Publications

Google Scholar Profile
ORCID ID

Peer Reviewed

Lukens, W.E., Fox, D.L., Snell, K.E., Wiest, L.A., Layzell, A.L., Uno, K.T., Polissar, P.J., Martin, R.A., Fox-Dobbs, K., and Peláez-Campomanes, P. (2019) Pliocene environments in the Meade Basin, southwest Kansas, Journal of Sedimentary Research, vol. 89, no. 5, p. 416-439, doi: 10.2110/jsr.2019.24. (DOI

Stoll, H.M., Guitian, J., Hernandez, I., Mejia, L.M., Phelps, S., Polissar, P.J., Rosenthal, Y., Zhang, H., Ziveri, P. (2019) Upregulation of phytoplankton carbon concentrating mechanisms during low CO2 glacial periods and implications for the phytoplankton pCO2 proxy. Quaternary Science Reviews, 208:1-20.  doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.01.012.  (DOI)

Coffey, G.L., Savage, H.M., Polissar, P.J. (2019) Hot on the trail – using biomarkers to precisely locate coseismic slip in fault zones.  Journal of Structural Geology, 120:67-79. doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2018.12.012. (DOI)

Skonieczny, C., McGee, D., Winckler, G., Bory, A., Bradtmiller, L.I., Kinsley, C.W., Polissar, P.J., De Pol-Holz, R., Rossignol, L., Malaizé, B. (2019) Monsoon-driven Saharan dust variability over the last 240,000 years. Science Advances, 5(1):eeav1887, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aav1887.  (DOI)

Savage, H.M., Rabinowitz, H.S., Spagnuolo, E., Aretusini, S., Polissar, P.J., Di Toro, G. (2018) Biomarker thermal maturity experiments at earthquake slip rates.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters. doi: (DOI)

Andrae, J.W., McInerney, F.A., Polissar, P.J., Sniderman, J.M.K., Howard, S., Hall, P.A., Phelps. S.R. (2018) Initial expansion of C4 vegetation in Australia during the Late Pliocene.  Geophysical Research Letters. 45. doi:10.1029/2018GL077833. (DOI)

Baczynski, A.A., Polissar, P.J., Juchelka, D., Schwieters, J., Hilkert, A., Summons, R.E., Freeman, K.H. (2018) Pico-CSIA: Picomolar Scale Compound-Specific Isotope Analyses. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.  doi: 10.1002/rcm.8084. (DOI)

White, S., Ravelo, A.C., Polissar, P.J. (2018) Dampened El Niño in the early and mid-Holocene due to insolation-forced warming/deepening of the thermocline.  Geophysical Research Letters, 45(1):316-326.  doi: 10.1002/2017GL075433.

Ingalls, M., Rowley, D., Olack, G, Currie, B., Li, Shanying, Schmidt, J., Tremblay, M., Polissar, P., Shuster, D., Lin, D., Colman, A. (2018) Paleocene to Pliocene low-latitude high elevation of southern Tibet: Implications for tectonic models of India-Asia collision, Cenozoic.  GSA Bulletin 130(1-2):307-330. doi: 10.1130/B31723.1.

Bird, B.W., Rudloff, O., Escobar, J., Gilhooly III, W.P., Correa-Metrio, A., Velez., M., Polissar, P.J., (2018) Paleoclimate support for a persistent dry island effect in the Columbian Andes during the middle and late Holocene.  The Holocene, doi: 10.1177/0959683617721324. (DOI, PDF)

Goldsmith, Y, Broecker, W.S., Xu, H., Polissar, P.J., deMenocal, P., Porat, N., Lan, J., Cheng, P., Zhou, W., An, Z. (2017) Reply to Liu et al.: East Asian summer monsoon rainfall dominates Lake Dali lake area changes.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.  doi: 10.1073/pnas.1703511114.

Goldsmith, Y, Broecker, W.S., Xu, H., Polissar, P.J., deMenocal, P., Porat, N., Lan, J., Cheng, P., Zhou, W., An, Z. (2017) Northward extent of East Asian monsoon covaries with intensity on orbital and millennial timescales.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.  114(8):1817-1821. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1616708114. (DOI, PDF)

Rabinowitz, H., Polissar, P.J., Savage, H.M. (2017) Thermal maturation of alkanes and long-chain unsaturated alkenones at fault heating timsecales.  Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 18(1):204-219. doi: 10.1002/2016GC006553. (DOI, PDF)

Goldsmith, Y, Polissar, P. J., Ayalon, A., Bar-Matthews, M., deMenocal, P. B., and Broecker, W. S (2017) The modern and Last Glacial Maximum hydrological cycles of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant from a water isotope perspective.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 457:302-312, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.10.017. (DOI, PDF)

Bird, B.W., Lei, Y., Perello, M, Polissar, P.J., Yao, T., Finney, B.P., Bain, D., Pomopeani, D., Thompson, L.G. (2016)  Late Holocene Indian summer monsoon variability revealed from a 3,300-year-long lake sediment record from Nir’pa Co, southeastern Tibet.  The Holocene. doi: 10.1177/0959683616670220. (DOI, PDF)

Rose, C., Polissar, P.J., Tierney, J., Filley, T., deMenocal, P.B. (2016) Changes in northeast African hydrology and vegetation associated with Pliocene–Pleistocene sapropel cycles. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 371: 20150243, doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0243. (DOI, PDF) 

Uno, K.T., Polissar, P.J., Jackson, K., deMenocal, P.B. (2016) Neogene biomarker Record of Vegetation Change in Eastern Africa.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 113(23):6355-6363, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1521267113. (DOI, PDF)

Uno, K.T., Polissar, P.J., Kahle, E., Feibel, C., Harmand, S., Roche, H., deMenocal, P.B. (2016)  A Pleistocene palaeovegetation record from plant wax biomarkers from the Nachukui Formation, West Turkana, Kenya.  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 371: 20150235, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0235. (DOI, PDF)

Lyle, M., Pockalny, R., Polissar, P., Lynch-Steiglitz, J., Bova, S., Dunlea, A., Ford, H., Hertzberg, J., Hovan, S., Jacobel, A., Wertman, C.K., Maloney, A., Murray, R., Wilson, J.S., Wejnert, K., Xie, R. (2016) Dynamic carbonate sedimentation on the Northern Line Islands Ridge, Palmyra Basin.  Marine Geology, 379:194-207, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2016.06.005. (DOI, PDF)

Currie, B.S., Polissar, P.J., Rowley, D.B., Ingalls, M., Li, S., Olack, G., Freeman, K.H. (2016) Multiproxy paleoaltimetry of the Late Oligocene-Pliocene Oiyug Basin, southern Tibet.  The American Journal of Geology, 316(5):401-436, doi: 10.2475/05.2016.01. (DOI, PDF)

Rabinowitz, H., Savage, H.M., Plank, T., Polissar, P.J., Kirkpatrick, J.D., Rowe, C.D. (2015) Multiple major faults at the Japan Trench: Chemostratigraphy of the plate boundary at IODP Exp. 343: JFAST.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 423:57-66, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.04.010. (DOI, PDF, DATA)

Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Polissar, P.J., Jacobel, A.W., Hovan, S.A., Pockalny, R.A., Lyle, M, Murray, R.W., Ravelo, C.A., Bova, S.C., Dunlea, A.G., Ford, H.L., Hertzberg, J.E., Wertman, C.A., Maloney, A.E., Shackford, J.K., Wejnert, K., Xie, R.C. (2015) Glacial-interglacial changes in central tropical Pacific surface seawater property gradients.  Paleoceanography 30:1-16, doi: 10.1002/2014PA002746. (DOI, PDF, DATA at NCDC)

Moore, J.C., Plank, T.A., Chester, F.M., Polissar P.J., Savage, H.M. (2015) Sediment provenance and the controls on slip propagation: lessons learned from the 2011 Tohoko and other great earthquakes of the subducting NW Pacific plate.  Geosphere, 11(3):1-9, doi: 10.1130/GES01099.1. (DOI, PDF)

Ford, H.L., Ravelo, A.C., Polissar, P.J., (2015) Reduced ENSO during the Last Glacial Maximum.  Science, 347:255-258, doi: 10.1126/science.1258437. (DOI, PDF, SUPPLEMENT)

Sheppard, R.E., Polissar, P.J., Savage, H.M. (2015) Organic thermal maturity as a proxy for frictional heating: experimental constraints on biomarker kinetics at earthquake timescales.  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 151:103-116, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2014.11.020. (PDFDOI)

Bird B.W., Polissar P.J., Lei Y. Thompson L.G. Yao T., Finney B.P., Bain D., Pompeani D., Steinman, B.A. (2014)  Holocene Indian Summer Monsoon Variability Revealed from a Decadally Resolved Multi-Proxy Tibetan Lake Sediment Record.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 399, 92-102, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.017. (PDF, DOI, Data at NGDC)

Conroy, J.L., Cobb, K. M., Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Polissar, P.J. (2014) Constraints on the salinity-oxygen isotope relationship in the central tropical Pacific Ocean.  Marine Chemistry, 161, 26-33, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2014.02.001. (PDFDOI)

Stansell, N.D., Polissar, P.J., Abbott, M.B., Bezada, M., Braun, B., Steinman, B.A. (2014) Proglacial lake sediment records reveal Holocene climate changes in the Venezuelan Andes. Quaternary Science Reviews, 89, 44-55, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.01.021. (PDFDOI)

Polissar P. J., D’Andrea, W.J. (2014) Uncertainty in Paleohydrologic Reconstructions from Molecular δD.  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 129, 146-156, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2013.12.021. (PDF, DOI, Excel Worksheet, Spreadsheet Instructions)

Savage H. M., Polissar P. J., Sheppard R.E., Rowe, C.D. Brodsky E.B. (2014).  Organic molecules heat up during earthquakes:  new evidence of seismic slip in the rock record. Geology, 42, 99-102, doi: 10.1130/G34901.1. (PDF, DOI)

Polissar, P.J., Abbott, M.B., Wolfe, A.P., Vuille, M., Bezada, M. (2013). Synchronous interhemispheric Holocene climate trends in the tropical Andes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(36), 14551-14556, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1219681110. (PDFDOI, Supplemental Material, DATA)

Mueller, K.E., Polissar, P.J., Oleksyn, J., Freeman, K.H. (2012). Differentiating temperate tree species and their organs using lipid biomarkers in leaves, roots and soil. Organic Geochemistry 52, 130-141, doi:110.1016/j.orggeochem.2012.1008.1014. (PDFDOI)

Sachse, D., Billault, I., Bowen, G.J., Chikaraishi, Y., Dawson, T.E., Feakins, S.J., Freeman, K.H., Magill, C.R., McInerney, F.A., van der Meer, M.T.J., Polissar, P., Robins, R.J., Sachs, J.P., Schmidt, H.-L., Sessions, A.L., White, J.W.C., West, J.B., Kahmen, A. (2012). Molecular Paleohydrology: Interpreting the Hydrogen-Isotopic Composition of Lipid Biomarkers from Photosynthesizing Organisms. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 40, 221-249, doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-042711-105535. (PDFDOI)

Polissar P. J., Savage H. M., Brodsky E. E. (2011) Extractable organic material in fault zones as a tool to investigate frictional stress. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 311(3-4), 439-447, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.09.004. (PDFDOI)

Nelson, D. N., Abbott, M. B., Steinman, B., Polissar P. J.,Stansell, N.S., Ortiz, J. S., Rosenmeier, M. F., Finney, B., Riedel, J. (2011) A 6,000-yr Lake Record of Drought from the Pacific Northwest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 108(10) 3870-3875, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1009194108. (PDFDOISupplemental Material)

Polissar P. J., Freeman, K.H. (2010) Effects of aridity and vegetation on plant-wax dD in modern lake sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 74, 5785-5797, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2010.06.018. (PDFDOISupplemental Material, DATA)

Polissar P. J., Freeman K. H., Rowley D. B., Mcinerney F. A., and Currie B. S. (2009) Paleoaltimetry of the Tibetan Plateau from D/H ratios of lipid biomarkers. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 287, 64-76, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.037. (PDFDOISupplemental MaterialDATA)

Polissar P. J., Fulton J. M., Junium C. K., Turich C. C., and Freeman K. H. (2009) Measurement of 13C and 15N Isotopic Composition on Nanomolar Quantities of C and N. Analytical Chemistry 81(2), 755-763 doi:10.1021/ac801370c. (PDFDOI)

Stansell N., Polissar P. J., and Abbott M. B. (2007) Last Glacial Maximum equilibrium-line altitude and paleo-temperature reconstructions for the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuelan Andes. Quaternary Research 67, 115-127, doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2006.07.005. (PDFDOI)

Stansell N., Abbott M. B., Polissar P. J., Wolfe A. P., Bezada M., and Rull V. (2007) Reply:  Late Quaternary deglaciation history of the Mérida Andes, Venezuela:  response to comment. Journal of Quaternary Science 22(8), 823-825, doi: 10.1002/jqs.1109. (PDFDOI)

Polissar P. J., Abbott M. B., Wolfe A. P., Bezada M., Rull V., and Bradley R. S. (2006) Solar modulation of Little Ice Age climate in the tropical Andes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 103(24), 8937-8942, doi:10.1073 pnas.0603118103. (PDFDOIDATA)

Polissar P. J., Abbott M. B., Shemesh A., Wolfe A. P., and Bradley R. S. (2006) Hydrologic balance of tropical South America from oxygen isotopes of lake sediment opal, Venezuelan Andes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 242, 375-389, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2005.12.024. (PDFDOIDATA)

Stansell N. D., Abbott M. B., Polissar P. J., Wolfe A. P., Bezada M., and Rull V. (2005) Late Quaternary deglacial history of the Mérida Andes, Venezuela. Journal of Quaternary Science 20(7-8), 801-812, doi:10.1002/jqs.973. (PDFDOI)

Rull V., Abbott M. B., Polissar P. J., Wolfe A. P., Bezada M., and Bradley R. S. (2005) 15,000-yr pollen record of vegetation change in the high altitude tropical Andes at Laguna Verde Alta, Venezuela. Quaternary Research 64, 308-317, doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2005.08.014. (PDFDOI)

Abbott M. B., Wolfe B. B., Wolfe A. P., Seltzer G. O., Aravena R., Mark B. G., Polissar P. J., Rodbell D. T., Rowe H. D., and Vuille M. (2003) Holocene paleohydrology and glacial history of the central Andes using multiproxy lake sediment studies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 194, 123-138 doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00274-8. (PDFDOI)

Reid J. B., Jr., Reynolds J. L., Connolly N. T., Getz S. L., Polissar P. J., Winship L. J., and Hainsworth L. J. (1998) Carbon isotopes in aquatic plants, Long Valley caldera, California as records of past hydrothermal and magmatic activity. Geophysical Research Letters 25(15), 2853-2856, doi:10.1029/98GL01854. (PDFDOI)

Steig E. J., Morse D. L., Waddington E. D., and Polissar P. J. (1998) Using the sunspot cycle to date ice cores. Geophysical Research Letters 25(2), 163-166, doi:10.1029/97GL03566. (PDFDOI)

Steig E. J., Polissar P. J., Stuiver M., Grootes P. M., and Finkel R. C. (1996) Large amplitude solar modulation cycles of 10Be in Antarctica:  implications for atmospheric mixing processes and interpretation of the ice core record. Geophysical Research Letters 23(5), 523-526, doi:10.1029/96GL00255. (PDFDOI)

Sharp R. P., Carey D. L., Reid Jr. J. B., Polissar P. J., and Williams M. L. (1996) Sliding rocks at the Racetrack, Death Valley:  What makes them move? Discussion and Reply.  Geology 24(8), 766-767, doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024<0766:SRATRD>2.3.CO;2. (PDFDOI)

Reid J. B., Jr., Bucklin E. P., Copenagle L., Kidder J., Pack S. M., Polissar P. J., and Williams M. L. (1995) Sliding rocks at the Racetrack, Death Valley:  What makes them move? Geology 23(9), 819-822, doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1995)​023<0819:SRATRD>​2.3.CO;2. (PDFDOI)


Reports and Other Publications

Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Keigwin, L., and Workshop Participants including Polissar (2015) Science Driven Assessment of Needs for Marine Sediment Coring 2015-2025.  Report of workshop held May 28-29, 2015 at the National Science Foundation. (PDF)

Lynch-Stieglitz, J, Polissar, P. and the scientific personnel of cruise MGL12-08 (2012) MGL12-08 Cruise Report. A summary of the objectives, methods, activities and findings from oceanographic research cruise MGL12-08, May 1-26, 2012 aboard the R/V Marcus G. Langseth.  (PDF)


Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral Theses

Polissar, P.J. (2005)  Lake records of Holocene climate change, Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela.  Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. (PDF)

Polissar, P.J. (1999) Lipid biomarker, elemental and isotopic evidence of lacustrine organic matter preservation and source:  Lago Taypi Chaka Kkota, Bolivia. M.S. thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Polissar, P.J. (1995) 10Be and 36Cl in the Taylor Dome ice core: Clues to Antarctic glacial and climate dynamics.  Undergraduate thesis, Hampshire College, Amherst MA.