Richard J. (Rick) Behl

Professor and Undergraduate Advisor

Ph.D, Earth Science, UC Santa Cruz, 1992
B.A., UC San Diego, Chemistry & Earth Science, 1978
Postdoctoral Fellow: Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara, 1992-1995

Department of Geological Sciences
California State University Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90840-3902

Office:
Peterson Hall 1 (PH-1), Room 133B
Phone: 562 985-5850
Fax: 562 985-8638
E-mail: behl@csulb.edu

Web Page:
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/departments/geology/people/behl/

Classes Taught:
Stratigraphy & Sedimentology, Earth Systems & Global Change, Sedimentary Petrology, Petroleum Geology, and Physical & Chemical Oceanography

Research:
I am a marine sedimentologist who conducts research on land or at sea depending on the problem and time period being addressed. Most of my work focuses on the wonderfully complex Miocene Monterey Formation of California and the spectacular Quaternary record of Santa Barbara Basin.

Overall, my research is tied together by trying to unravel the tectonic, climatic, and oceanographic evolution of the California Margin and the Pacific Ocean. In particular, my research focuses on the sedimentology and paleoceanography of continental margins and deep-sea upwelling zones, and the diagenesis of siliceous sediments and other authigenic minerals associated with organic-rich sediments. These interests have also led me into research and collaboration with petroleum geologists on the relationships between diagenesis and deformation in chert and dolomite that form important fractured reservoirs for oil, and with archaeologists to determine the provenance of artifacts.

• Paleoceanography of the California Margin
• Sedimentology and Diagenesis of the Miocene Monterey Formation of Coastal California
• Stratigraphy of the Eocene-Miocene Sespe Formation in the Santa Ana Mountains
• Methane Hydrates and Climate Change: The Clathrate Gun Hypothesis
• Student Publications