Paul E. Olsen
Encyclopedia
Paul E. Olsen is an American paleontologist and author and co-author of a large number of technical papers. Growing up as a teenager in Livingston, New Jersey
, he was instrumental in Riker Hill Fossil Site
being named a National Natural Landmark
as a teenager by sending President Richard Nixon
a dinosaur footprint cast from the site. He received a M. Phil. and a Ph.D. in Biology at Yale University
in 1984. His thesis was on the Newark Supergroup.
His interests and research examine patterns of ecosystem evolution and extinction as a response to climate change over geological time, and Triassic and Jurassic Continental Ecosystems. His research methods include structural geology
, paleontology
, palynology
, geochemistry
, and geophysics
.
Professor Olsen is currently Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University
; Research Associate at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
, Pittsburgh, the American Museum of Natural History
and the Virginia Natural History Museum; Vice President, Board of Directors, Black Rock Forest Consortium, and on the Honorary Board of Directors, Fundy Geological Museum
, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.
Livingston, New Jersey
Livingston is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 29,366.Livingston was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 5, 1813, from portions of Caldwell Township and Springfield...
, he was instrumental in Riker Hill Fossil Site
Riker Hill Fossil Site
Riker Hill Fossil Site is a paleontological site in Roseland, New Jersey, located at the south western side of the borough at the border between Roseland and Livingston, New Jersey. It is one of the major sites in United States where a large number of dinosaur tracks are preserved...
being named a National Natural Landmark
National Natural Landmark
The National Natural Landmark program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only natural areas program of national scope that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in...
as a teenager by sending President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
a dinosaur footprint cast from the site. He received a M. Phil. and a Ph.D. in Biology at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1984. His thesis was on the Newark Supergroup.
His interests and research examine patterns of ecosystem evolution and extinction as a response to climate change over geological time, and Triassic and Jurassic Continental Ecosystems. His research methods include structural geology
Structural geology
Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation in the rocks, and...
, paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, palynology
Palynology
Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, orbicules, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments...
, geochemistry
Geochemistry
The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other planets, chemical processes and reactions that govern the composition of rocks, water, and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earth's chemical components in time and space, and...
, and geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...
.
Professor Olsen is currently Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
; Research Associate at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was founded by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896...
, Pittsburgh, the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
and the Virginia Natural History Museum; Vice President, Board of Directors, Black Rock Forest Consortium, and on the Honorary Board of Directors, Fundy Geological Museum
Fundy Geological Museum
The Fundy Geological Museum is a geological museum in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, Canada. It first opened in 1993. It has received over 300,000 visitors since it opened, averaging more than 21,000 per year. The museum is part of the Nova Scotia Museum system....
, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.
Recent publications
- Peter LeTourneau and Paul Olsen (ed.), (2003) The Great Rift Valleys of Pangea in Eastern North America, vol. 1-2 , published by Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
. Volume 1: Tectonics, Structure, and Volcanism (ISBN 0-231-11162-2), Volume 2: Sedimentology,Stratigraphy, and Paleontology (ISBN 0-231-12676-X)
In production
- Olsen, Paul E., Dinosaur and Other Fossil Tracks of Eastern North America: Columbia University Press