ERS - Department of Earth Sciences

Bess G. Koffman

MS Student
Graduate Research Assistant

Address:

5790 Bryand Global Sciences Center
Room: 300B
Tel: (207) 581 2111
Fax: (207) 581 2202
E-Mail: bess.koffman@maine.edu


Research Interests:

My research is focused on insoluble microparticles (“dust”) in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core.  In addition to analyzing the upper 110 m or so of the core, I am working with the initial snow pit samples taken from WAIS Divide.  I will be measuring microparticle size and concentration through time, as well as iron geochemistry.  Iron is a limiting nutrient in the Pacific quadrant of the Southern Ocean (near West Antarctica), so this work has implications for marine life and carbon dioxide drawdown.  Research questions include dust source to West Antarctica, how dust transport mechanisms vary through time, correlation with volcanic events seen in other cores, and what other trends we might see in the record (i.e., seasonality, abrupt climate changes).  I am also interested in biogeochemistry and geomicrobiology—specifically, the role of microbes in processes such as karst cave formation and carbon cycling.

Publications:

Koffman, B. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of a bacterial mat community, Le Grotte di Frasassi, Italy. Carleton College senior thesis, 2004.

Macalady, J. L., Lyon, E.H., Koffman, B., Albertson, L.K., Meyer, K., Galdenzi, S. and Mariani S. Dominant microbial populations in limestone-corroding stream biofilms, Frasassi cave system, Italy. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Aug. 2006, p. 5596-5609.

Lyon E., Koffman B., Meyer K., Cleaveland L., Mariani S., Galdenzi S., and J. L. Macalady. 2004. Geomicrobiology of the Frasassi Caves. In Frasassi 1989-2004: Gli sviluppi nella ricerca (S. Galdenzi, ed.), p. 152-157.