical forcing of the Earth's climate in Cretaceous and Cambrian times, Tectonophysics, v. 222, p. 295-315.
19. 1992 Kominz, M.A., and Bond, G.C., Documenting the Reliability and Utility of the Gamma Method as Applied to Cyclic Sections Using Forward Modeling, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 113, p. 449-457.
20. 1991 Kominz, M.A., Bond, G.C., Beavan, J. and McManus, J.;  Are cyclic sediments periodic?  Gamma analysis and spectral analysis of Newark Supergroup lacustrine strata. in K. Franseen, W.L. Watney, C.G.St.C. Kendall, and W. Ross, eds., Sedimentary modeling: computer simulations and methods for improved parameter definition; Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 233, p. 319-334.
21. 1991 Bond, G.C., Kominz, M.A. and Beavan, J.; Evidence for orbital forcing of Middle Cambrian peritidal cycles: Wah Wah Range, south-central Utah.  in K. Franseen, W.L. Watney, C.G.St.C. Kendall, and W. Ross, eds., Sedimentary modeling: computer simulations and methods for improved parameter definition; Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 233, p. 293-317.
22. 1991 Bond, G.C. and M.A. Kominz; Some comments on the problem of using vertical facies changes to infer accommodation and eustatic histories with examples from Utah and the Southern Canadian Rockies.  in K. Franseen, W.L. Watney, C.G.St.C. Kendall, and W. Ross, eds., Sedimentary modeling: computer simulations and methods for improved parameter definition; Kansas 1991 Dorobek, S.L., Reid, S.K., Elrick, M., Bond, G.C. and Kominz, M.A., Subsidence across the Antler foreland of Montana and Idaho: Tectonic versus eustatic effects.  in K. Franseen, W.L. Watney, C.G.St.C. Kendall, and W. Ross, eds., Sedimentary modeling: computer simulations and methods for improved parameter definition; Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 233, p. 231-251.
23. 1991 Bond, G.C. and Kominz, M.A.; Disentangling Middle Paleozoic sea level and tectonic events in cratonic margins and cratonic basins of North America.  Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 96, p. 6619--6639.
24. 1991 Kominz, M.A. and Bond, G.C.; Unusually large subsidence and sea-level events during middle Paleozoic time:  New evidence supporting mantle convection models for supercontinent assembly.  Geology, v. 19, p. 56-60. 1991 Kominz, M.A. and Bond, G.C.; Reply to comment by David L. Macke on Unusually large subsidence and sea-level events during middle Paleozoic time:  New evidence supporting mantle convection models for supercontinent assembly.  Geology, v. 19, p. 1149-1150.
25. 1990 Kominz, M.A. and Bond, G.C.; A new method for testing periodicity in cyclic sediments: application to the Newark Supergroup.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 98, p. 233-244.
26. 1989 Bond, G.C., Kominz, M.A., Steckler, M.S. and Grotzinger, J.P., Role of thermal subsidence, flexure and eustasy in the evolution of early Paleozoic passive-margin carbonate platforms, SEPM Special Publication No. 44 "Controls on Carbonate Platform and Basin Development", p. 39-61.
27. 1988 Bond, G.C. and Kominz, M.A., Evolution of thought on passive continental margins from the origin of geosynclinal theory (=1860) to the present.  GSA Bulletin Centennial paper, v. 100, p. 1909-1933.
28. 1988 Bond, G.C., Lewis, S.D., Taber, J., Steckler, M.S. and Kominz, M.A., Evidence for formation of a flexural basin by compression and crustal thickening in the central Alaska Peninsula. Geology, v. 16, p. 1147-1150.
29. 1988 Bond, G.C., Kominz, M.A., and Grotzinger, J.P. , Cambro-Ordovician eustasy: evidence from geophysical modeling of subsidence in Cordilleran and Appalachian passive margins, C. Paola and K. Kleinspehn eds., New Perspectives in Basin Analysis: Springer-Verlag, p. 129-161.
30. 1986 Kominz, M.A., and Bond, G.C., Geophysical modeling of the thermal history of foreland basins:  Nature, v. 320, p. 252-256.
31. 1985 Bond, G.C., Christie-Blick, N. and Kominz, M.A., An early Cambrian rift to post-rift transition in the Cordillera of western North America:  Nature, v. 316, p. 742-745.
32. 1984 Bond, G.C., Nickeson, P.A. and Kominz, M.A., Breakup of a supercontinent between 625 Ma and 555 Ma:  new evidence and implications for continental histories:  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 70, p. 325-345.
33. 1984 Kominz, M.A., Oceanic ridge volumes and sea level change - an error analysis, in: J. Schlee, ed., Interregional Unconformities and Hydrocarbon Accumulation:  American Association of Petroleum Geology Memoir #36, p. 109-127.
34. 1984 Bond, G.C. and Kominz, M.A., Construction of tectonic subsidence curves for the early Paleozoic miogeocline, southern Canadian Rocky Mountains:  implications for subsidence mechanisms, age of breakup, and crustal thinning:  Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 95, p. 155-173.
35.  1984 Laine, E.P., Heath, G.R., Ayer, E., and Kominz, M.A.,  Evaluation of the geological stability and the predictability of sediment of the northern Bermuda Rise by the subseabed disposal program, Marine Geotechnology, v. 5, p. 215-233.
36.  1983 Bond, G.C., Kominz, M.A. and Devlin, W.J., Thermal subsidence and eustasy in the Lower Paleozoic miogeocline of western North America:  Nature, v. 306, p. 775-779.
37. 1980 Laine, E.P., Heath, G.R., Ayer, E., and Kominz, M.A.,  Evaluation of the northern Bermuda Rise for the subseabed disposal of nuclear waste, Marine Technology, v. 80, p. 485-490.
38. 1980 Prince, R.A., Heath, G.R., and Kominz, M.A.,  Paleomagnetic studies of central North Pacific sediment cores:  stratigraphy, sedimentation rates, and the origin of magnetic instability:  Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part II, v. 91, p. 1789-1835.  Summary:  Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part I, v. 91, p. 447-449.
39. 1979 Kominz, M.A., Heath, G.R., Ku, T.-L. and Pisias, N.G., Brunhes time scales and the interpretation of climatic change:  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 45, p. 394-410.
40. 1979 Kominz, M.A. and Pisias, N.G.,  Pleistocene climate:  deterministic or stochastic?  Science, v. 204, p. 171-173.
41. 1977 Kominz, M.A., Heath, G.R., and Moore, T.C., Jr.,  Bulk density of pelagic sediments from the equatorial Pacific estimated from carbonate content, age, and subbottom depth:  Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 47, p. 1593-1597.

Software Distributed:

• Kominz, M.A., Decem Manual for a one-dimensional backstripping program, with program and examples (Macintosh FORTRAN). 17 p.
• Kominz, M.A., Gamma_KZ Manual for program to tune cyclic geologic data with Multi-Taper spectral method, with program and examples  (Macintosh FORTRAN). 44 p.

Encyclopedia Article:

1.       2001, Kominz, M.A., Paleo-oceanography: Variations in Sea Level (MS 255) in John Steele, Steve Thorpe and Karl Turekian (eds.), Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (Academic Press; Harcourt Pub.). p. 2605-2613.

Accepted Articles:

1. Van Sickel, W. A., Kominz, M.A, Miller, K. G., and Browning, J. V., Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Sea-Level Estimates Backstripping Analysis of Borehole Data, Onshore New Jersey, Basin Research, 15p.

Abstracts (last 2-3 years):

1. 2004 Kominz, M.A., and Scotese, C.R., Plate reconstructions require high Cretaceous spreading rates and ridge volumes, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5, p. ? (invited, keynote)
2. 2004 Browning, J.V., Miller, K. G, Kominz, M. A., McLaughlin, P. P., Suragman, P.J., and Monteverde, D. H. Quantification of the effects of eustasy, subsidence and sediment supply on Miocene sequences, U.S. Mid-Atlantic margin, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5, p. 402
3. 2003 Miller, K. G., Suragman, P., Browning, J.V., Kominz, M. A., Hernandez, J, C., Olsson, R. K., Katz, M, E., and Wright, J. D., Visions of ice sheets in the late Cretaceous greenhouse world, Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting. Abstracts with Programs Vol. 35, No. 6, September 2003.
4. 2002 Miller, K. G., Suragman, P., Browning, J.V., Kominz, M. A., Hernandez, J, C., Olsson, R. K., Katz, M, E., and Wright, J. D., Late Cretaceous Chronology of Large, Rapid Sea-level Changes: Glacioeustasy during the Greenhouse World. Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting.
5. 2002 Kominz, M. A., Van Sickel, W. A., Miller, K. G., and Browning, J.V., Sea-Level Estimates for the Latest 100 Million Years: One-Dimensional Backstripping of Onshore New Jersey Boreholes, 22nd Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, Sequence Stratigraphic Models for Exploration and Production:  Evolving Methodology, Emerging Models and Application Case Histories, Extended accepted.
6. 2002 Kominz, M. A., and Pekar, S. F. Testing the Tenets of Sequence Stratigraphy, 22nd Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, Sequence Stratigraphic Models for Exploration and Production: Evolving Methodology, Emerging Models and Application Case Histories, accepted.
7. 2002 Miller, K. G., J. V. Browning, M. A. Kominz, J. D. Wright, P. J. Sugarman, G. S. Mountain, J. C. Hernández, R. K. Olsson, William Van Sickel, and M. D. Feigenson: Ocean Drilling Program, Sequences, and Global Sea-Level Change: Comparison of Icehouse vs. Greenhouse Eustatic Changes, 22nd Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, Sequence Stratigraphic Models for Exploration and Production:  Evolving Methodology, Emerging Models and Application Case Histories.
8. 2001, Miller, K. G., Kominz, M.A., Sugarman, P. J., Browning, J. V., and Mountain, G. S., Coastal Plain Drilling and the NJ Sea-level Transect: Sea-level change during the Icehouse and Greenhouse Worlds,  American Geophysical Union, Annual Meeting 2001
9. 2001, Kominz, M. A., Werkema, D. , Barnes, D., Harrison, III, W. and Kirwan, E.; Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo, MI; and MALIN, MATT, The Michigan Basin is Thermal in Origin, Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geology, Eastern Section Meeting
10. 2000, Kominz, M.A., and Pekar, S.F., Testing the tenets of sequence stratigraphy, Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting. (Session chair).
11. 12 2000, Pekar, S.F., and Kominz, M. A., Two-Dimensional Paleoslope Modeling: A New Method For Estimating Water Depths for Benthic Foraminiferal Biofacies, Paleo Shelf Margins, and Systems tracts, Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geology, Annual Meeting, Invited Abstract. p. A114.

 

Review Panel Service

 Seminar Talks, last 4 years:

“Estimates of the Magnitude of Third-Order Sea Level Change in the Late Cretaceous, Implications for Continental Ice in a Greenhouse World” University of Illinois at Chicago, Oct. 21, 2004

"Have Ocean Ridge Volumes Changed Over the Past 160 Ma?  How can we tell?  Why do we care?", WMU, Jan. 26, 2004
“Two-dimensional sequence stratigraphic modeling of Oligocene sea-level change”, University of Oklahoma, April 3, 2003
"Two-dimensional sequence stratigraphic modeling of Oligocene sea-level change; results and implications", Case Western Reserve Univ., March 1, 2003

"Sequence Stratigraphic Backstripping: An Oligocene Eustatic Curve"