Michael Whalen

Asssociate Professor

Rutgers University, BA, 1982, Geology/AnthropologyUniversity of Montana, MS, 1985, Geology,

"Depositional History of a Drowned Carbonate Platform Sequence, Wallowa Terrane, Oregon and Idaho."

Syracuse University, Ph.D, 1993, Geology.

"Sequence Stratigraphy and Depositional History of the Permian Park City Formation, Utah and Wyoming."

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Post-doc, 1993-1995: "High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy of Isolated Upper Devonian Carbonate Platforms and Associated Basinal Facies, Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada."

Dr. Whalen is a carbonate sedimentologist and stratigrapher. His research focuses on carbonate sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy and their application to paleogeography, paleoceanography, and paleoclimatology. He has worked on Paleozoic and Mesozoic carbonate platforms in Cordilleran accreted terranes and along the western margin of North America. His research has provided new insights into oceanographic and tectonic controls on carbonate platform development and high resolution stratigraphy and correlation along carbonate platform margins. His current research concentrates on applying high resolution sequence stratigraphy, brachiopod and conodont biostratigraphy, and magnetic susceptibility analysis to refining interregional correlation of Late Devonian carbonates from western Canada and the midcontinent and western U.S.; high resolution sequence stratigraphy and petroleum reservoir analysis of Carboniferous carbonates in the Brooks Range, Alaska; stratigraphy and sedimentology of a Triassic/Jurassic upwelling zone, northern Alaska; and stratigraphy and petrology of Permian and Triassic carbonates in Alaska's accreted terranes.Dr. Whalen teaches stratigraphy and sedimentation and environmental geology as well as upper division courses in carbonate petrology, sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, and mass extinctions.

 For more information, contact:

Dr. Michael Whalen
Department of Geology and Geophysics
University of Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775
ph: 907-474-5302
email: Michael.Whalen@gi.alaska.edu

Recent Publications

Whalen, M.T., Day, J., Eberli, G.P., and Homewood, P.W, 2002, Microbial carbonates as indicators of environmental change and biotic crises in carbonate systems: examples from the Upper Devonian, Alberta basin, Canada, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 181, p. 127-151.

Montayne, S., and Whalen, M.T., in press, Permian cool-water limestones from the Chulitna terrane, south central Alaska, submitted to Short Notes on Alaska Geology 2001, State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

Day, J., and Whalen, M. T, in press., Thornton Creek Member (new) of the Slave Point Formation, and the Initial Middle Devonian (late Givetian) Onlap of the West Alberta Arch, Canadian Rocky Mountains:  in Lane, H.R., Talent, J.R., and Barrick, J., eds., Lower-Middle Paleozoic Stratigraphy, Sequence Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphy and Biogeography: Studies in Honor of Gilbert Klapper. Bulletins of American Paleontology, Paleontological Research Institute, Rochester, New York.

Whalen, M.T., Eberli, G.P., van Buchem, F.S.P., Mountjoy, E.W., and Homewood, P.W., 2000, Bypass Margins, Basin-Restricted Wedges And Platform-to-Basin Correlation, Upper Devonian, Canadian Rocky Mountains: Implications For Sequence Stratigraphy Of Carbonate Platform Systems: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 70, p. 913-936.

Whalen, M.T., Eberli, G.P., van Buchem, F.S.P., and Mountjoy, E.W., 2000, Facies architecture of Upper Devonian carbonate platforms, Rocky Mountains, Canada, in Homewood, P.W., and Eberli, G.P., eds., Genetic stratigraphy on the exploration and production scales - Case studies from the Pennsylvanian of the Paradox Basin and the Upper Devonian of Alberta: Bulletin, Centre Recherche Elf Exploration-Production, Mémoire 24, p. 139-178.

van Buchem, F.S.P., Chaix, M., Eberli, G.P., Whalen, M.T., Masse, P., and Mountjoy, E.W., 2000, Outcrop to subsurface correlation of the Upper Devonian (Frasnian) in the Alberta Basin (W. Canada) based on the comparison of Miette and Redwater Carbonate Buildup Margins: in Homewood, P.W., and Eberli, G.P., eds., Genetic stratigraphy on the exploration and production scales - Case studies from the Pennsylvanian of the Paradox Basin and the Upper Devonian of Alberta: Bulletin, Centre Recherche Elf Exploration-Production, Mémoire 24, p. 225-267.

Parrish, J.T., Whalen, M.T., and Hulm, E.J., 2001, Shublik Formation lithofacies, environments, and sequence stratigraphy, Arctic Alaska, U.S.A., in Houseknecht, D. ed., Petroleum Plays and Systems in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska. SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Core Workshop No. 21, p. 89-110.

Whalen, M.T., Eberli, G.P., van Buchem, F.S.P., and Mountjoy, E.W., 1997, Sequence stratigraphic development of Upper Devonian isolated carbonate platforms, Rocky Mountains, western Alberta: Implications for platform-to-basin correlation, CSPG/SEPM Joint Convention Program with Abstracts, p. 292.

Whalen, M.T., Eberli, G.P., van Buchem, F.S.P., and Mountjoy, E.W., 1997, Facies Variations and Carbonate Platform Evolution: Examples from the Devonian of Western Canada, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program, p. A-42.

Whalen, M.T., Eberli, G.P., van Buchem, F.S.P., in press, Facies models and architecture of Upper Devonian carbonate paltforms, Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada, in Homewood, P.W., and Eberli, G.P., eds., Sequence Stratigraphy and Hydrocarbon Potential of Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Systems, Elf Aquitaine Bulletin Memoir.

Whalen, M.T. and Eberli, G.P., 1996, Sedimentology, Sequence Stratigraphy, and Platform-to-Basin Correlation in an Upper Devonian Mixed Carbonate- Siliciclastic System:Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada: Internal final report for COPREP consortium (Elf Aquitaine, Gaz d’France, Institut Français du Petrole, and TOTAL).

Whalen, M.T., 1996, Facies architecture of the Permian Park City Formation, Utah and Wyoming: Implications for the paleogeography and oceanographic setting of western Pangea: in Longman, M.W., and Sonnenfeld, M.D., eds., Paleozoic Systems of the Rocky Mountain Region, Rocky Mountain Section SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), p. 355-378.

van Buchem, F.S.P., Eberli, G.P., Whalen, M.T., Mountjoy, E.W., andHomewood, P.W., 1996, The basinal geochemical signature and platform margin geometries in the Upper Devonian mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system of western Canada, Bulletin of the Geological Society of France, v. 167, p. 685-699.

Whalen, M.T., 1995, Barred basins: A model for eastern-ocean-basin carbonate platforms: Geology, v. 23, p. 625-628.

Whalen, M.T., Eberli, G.P., Van Buchem, F.S.P., Mountjoy, E.W., Homewood, P., 1995, Controls on Carbonate Platform Geometries and Facies Stacking Patterns: Influence of Second-Order Sea-Level Fluctuations and Sediment Supply, Upper Devonian, Rocky Mountains, Alberta: 1995 American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention Program, v. 4, p. 104A.

Whalen, M.T., Eberli G.P., Van Buchem, F.S.P., Mountjoy, E.W., Homewood, P., 1993, Sequence stratigraphy and platform to basin correlation in a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system, Late Devonian, western Alberta: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 25, p. 338.

Whalen, M.T., 1992, Facies architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Park City Fm., Utah and Wyoming: Implications for the Permian sea-level history of Pangea's western continental margin : Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 24, p. A109.

Other links of interest:

Student research opportunities in carbonate sedimentology

Past publications in carbonate sedimentology by members of the Tectonics and Sedimentation Group

Department of Geology and Geophysics home page

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