William B. F. Ryan

Professional Appointments 

  • 2014-Present: Special Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 
  • 1986-2014: Doherty Senior Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 
  • 1984-1986: Senior Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory 
  • 1984-2014: Adjunct Professor of Geology, Columbia University 
  • 1982-1984: Associate Director of Marine Geology and Geophysics Div. at Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
  • 1979-1984: Adjunct Associate Professor of Geology, Columbia University 
  • 1975-1984: Senior Research Associate, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory 
  • 1969-1975: Research Associate, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory 
  • 1962-1969: Graduate Research Assistant at Columbia University 
  • 1961-1962: Research Assistant at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

Prestigious Invited Lectures 

  • Oppenheimer Lecture, Los Alamos 
  • Evnin Lecture, Princeton University 
  • Dean’s Lecture, G. H. W. Bush Library, Texas A&M 

University Course Subjects Taught at Columbia University (1977 to 2014) 

  • Marine Geology & Geophysics 
  • Plate Tectonics 
  • Earth Environmental Systems: Solid Earth 
  • Paleoceanography Sedimentary Geology 

Oceanographic Expeditions 

  • 1961 R/V Chain in Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
  • 1962 R/V Chain in Mediterranean Sea 
  • 1965 R/V Robert D. Conrad in Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic 
  • 1966 R/V Robert D. Conrad in Caribbean and North Atlantic Ocean 
  • 1968 USNS Elisha Kane in Atlantic Ocean 1970 Glomar Challenger in Mediterranean Sea 
  • 1973 R/V Vema in Atlantic Ocean 
  • 1974 Glomar Challenger in South Atlantic Ocean 
  • 1976 Glomar Challenger in North Atlantic Ocean 
  • 1977 R/V Melville in Mediterranean Sea 
  • 1978 R/V Eastward in Mediterranean Sea 
  • 1982 NOAA Ship Surveyor in Northeast Pacific Ocean 
  • 1983 R/V Thomas Washington in Pacific Ocean 
  • 1984 CFAV Endeavour Northeast Pacific 
  • 1984 R/V Robert D. Conrad in North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea 
  • 1985 CSS Hudson in North Atlantic 
  • 1990 R/V Point Sur in Monterrey Fan 
  • 1991 R/V Urania in Marmara Sea 
  • 1992 R/V Maurice Ewing on Pacific/Antarctic Ridge in Southwest Pacific Ocean 
  • 1993 R/V Aquanaut in Black Sea 
  • 1993 R/V Hudson in Labrador Sea 
  • 1995 R/V Ewing in the Northeast Pacific 
  • 1996 R/V Creed in the North Atlantic 
  • 1998 R/V Le Suroit in the Black Sea 
  • 1999 R/V Atlantis in the Southeastern Pacific 
  • 1999 R/V Walford in the Hudson River Estuary 
  • 2000 R/V Le Suroit in the Mediterranean Sea 
  • 2005 R/V Mediterranean Explorer in Marmara and Black Seas 2009 R/V Akademik in Black Sea 
  • 2011 R/V Akademik in Black Sea 

Ph.D. Dissertations Directed (20)

  • Daniel J. Fornari, 1978: “Submarine lava flows on island flanks and seamounts: chemistry and texture” 
  • Kim A. Kastens, 1981: “Structural causes and sedimentological effects of cobblestone topography in the eastern Mediterranean” 
  • Raymond P. Freeman-Lynde, 1981: “The marine geology of the Bahama Escarpment” 
  • Maria A. M. da Silva, 1983: “The Arapipe Basin, NE Brazil: Regional geology and facies analysis of Lower Cretaceous evaporitic deposition complex” 
  • John A. Farre, 1985: “The importance of mass wasting processes on the continental slope” 
  • Ellen S. Kappel, 1985: “Evidence for episodicity and a non-steady state rift valley” 
  • Suzanne O’Connell, 1986: “Anatomy of modern submarine depositional and distributary systems” 
  • Angela M. Barone, 1989: “Morpho-tectonic evolution of subsea volcanoes near the boundary of separating plates: Examples from rifting and spreading stages” 
  • Alberto Malinverno, 1989: “Statistical studies of seafloor morphology” 
  • Carlos Pirmez, 1994: “Growth of a submarine meandering channel-levee system on the Amazon Fan” 
  • Lincoln F. Pratson, 1994: “Submarine canyon initiation by downslope-eroding sediment flows: Evidence in late Cenozoic strata on the New Jersey continental slope” Jennifer Robin Reynolds, 1995: “Segment-scale systematics of mid-ocean-ridge magmatism and geochemistry” 
  • Raymond Paul Freeman-Lynde, 1981: “The marine geology of the Bahama Escarpment” 
  • Ana Lucia Goncalves Macario, 1995: “Crustal accretion at intermediate spreading rates: Pacific-Antarctic Ridge at 65° S” 
  • Wen Jin, 2000: “Tectonic strain and submarine lava flows in the mid-ocean ridges” 
  • Johanna Lofi, 2002: “La Crise de Salinité Messinienne: Conséquences directes et différées du l’évolution sédimentaire de la marge du Golfe du Lion” 
  • Candace O. Major, 2002: “Non-eustatic controls on sea-level change in semi-enclosed basins” 
  • Angela L. Slagle, 2007: “Spatial and temporal variability of sedimentary processes in the Hudson River estuary”
  • Anne E. Cook, 2009: “Gas hydrate-filled fracture reservoirs on continental margins” 
  • Anastasia G. Yanchilina, 2016: “Excess freshwater outflow from the Black Sea during glacial and deglacial periods and delayed entry of marine water in the early Holocene requiring evolving sills”

Fields of Interest

mid-ocean ridges, continental margins, estuaries, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Red Sea, ice sheet deglaciation

Education

  • 1961 BA Williams College 
  • 1969 PhD Columbia University

Honors & Awards

  • 1980 Society for Sedimentary Geology Shepard Medal 
  • 1995 Honorary Degree Williams College 
  • 1998 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union

Twelve most significant publications

Dewey, JF, WC Pitman III, WBF Ryan, and J Bonnin. "Plate Tectonics and the Evolution of the Alpine System." Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, no. 10 (1973): 3137-80. 

Hsü, KJ, WBF Ryan, and MB Cita. "Late Miocene Desiccation of the Mediterranean." Nature 242, no. 5395 (1973): 240-44. 

Malinverno, A, and WBF Ryan. "Extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea and Shortening in the Apennines as Result of Arc Migration Driven by Sinking of the Lithosphere." Tectonics 5, no. 2 (1986): 227-45. 

Ryan, WBF, SM Carbotte, JO Coplan, S O'Hara, A Melkonian, R Arko, RA Weissel, et al. "Global Multi‐Resolution Topography Synthesis." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10, no. 3 (2009). 

Ryan, WBF, WC Pitman III, CO Major, K Shimkus, V Moskalenko, GA Jones, P Dimitrov, et al. "An Abrupt Drowning of the Black Sea Shelf." Marine Geology 138, no. 1-2 (1997): 119-26. 

Ryan, WBF, CO Major, G Lericolais, and SL Goldstein. "Catastrophic Flooding of the Black Sea." Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 31, no. 1 (2003): 525-54.

Ryan, WBF, DJ Stanley, J.B Hersey, DA Fahlquist, and TD Allan. "The Tectonics and Geology of the Mediterranean Sea." Chap. 12 In The Sea, 387-492. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1971. 

Ryan, WBF, and MB Cita. "Ignorance Concerning Episodes of Ocean-Wide Stagnation." In Developments in Sedimentology, 197-215: Elsevier, 1977. 

Ryan, WBF, and MB Cita. "The Nature and Distribution of Messinian Erosional Surfaces—Indicators of a Several-Kilometer-Deep Mediterranean in the Miocene." Marine Geology 27, no. 3-4 (1978): 193-230. 

Ryan, WBF. "Decoding the Mediterranean Salinity Crisis." Sedimentology 56, no. 1 (2009): 95-136. 

Ryan, WBF. "Quantitative Evaluation of the Depth of the Western Mediterranean before, During and after the Late Miocene Salinity Crisis." Sedimentology 23, no. 6 (1976): 791-813. 

Watts, AB, and WBF Ryan. "Flexure of the Lithosphere and Continental Margin Basins." Tectonophysics 36, no. 1-3 (1976): 25-44. 


Peer-reviewed publications in alphabetical order by lead author 

Alonso, B., KA Kastens, A Maldonado, A Malinverno, CH Nelson, S O'Connell, A Palanques, and WBF Ryan. "Morphology of the Ebro Fan Valleys from SeaMARC and Sea Beam Profiles." Geo-Marine Letters 5, no. 3 (1985): 141-48.

Barone, AM, and WBF Ryan. "Along‐Axis Variations within the Plate Boundary Zone of the Southern Segment of the Endeavour Ridge." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 93, no. B7 (1988): 7856-68.

Barone, AM, and WBF Ryan. "Morphology from Subaerial Erosion of a Mediterranean Seamount." Marine Geology 74, no. 3-4 (1987): 159-72.

Barone, AAM, and WBF Ryan. "Single Plume Model for Asynchronous Formation of the Lamont Seamounts and Adjacent Eeast Pacific Rise Terrains." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 95, no. B7 (1990): 10801-27.

Biscaye, PE, WBF Ryan, and FC Wezel. "Age and Nature of the Pan-Mediterranean Subbottom Reflector M". Edited by DJ Stanley, The Mediterranean Sea. Strounsburg, PA: Dowdewn Hutchinson and Ross, Inc, 1972.

Buck, WR, C Small, and WBF Ryan. "Constraints on Asthenospheric Flow from the Depths of Oceanic Spreading Centers: The East Pacific Rise and the Australian‐Antarctic Discordance." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10, no. 9 (2009).

Çağatay, MN, K Eriş, WBF Ryan, Ü Sancar, A Polonia, S Akçer, D Biltekin, et al. "Late Pleistocene–Holocene Evolution of the Northern Shelf of the Sea of Marmara." Marine Geology 265, no. 3-4 (2009): 87-100.

Carbotte, SM, RE Bell, WBF Ryan, C McHugh, A Slagle, F Nitsche, and J Rubenstone. "Environmental Change and Oyster Colonization within the Hudson River Estuary Linked to Holocene Climate." Geo-Marine Letters 24, no. 4 (2004): 212-24.

Carbotte, SM, WBF Ryan, W Jin, M-H Cormier, E Bergmanis, J Sinton, and S White. "Magmatic Subsidence of the East Pacific Rise (Epr) at 18 14′ S Revealed through Fault Restoration of Ridge Crest Bathymetry." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 4, no. 1 (2003).

Carbotte, SM, WBF Ryan, S O'Hara, R Arko, A Goodwillie, A Melkonian, RA Weissel, and VL Ferrini. "Antarctic Multibeam Bathymetry and Geophysical Data Synthesis: An on-Line Digital Data Resource for Marine Geoscience Research in the Southern Ocean." In Open-File Report 2007-1047-SRP-002. Washington, DC: US Geological Survey, 2007.

Chayes, DN, H Chezar, JS Farre, M Rawson, and WBF Ryan. "New Application for Ocean Bottom Suyrvey Using Submersibles and Towed Sleds." Chap. 121-126 In Underwater Photography, Scientific Photography, Scientific and Engineering Applications, edited by PF Smith. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984.

Chiocchini, U, R Franchi, F Guerrera, WBF  Ryan, and S Vannucci. "Geologia Di Alcune Successioni Torbiditiche Cretaceo-Terziare Appartenenti Ai Flysch Mauretaniens E Alla Nappe Numidian Del Rif Settentrionale (Marocco)." Studib Geologici Camerati 4 (1978): 37-65.

Cita, MB , WBF Ryan, and I Paggi. "Prometheus Mud Breccia: An Example of Shale Diapirism in the Western Mediterranean Ridge." Paper presented at the Annales Geologiques des Pays Helleniques, 1981.

Cita, MB, and WBF Ryan. "The Bou Regreg Section of the Atlantic Coast of Marocco. Evidence, Timing and Significance of a Late Miocene Regressive Phase." Riv. Ital. Paleont. 84, no. 4 (1978): 1051-82.

Cita, MB, and WBF Ryan. "The Deep-Sea Record of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Last 150,000 Years." In Thera and Tghe Aegean World I, edited by C. Dlumas. London, 1978.

Cita, MB, and WBF Ryan. "The Pliocene Record in Deep Sea Mediterranean Sediments, U: Initial Reports Deep Sea Drilling Project, 13/2,(Ur. Kaneps, Ad)." University of California, University of Washington, Washington  (1973): 1341-43.

Cita, MB, WBF Ryan, and RB Kidd. "Sedimentation Rates in Neogene Deep-Sea Sediments from the Mediterranean and Geodynamic Implications of Their Changes." Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 42, no. 1 (1978): 991-1002.

Cita, MB, RC Wright, WBF Ryan, and A Longinelli. "Messinian Paleoenvironments." Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 42, no. 1 (1978): 1003-35.

Cormier, M-H, WBF Ryan, AK Shah, W Jin, AM Bradley, and DR Yoerger. "Waxing and Waning Volcanism Along the East Pacific Rise on a Millennium Time Scale." Geology 31, no. 7 (2003): 633-36.

Cowie, PA, A Malinverno, WBF Ryan, and MH Edwards. "Quantitative Fault Studies on the East Pacific Rise: A Comparison of Sonar Imaging Techniques." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 99, no. B8 (1994): 15205-18.

Detrick, RS, PJ Fox, K Kastens, WBF Ryan, L Mayer, and JA Karson. "A Sea Beam Survey of the Kane Fracture Zone and Adjacent Mid-Atlantic Ridge Rift Valley." Eos 65 (1984): 1006.

Dewey, JF, WC Pitman III, WBF Ryan, and J Bonnin. "Plate Tectonics and the Evolution of the Alpine System." Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, no. 10 (1973): 3137-80.

Edwards, MH, DJ Fornari, A Malinverno, WBF Ryan, and John Madsen. "The Regional Tectonic Fabric of the East Pacific Rise from 12 50′ N to 15 10′ N." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 96, no. B5 (1991): 7995-8017.

Embley, RW, SL Eittreim, CH McHugh, WR Normark, GH Rau, Barbara Hecker, AE DeBevoise and WBF Ryan. "Geological Setting of Chemosynthetic Communities in the Monterey Fan Valley System." Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers 37, no. 11 (1990): 1651-67.

Erickson, AJ, G Simmons, and WBF Ryan. "Review of Heatflow Data from the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas." In Symposium on the Structural History of the Mediterranean Basins, 263-79. Paris: Societe des Editions Technip, 1976.

Eriş, KK, WBF Ryan, MN Çağatay, U Sancar, G Lericolais, G Menot, and E Bard. "The Timing and Evolution of the Post-Glacial Transgression across the Sea of Marmara Shelf South of Istanbul." Marine Geology 243, no. 1-4 (2007): 57-76.

Eriş, KK, WBF Ryan, MN Çağatay, U Sancar, G Lericolais, G Ménot, and E Bard. "Reply to Comment on “the Timing and Evolution of the Post-Glacial Transgression across the Sea of Marmara Shelf South of İstanbu” by Hiscott Et Al." Marine Geology 248 (2008): 228-36.

Farre, JA, BA McGregor, WBF Ryan, and JM Robb. "Breaching the Shelfbreak: Passage from Youthful to Mature Phase in Submarine Canyon Evolution." The Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists (SEPM) SEPM SPECIAL PUBLICATION No 33 (1983): 25-39.

Farre, JA, and WBF Ryan. "3-D View of Erosional Scars on Us Mid-Atlantic Continental Margin." AAPG Bulletin 69, no. 6 (1985): 923-32.

Farre, JA, and WBF Ryan. "Are Lower Slope Grooves Evidence for Large Scale Submarine Mass Movement?". EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 64 (1983): 730.

Farre, JA, and WBF Ryan. "Comment and Reply on “Spring Sapping on the Lower Continental Slope, Offshore New Jersey” ". Geology 13, no. 1 (1985): 91-92.

Farre, JA, and WBF Ryan. "Surficial Geology of the Continental-Margin Offshore New Jersey in the Vicinity of Deep-Sea Drilling Project Site-612 and Site-613." Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 95 (1987): 725-59.

Farre, JA, WBF Ryan, W Koch, and AM Brosius. "Applying Thyristor Technology to Deep Sea Photography." Functional Photography 18 (1983): 16-18.

Fontes, JC, R Letolle, WD Nesteroff, and WBF Ryan. "Oxygen, Carbon, Sulfur, and Hydrogen Stable Isotopes in Carbonate and Sulfate Mineral Phases of Neogene Evaporites, Sediments and in Interstitial Waters, Dsdp Leg 13." Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 13 (1973): 788-96.

Fornari, DJ, MR Perfit, JF Allan, R Batiza, R Haymon, A Barone, WBF Ryan, et al. "Geochemical and Structural Studies of the Lamont Seamounts: Seamounts as Indicators of Mantle Processes." Earth and Planetary Science Letters 89, no. 1 (1988): 63-83.

Fornari, DJ, WBF Ryan, and PJ Fox. "The Evolution of Craters and Calderas on Young Seamounts: Insights from Sea Marc I and Sea Beam Sonar Surveys of a Small Seamount Group near the Axis of the East Pacific Rise at∼ 10° N." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 89, no. B13 (1984): 11069-83.

Fornari, DJ, WBF Ryan, and PJ Fox. "Sea Marc 1 Side‐Scan Sonar Imaging near the East Pacific Rise." EOS, Transactions American Geophysical Union 64, no. 31 (1983): 482-82.

Fornari, DJ, WBF Ryan, and PJ Fox. "Sea-Floor Lava Fields on the East Pacific Rise." Geology 13, no. 6 (1985): 413-16.

Fox, PJ, WF Ruddiman, WBF Ryan, and BC Heezen. "The Geology of the Caribbean Crust: Beata Ridge." Tectonophysics 10 (1970): 495-513.

Freeman-Lynde, RP, and WBF Ryan. "Erosional Modification of Bahama Escarpment." Geol. Soc. Am. Bulletin 96 (1985): 481-94.

Freeman-Lynde, RP, and WBF Ryan.. "Subsidence History of the Bahama Escarpment and the Nature of the Crust Underlying the Bahamas." Earth and Planetary Science Letters 84, no. 4 (1987): 457-70.

Freeman-Lynde, RP, WBF Ryan, MB Cita, F Jadoul, and EL Miller. "Marine Geology of the Bahama Escarpment." Marine Geology 44, no. 1-2 (1981): 119-56.

Hekinian, R, JM Auzende, J Francheteau, P Gente, WBF Ryan, and ES Kappel. "Offset Spreading Centers near 12° 53’ N on the East Pacific Rise: Submersible Observationas and the Composition of the Volcanics." Marine Geophysical Researches 7 (1985): 359-77.

Hesse, R, S Khodabakhsh, I Klaucke, and WBF Ryan. "Asymmetrical Turbid Surface-Plume Deposition near Ice-Outlets of the Pleistocene Laurentide Ice Sheet in the Labrador Sea." Geo-Marine Letters 17, no. 3 (1997): 179-87.

Hesse, R, I Klaucke, S Khodabakhsh, DJW Piper, WBF Ryan, and NAMOC Study Group. "Sandy Submarine Braid Plains: Potential Deep-Water Reservoirs." AAPG bulletin 85, no. 8 (2001): 1499-521.

Hesse, R, I Klaucke, S Khodabakhsh, and WBF Ryan. "Glacimarine Drainage Systems in Deep-Sea: The Namoc System of the Labrador Sea and Its Sibling." In Glaciated Continental Margins, 286-89: Springer, 1997.

Hesse, R, I Klaucke, and WBF Ryan. "Imaging Laurentide Ice Sheet Drainage into the Deep Sea: Impact on Sediments and Bottom Water." Oceanographic Literature Review 4, no. 44 (1997): 328.

Hesse, R, I Klaucke, WBF Ryan, and DJW Piper. "Ice-Sheet Sourced Juxtaposed Turbidite Systems in Labrador Sea." Geoscience Canada 24, no. 1 (1997).

Hsü, KJ, MB Cita, and WBF Ryan. "The Origin of the Mediterranean Evaporites." Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 13 (1973): 1203-31.

Hsu, KJ, and WBF Ryan. "Deep-Sea Drilling in the Hellenic Trench." Bulletin of the Geological Socienty of Greece 10 (1973): 81-89.

Hsü, KJ, WBF Ryan, and MB Cita. "Late Miocene Desiccation of the Mediterranean." Nature 242, no. 5395 (1973): 240-44.

Hsü, KJ, WBF Ryan, T Cocozza, and P Magnier. "Comparative Petrography of Three Suites of Basement Rocks from the Western Mediterranean." In Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 775-80. Washington, DC: U. S. Govermernt Printing Office, 1973.

Hsü, KJ, WBF Ryan, and BC Schreiber. "Petrography of a Halite Sample from Hole 134–Balearic Abyssal Plain." Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 13, no. Part 2 (1973): 708-11.

Kappel, ES, and WBF Ryan. "Volcanic Episodicity and a Non‐Steady State Rift Valley Along Northeast Pacific Spreading Centers: Evidence from Sea Marc I." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 91, no. B14 (1986): 13925-40.

Kastens, KA, WBF Ryan, and PJ Fox. "Structural and Volcanic Expression of a Fast Slipping Ridge‐Transform‐Ridge‐Plate Boundary: Sea Marc I and Photographic Surveys at the Clipperton Transform Fault." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 91, no. B3 (1986): 3469-88.

Keller, J, WBF Ryan, D Ninkovich, and R Altherr. "Explosive Volcanic Activity in the Mediterranean over the Past 200,000 Yr as Recorded in Deep-Sea Sediments." Geological Society of America Bulletin 89, no. 4 (1978): 591-604.

Klaucke, I, R Hesse, and WBF Ryan. "Flow Parameters of Turbidity Currents in a Low‐Sinuosity Giant Deep‐Sea Channel." Sedimentology 44, no. 6 (1997): 1093-102.

Klaucke, I, R Hesse, and WBF Ryan. "Morphology and Structure of a Distal Submarine Trunk Channel: The Northwest Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel between Lat 53° N and 44° 30′ N." Geological Society of America Bulletin 110, no. 1 (1998): 22-34.

Klaucke, I, R Hesse, and WBF Ryan. "Seismic Stratigraphy of the Northwest Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel: Growth Pattern of a Mid-Ocean Channel-Levee Complex." Marine and Petroleum Geology 15, no. 6 (1998): 575-85.

Kong, L, WBF Ryan, L Mayer, RS Detrick, PJ Fox, and K Manchester. "Bare-Rock Drill Sites, Odp Legs 106 and 109: Evidence for Hydrothermal Activity at 23° N in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge." Eos 66 (1985): 46.

Kong, LSL, RS Detrick, PJ Fox, Larry A Mayer, and WBF Ryan. "The Morphology and Tectonics of the Mark Area from Sea Beam and Sea Marc I Observations (Mid-Atlantic Ridge 23° N)." Marine Geophysical Researches 10, no. 1-2 (1988): 59.

Lofi, J, C Gorini, S Berné, G Clauzon, AT Dos Reis, WBF Ryan, and MS Steckler. "Erosional Processes and Paleo-Environmental Changes in the Western Gulf of Lions (Sw France) During the Messinian Salinity Crisis." Marine Geology 217, no. 1-2 (2005): 1-30.

Lofi, J, M Rabineau, C Gorini, S Berne, G Clauzon, P De Clarens, AT Dos Reis and WBF Ryan"Plio–Quaternary Prograding Clinoform Wedges of the Western Gulf of Lion Continental Margin (Nw Mediterranean) after the Messinian Salinity Crisis." Marine Geology 198, no. 3-4 (2003): 289-317.

Macario, A, WF Haxby, JA Goff, WBF Ryan, SC Cande, and CA Raymond. "Flow Line Variations in Abyssal Hill Morphology for the Pacific‐Antarctic Ridge at 65 S." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 99, no. B9 (1994): 17921-34.

Major, CO, SL Goldstein, WBF Ryan, G Lericolais, AM Piotrowski, and I Hajdas. "The Co-Evolution of Black Sea Level and Composition through the Last Deglaciation and Its Paleoclimatic Significance." Quaternary Science Reviews 25, no. 17-18 (2006): 2031-47.

Major, CO, and WBF Ryan. "Eratosthenes Seamount: Record of Late Miocene Sea-Level Changes and Facies Related to the Messinian Salinity Crisis." Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana 54 (1999): 47-59.

Major, CO, WBF Ryan, and MJ Jurado-Rodríguez. "Evolution of Paleo-Environments of Eratosthenes Seamount Based on Downhole Logging Integrated with Carbonate Petrology and Reflection Profiles." In Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results,, 483-508. College Station ,TX, 1998.

Major, CO, WBF Ryan, G Lericolais, and I Hajdas. "Constraints on Black Sea Outflow to the Sea of Marmara During the Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition." Marine Geology 190, no. 1-2 (2002): 19-34.

Maldonado, A, A Palanques, B Alonso, KA Kastens, CH Nelson, S O'Connell, and WBF Ryan. "Physiography and Deposition on a Distal Deep-Sea System: The Valencia Fan (Northwestern Mediterranean)." Geo-Marine Letters 5, no. 3 (1985): 157-64.

Malinverno, A, M Cafiero, WBF Ryan, and MB Cita. "Distribution of Messinian Sediments and Erosional Surfaces beneath the Tyrrhenian Sea - Geodynamic Implications." Oceanologica Acta 4, no. 4 (1981): 489-95.

Malinverno, A, MH Edwards, and WBF Ryan. "Processing of Seamarc Swath Sonar Data." IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 15, no. 1 (1990): 14-23.

Malinverno, A, and WBF Ryan. "Extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea and Shortening in the Apennines as Result of Arc Migration Driven by Sinking of the Lithosphere." Tectonics 5, no. 2 (1986): 227-45.

Malinverno, A, WBF Ryan, G Auffret, and G Pautot. "Sonar Images of the Path of Recent Failure Events on the Continental Margin Off Nice, France." Geological Society of America Special Papers 229 (1988): 59-76.

Mart, Y, WBF Ryan, and OV Lunina. "Review of the Tectonics of the Levant Rift System: The Structural Significance of Oblique Continental Breakup." Tectonophysics 395, no. 3-4 (2005): 209-32.

Mart, Yossi, E Aharonov, G Mulugeta, WBF Ryan, T Tentler, and L Goren. "Analogue Modelling of the Initiation of Subduction." Geophysical Journal International 160, no. 3 (2005): 1081-91.

Mart, Yossi, and WBF Ryan. "The Complex Tectonic Regime of Cyprus Arc: A Short Review." Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 51 (2002): 117-34.

Mayer, L, WBF Ryan, L King, RS Detrick, PJ Fox, and K Manchester. "Bare-Rock Drill Sites, Odp Legs 106 Amd 109: Evidence for Hydrothermal Activity at 23° N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge." EOS, Am. Geophys. Union 66, no. 46 (1985): 1092.

McGregor, B, WL Stubblefield, WBF Ryan, and DC Twichell. "Wilmington Submarine Canyon: A Marine Fluvial-Like System." Geology 10, no. 1 (1982): 27-30.

McHugh, CMG, D Gurung, L Giosan, WBF Ryan, Y Mart, U Sancar, L Burckle, and MN Cagatay. "The Last Reconnection of the Marmara Sea (Turkey) to the World Ocean: A Paleoceanographic and Paleoclimatic Perspective." Marine Geology 255, no. 1-2 (2008): 64-82.

McHugh, CMG, SF Pekar, Nicholas Christie-Blick, WBF Ryan, S Carbotte, and R Bell. "Spatial Variations in a Condensed Interval between Estuarine and Open-Marine Settings: Holocene Hudson River Estuary and Adjacent Continental Shelf." Geology 32, no. 2 (2004): 169-72.

McHugh, CMG, and WBF Ryan. "Sedimentary Features Associated with Channel Overbank Flow: Examples from the Monterey Fan." Marine Geology 163, no. 1-4 (2000): 199-215.

McHugh, CMG, WBF Ryan, S Eittreim, and D Reed. "The Influence of the San Gregorio Fault on the Morphology of Monterey Canyon." Marine Geology 146, no. 1-4 (1998): 63-91.

McHugh, CMG, WBF Ryan, and B Hecker. "Contemporary Sedimentary Processes in the Monterey Canyon-Fan System." Marine Geology 107, no. 1-2 (1992): 35-50.

McHugh, CMG, WBF Ryan, and BC Schreiber. "The Role of Diagenesis in Exfoliation of Submarine Canyons." AAPG Bulletin 77, no. 2 (1993): 145-72.

McHugh, CMG, L Seeber, M-H Cormier, J Dutton, N Cagatay, A Polonia, WBF Ryan, and N Gorur. "Submarine Earthquake Geology Along the North Anatolia Fault in the Marmara Sea, Turkey: A Model for Transform Basin Sedimentation." Earth and Planetary Science Letters 248, no. 3-4 (2006): 661-84.

Nagel, TJ, WBF Ryan, A Malinverno, and WR Buck. "Pacific Trench Motions Controlled by the Asymmetric Plate Configuration." Tectonics 27, no. 3 (2008).

Nesteroff, WD, and WBF Ryan. "Séries Stratigraphiques Et Implicatiions Tectoniques Du Forage Joides 121 En Mer Alboran." Bull Geol. Soc. France 15, no. 2 (1973): 113-14.

Nitsche, FO, R Bell, SM Carbotte, WBF Ryan, and R Flood. "Process-Related Classification of Acoustic Data from the Hudson River Estuary." Marine Geology 209, no. 1-4 (2004): 131-45.

Nitsche, FO, R Bell, SM Carbotte, WBF Ryan, A Slagle, S Chillrud, T Kenna, et al. "Integrative Acoustic Mapping Reveals Hudson River Sediment Processes and Habitats." Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 86, no. 24 (2005): 225-29.

Nitsche, FO, WBF Ryan, SM Carbotte, RE Bell, A Slagle, C Bertinado, R Flood, T Kenna, and C McHugh. "Regional Patterns and Local Variations of Sediment Distribution in the Hudson River Estuary." Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 71, no. 1-2 (2007): 259-77.

O'Leary, DW, and WBF Ryan. "Geomorphic Features of Shelf-Slope Revealed by Sidescan Sonar Images." AAPG Bulletin 65, no. 5 (1981): 966-67.

O’Connell, S, B Alonso, KA Kastens, A Maldonado, A Malinverno, CH Nelson, A Palanques, and WBF Ryan. "Morphology and Downslope Sediment Displacement in a Deep-Sea Valley, the Valencia Valley (Northwestern Mediterranean)." Geo-Marine Letters 5, no. 3 (1985): 149-56.

O’Connell, S, WR Normark, WBF Ryan, and NH Kenyon. "An Entrenched Thalweg Channel on the Rhône Fan: Interpretation from a Sea-Beam and Seamarc I Survey." From shoreline to abyss: contributions in marine geology in honor of Francis Parker Shepard: SEPM Special Publication 46 (1991): 259-70.

O’Connell, S, WBF Ryan, and WR Normark. "Evolution of a Fan Channel on the Surface of the Outer Mississippi Fan: Evidence from Side-Looking Sonar." In Seismic Facies and Sedimentary Processes of Submarine Fans and Turbidite Systems, 365-81: Springer, 1991.

O’Connell, S, WBF Ryan, and WR Normark. "Modes of Development of Slope Canyons and Their Relation to Channel and Levee Features on the Ebro Sediment Apron, Off-Shore Northeastern Spain." Marine and Petroleum Geology 4, no. 4 (1987): 308-19.

Orange, DL, HG Greene, D Reed, JB Martin, CMG McHugh, WBF Ryan, N Maher, D Stakes, and J Barry. "Widespread Fluid Expulsion on a Translational Continental Margin: Mud Volcanoes, Fault Zones, Headless Canyons, and Organic-Rich Substrate in Monterey Bay, California." Geological Society of America Bulletin 111, no. 7 (1999): 992-1009.

Pratson, LF, and WBF Ryan. "Automated Drainage Extraction in Mapping the Monterey Submarine Drainage System, California Margin." Marine Geophysical Researches 18, no. 6 (1996): 757-77.

Pratson, LF, and WBF Ryan. "Pliocene to Recent Infilling and Subsidence of Intraslope Basins Offshore Louisiana." Amer. Assoc.Petro. Geol. Bulletin 78, no. 10 (1994): 1483-506.

Pratson, LF, WBF Ryan, GS Mountain, and DC Twichell. "Submarine Canyon Initiation by Downslope-Eroding Sediment Flows: Evidence in Late Cenozoic Strata on the New Jersey Continental Slope." Geological Society of America Bulletin 106, no. 3 (1994): 395-412.

Rabinowitz, PD, and WBF Ryan. "Gravity Anomalies and Crustal Shortening in the Eastern Mediterranean." Tectonophysics 10, no. 5-6 (1970): 585-608.

Rawson, MD, and WBF Ryan. "Geologic Observations at 2800-Meter Radioactive Waste Disposal Site 106 in the Atlantic Ocean." Washington, DC: Office of Radiation Programs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1983.

Rawson, MD, and WBF Ryan. "Ocean Flooe Sediment and Polymetallic Nodules Map." Washington DC: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Oceanographer, 1978.

Renz, O, R Imlay, Y Lancelot, and WBF Ryan. "Ammonite-Rich Oxfordian Limestones from the Base of the Continental Slope Off Northwest Africa." Eclogae Geol. Helv 68, no. 2 (1975): 431-48.

Reynolds, JR, Charles H Langmuir, JF Bender, KA Kastens, and WBF Ryan. "Spatial and Temporal Variability in the Geochemistry of Basalts from the East Pacific Rise." Nature 359, no. 6395 (1992): 493.

Ryan, WBF. "A Close Look at Parting Plates." Nature 332, no. 22 April (1988).

Ryan, WBF. "Decoding the Mediterranean Salinity Crisis." Sedimentology 56, no. 1 (2009): 95-136.

Ryan, WBF. "Geodynamic Implications of the Messinian Crisis of Salinity." In Messinian Events in the Mediterranean, 26-38: North-Holland Amsterdam, 1973.

Ryan, WBF. "Geodynamic Responses to a Two-Step Model of the Messinian Salinity Crisis." Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 182, no. 2 (2011): 73-78.

Ryan, WBF. "Geological Evolution of the Mediterranean Sea: Some Unanswered Questions as to the Role Played by Italy." Memorie della Societa Geologica Italiana 13, no. Suppl. 2 (1974): 201-07.

Ryan, WBF. "Imaging of Submarine Landslides with Wide-Swath Sonar." In Marine Slides and Other Mass Movements, 175-88: Springer, 1982.

Ryan, WBF. "Interrelationships between Oceanographic Events and Mass Wasting of the Sea Floor." In Marine Slides and Other Mass Movements, 263-69: Springer, 1982.

Ryan, WBF. "Messinian Badlands on the Southeastern Margin of the Mediterranean Sea." Marine Geology 27, no. 3-4 (1978): 349-63.

Ryan, WBF. "Modeling the Magnitude and Timing of Evaporative Drawdown During the Messinian Salinity Crisis." Stratigraphy 5, no. 1 (2008): 227-43.

Ryan, WBF. "Quantitative Evaluation of the Depth of the Western Mediterranean before, During and after the Late Miocene Salinity Crisis." Sedimentology 23, no. 6 (1976): 791-813.

Ryan, WBF. "Status of the Black Sea Flood Hypothesis." In The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement, 63-88: Springer, 2007.

Ryan, WBF. "Stratigraphy of Late Quaternary Sediments in the Eastern Mediterranean." The Mediterranean Sea: a natural sedimentation laboratory 1 (1972): 149-69.

Ryan, WBF. "The Use of Mid-Range Side-Looking Sonar to Locate the Wreck of the Titanic." In Subtech ‘83, 1-14. London, 1983.

Ryan, WBF, M Ewing, and JI Ewing. "Diapirism in the Sedimentary Basins of the Mediterranean Sea." Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 47 (1966): 120.

Ryan, WBF, SM Carbotte, JO Coplan, S O'Hara, A Melkonian, R Arko, RA Weissel, et al. "Global Multi‐Resolution Topography Synthesis." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10, no. 3 (2009).

Ryan, WBF, and MB Cita. "Ignorance Concerning Episodes of Ocean-Wide Stagnation." In Developments in Sedimentology, 197-215: Elsevier, 1977.

Ryan, WBF, and MB Cita. "The Nature and Distribution of Messinian Erosional Surfaces—Indicators of a Several-Kilometer-Deep Mediterranean in the Miocene." Marine Geology 27, no. 3-4 (1978): 193-230.

Ryan, WBF, MB Cita, EL Miller, D Hanselman, WD Nesteroff, B Hecker, and M Nibbelink. "Bedrock Geology in New England Submarine Canyons." Oceanologica Acta 1, no. 2 (1978): 233-54.

Ryan, WBF, and J Farre. "Potential of Radioactive and Other Waste Disposals on the Continental Margin by Natural Dispersal Processes." In Wastes in the Oceans, edited by Kester Park, Duedall and Ketchum, 215-36. New York: John Wiley & Sons, INnc, 1983.

Ryan, WBF, and RD Flood. "Side-Looking Sonar Backscatter Response at Dual Frequencies." Marine Geophysical Researches 18, no. 6 (1996): 689-705.

Ryan, WBF, and PJ Fox. "Rifting and Its Geological Environment." Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London A 294 (1980): 121-22.

Ryan, WBF, and BC Heezen. "Ionian Sea Submarine Canyons and the 1908 Messina Turbidity Current." Geological Society of America Bulletin 76, no. 8 (1965): 915-32.

Ryan, WBF, and KJ. Hsü, et al. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project.  Vol. 13, Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973.

Ryan, WBF, KA Kastens, and MB Cita. "Geological Evidence Concerning Compressional Tectonics in the Eastern Mediterranean." Tectonophysics 86, no. 1-3 (1982): 213-42.

Ryan, WBF, CO Major, G Lericolais, and SL Goldstein. "Catastrophic Flooding of the Black Sea." Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 31, no. 1 (2003): 525-54.

Ryan, WBF, CO Major, WC Pitman, KS Shimkus, V Moscalenko, GA Jones, P Dimitrov, M Saking, and SH Yuce. "An Abrupt Drowning of the Black Sea Shelf at 7.5 Kyr Bp." Geo-Eco-Marina 2 (1997): 115-25.

Ryan, WBF, EF Miller, MB Cita, DF Hanselman, WO Nesteroff, and MF Nibbelink. "Geologic History of Georges Bank as Determined by Submersible Exploration of Submarine Canyons." Paper presented at the Offshore Technology Conference, 1978.

Ryan, WBF, and EL Miller. "Evidence of a Carbonate Platform beneath Georges Bank." Marine Geology 44, no. 1-2 (1981): 213-28.

Ryan, WBF, S O'Hara, and M Noonan. "Seafloor Mapping across Computer Networks." Paper presented at the OCEANS'91. Ocean Technologies and Opportunities in the Pacific for the 90's. Proceedings., 1991.

Ryan, WBF, WC Pitman III, CO Major, K Shimkus, V Moskalenko, GA Jones, P Dimitrov, et al. "An Abrupt Drowning of the Black Sea Shelf." Marine Geology 138, no. 1-2 (1997): 119-26.

Ryan, WBF, and FN Spiess. "Search for the Titanic: Parts 1 & 2." Ship to Shore, 1984, 25.

Ryan, WBF, DJ Stanley, J.B Hersey, DA Fahlquist, and TD Allan. "The Tectonics and Geology of the Mediterranean Sea." Chap. 12 In The Sea, 387-492. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1971.

Ryan, WBF, EM Thorndike, M Ewing, and DA Ross. "Suspended Matter in the Red Sea Brines and Its Detection by Light Scattering." In Hot Brines and Recent Heavy Metal Deposits in the Red Sea, 153-57: Springer, 1969.

Ryan, WBF, D Vachtman, CMG McHugh, MN Çağatay, and Y Mart. "A Channeled Shelf Fan Initiated by Flooding of the Black Sea." In The Mediterranean Sea, 11-27: Springer, 2014.

Ryan, WBF, F Workum Jr, and JB Hersey. "Sediments on the Tyrrhenian Abyssal Plain." Geological Society of America Bulletin 76, no. 11 (1965): 1261-82.

Ryan, William, and Walter Pitman. Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000. 

Scandone, P, E. Patacca, R Radoicic, WBF Ryan, MB Cita, M Rawson, H Chezar, et al. "Mesozoic and Cenozoic Rocks from Malta Escarpment (Central Mediterranean)." Am. Assoc.Petrol. Geol. Bull. 65, no. 7 (1981): 1299-319.

Shah, AK, M-H Cormier, WBF Ryan, W Jin, J Sinton, E Bergmanis, J Carlut, A Bradley, and D Yoerger. "Episodic Dike Swarms Inferred from near‐Bottom Magnetic Anomaly Maps at the Southern East Pacific Rise." Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 108, no. B2 (2003).

Sibuet, J-C, and WBF Ryan. "Site 398: Evolution of the West Iberian Passive Continental Margin in the Framework of the Early Evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean." Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 67, no. 2 (1979): 673-87.

Sibuet, J-C, WBF Ryan, and M Arthur. "Deep Drilling Results of Leg 47b (Galica Bank Area) in the Framework of the Early Evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean." Phil. Trans. R. Sioc. London A 294 (1980): 51-61.

Sibuet, J-C;, O de Charpal, L. Montadert, and WBF Ryan. "Mouvwmewnts Verticaux Dans La Région Des Bancs De Galice (Atlantique Nord-Est) D’aprés Les Résultats Du Leg 47 B." Bull Soc. Geol. France 20, no. 4 (1978): 365-73.

Slagle, AL, WBF Ryan, SM Carbotte, R Bell, FO Nitsche, and T Kenna. "Late-Stage Estuary Infilling Controlled by Limited Accommodation Space in the Hudson River." Marine Geology 232, no. 3-4 (2006): 181-202.

Venkatarathnam, K, and WBF Ryan. "Dispersal Patterns of Clay Minerals in the Sediments of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea." Marine Geology 11, no. 4 (1971): 261-82.

Vergnaud-Grazzini, C, WBF Ryan, and MB Cita. "Stable Isotopic Fractionation, Climate Change and Episodic Stagnation in the Eastern Mediterranean During the Late Quaternary." Marine Micropaleontology 2 (1977): 353-70.

Watts, AB, and WBF Ryan. "Flexure of the Lithosphere and Continental Margin Basins." Tectonophysics 36, no. 1-3 (1976): 25-44.

Wezel, FC, and WBF Ryan. "Flysch, Margini Continentali E Zolle Litosfferiche." Boll. Soc,. Geol. Italia 90 (1971): 249-70.

Wollin, G, DB Ericson, and WBF Ryan. "Variations in Magnetic Intensity and Climatic Changes." Nature 232, no. 5312 (1971): 549.

Wollin, G, GJ Kukla, DB Ericson, WBF Ryan, and J Wollin. "Magnetic Intensity and Climatic Changes 1925–1970." Nature 242, no. 5392 (1973): 34.

Wollin, G, and WBF Ryan. "Synthesis of Protein,M Nucleosides and Other Organic Compounds from Cyanamide and Potassium Nitrate under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions." Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 584 (1979): 493-506.

Wollin, G, WBF Ryan, and DB Ericson. "Climatic Changes, Magnetic Intensity Variations and Fluctuations of the Eccentricity of the Earth's Orbit During the Past 2,000,000 Years and a Mechanism Which May Be Responsible for the Relationship." Earth and Planetary Science Letters 41, no. 4 (1978): 395-97.

Wollin, G, WBF Ryan, DB Ericson, and JH Foster. "Paleoclimate, Paleomagnetism and the Eccentricity of the Earth's Orbit." Geophysical Research Letters 4, no. 7 (1977): 267-70. 

Yanchilina, AG., WBF Ryan, JF.McManus, P Dimitrov, D Dimitrov, K Slavova, and M Filipova-Marinova. "Compilation of geophysical, geochronological, and geochemical evidence indicates a rapid Mediterranean-derived submergence of the Black Sea's shelf and subsequent substantial salinification in the early Holocene." Marine Geology 383 (2017): 14-34

Yoerger, Dana R, Albert M Bradley, Barrie B Walden, M-H Cormier, and WBF Ryan. "Fine-Scale Seafloor Survey in Rugged Deep-Ocean Terrain with an Autonomous Robot." Paper presented at the Robotics and Automation, 2000. Proceedings. ICRA'00. IEEE International Conference on, 2000.

Yoerger, DR, AM Bradley, H Singh, BB Walden, M-H Cormier, and WBF Ryan. "Multisensor Mapping of the Deep Seafloor with the Autonomous Benthic Explorer." Paper presented at the Underwater Technology, 2000. UT 00. Proceedings of the 2000 International Symposium, 2000.

Yoerger, DR, AM Bradley, BB Walden, MH Cormier, and WBF Ryan. "High Resolution Mapping of a Fast Spreading Mid Ocean Ridge with the Autonomous Benthic Explorer." Paper presented at the International Symposium on Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology, 1999.

Books edited

Deep Drilling Results in the Atlantic Ocean: in Continental Margins and Paleoenvironment. Editors: M Talwani, W. Hay, WBF Ryan, Maurice Ewing Series 3, American Geophysical Union, 437 p. 

Initial Reports of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project, WBF Ryan, KJ Hsü et al., 1973, Volume 13, Part 1 Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office) 1-514.

Initial Reports of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project, WBF Ryan, KJ Hsü et al., 1973, Volume 13, Part 2 Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office) 517-1447.

Initial Reports of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project, H. Bolli, WBF Ryan et al., 1978, Volume 40, Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office) 1-1079.

Initial Reports of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project, U. vod Rad, WBF Ryan et al., 1979, Volume 47A, Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office) 1-835.

Initial Reports of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project, C Sibuet, WBF Ryan et al., 1979, Volume 47A, Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office) 1-787.

Books published

Ryan, William, and Walter Pitman. Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999. (translated into 8 languages)