Boston University Department of Earth Sciences

Duncan M. FitzGerald

Professor

Office: Stone B41
Phone: 617.353.2530
E-mail: dunc@bu.edu

Educational Background

Ph.D.	1977	University of South Carolina
M.S.	1972	Texas A&M University
B.S.	1970	University of New Hampshire

Research

Duncan FitzGerald’s major interests are in the fields of shallow marine geology, extending from the coastal zone to the inner continental shelf. During the past ten years his research has centered on the hydraulics and sediment-transport characteristics of tidal inlets and estuaries (New England, North Carolina) and the morpho-stratigraphy of coastal sedimentary accumulation forms (New England, South Carolina). This research involves extensive fieldwork, lab analyses, and numerical modeling. Recently, his group has begun several new projects that seek to quantify 1. the effects of accelerated sea-level rise on backbarrier marshes and accompanying increases in tidal prism (Mississippi River delta, Maine marshes); 2. the morphodynamics of bedform evolution (Long Island Sound, NY; Humboldt Bay, CA); 3. the wave-current interactions from natural and man-made waves in Boston Harbor, MA; 4. the inner-shelf sedimentary signatures from transgression and regressions (New England, Louisiana); and 5. the progradational sequences from Santa Catarina, Brazil. Data comes from water column measurements, shallow seismic and side-scan imagery, bottom sediment samples, bedform morphology, ground-penetrating radar, and sediment cores. Ongoing research is supported by the Coastal Inlets Research Program, USACE, National Park Service, USGS, NOAA, and the Minerals Management Service.

Climate and Earth History research group
Coastal and Marine Science research group
Surface Processes research group

Teaching

Introduction to Beaches and Shoreline Processes (ES 142)
Sedimentology (ES 331)
Coastal Processes (ES 541)

Recent Students

Ashley Bolbrock; MA (Candidate); The formation and evolution of the Boston Harbor Islands, Massachusetts
Christopher Hein; PhD (Candidate); Transgressive evolution of the Merrimack embayment, western Gulf of Maine
Carol Wilson; PhD (Candidate); Climatic and biological forcings for headward creek erosion in the Santee River delta, South Carolina
Nicholas Howes; MA (2009); The impact of wetland loss on inlet morphology and tidal range within Barataria Bay, Louisiana

Selected Publications (*=student)

Buynevich, I.V., FitzGerald, D.M., and Ronald J. Goble (2007), An increase in North Atlantic storm activity over the past 500 years: Evidence from optically dated relict beachscarps, Geology, in press.
Tary, A.K., FitzGerald, D.M., and Weddle, T.K. (2007), A ground penetrating radar investigation of a glacial-marine ice-contact delta, Pineo ridge, eastern coastal Maine, in: Jol, H.M. and Baker, G.R. (eds.) Advances in Stratigraphic Analyses using GPR, Geological Society of America Special Paper #30, in press.
FitzGerald, D.M., Cleary, W.J., Buynevich, I.V., Hein, C.J., Klein, A.H.F., Asp, N., and Angulo, R. (2007), Strandplain evolution along the southern coast of Santa Catarina, Brazil, Journal of Coastal Research, 50, in press.
*Argow, B., and FitzGerald, D.M., (2006), Winter processes on northern salt marshes: evaluating the impact of in-situ peat compaction due to ice loading, Wells, ME, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 69, p. 360-369.