Willamette University

Environmental and Earth Sciences

Melissa M. Hage

Melissa M. Hage

Education

  • Ph.D. Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, 2012 (expected)
  • M.S. Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, 2006
  • B.S. Geology and Biology, Franklin and Marshall College, 2002

Courses

Physical Geology, Natural Disasters, Environmental Geology, Historical Geology, Senior Seminar

Research Interests

My interdisciplinary-based research primarily centers on examining geology, chemistry and biology to answer questions about the types of feedback between different Earth systems and the relative roles of these systems in the evolution of the early Earth. Current research focuses on the petrographic, geochemical and iron isotopic analysis of banded iron formation, a type of chemical sediment formed in the oceans during the early days of Earth’s history (i.e., from about 3.7 to 1.9 billion years ago). These sediments provide valuable information about what the oceans and atmosphere were like when life may have evolved on Earth.

Publications

Hage, M., Kamber, B., Fedo, C. and Whitehouse, M. Evidence for an oceanic oxycline and oxidative continental weathering in the Late Paleoproterozoic based on U-Pb-REE systematics in banded iron formation. In prep.

Hage, M., Usui, T., Fedo, C., and Whitehouse, M. Using pyroxene and amphibole compositions to determine protolith of > 3.65 Ga quartz-amphibole-pyroxene rocks from Akilia, SW Greenland. In prep.

Hage, M., Uhle, M., and Macko, S. 2007. Biomarker and stable isotope characterization of coastal pond organic matter, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Astrobiology 7, 645-661.

Olson, M., Hage, M., Binkley, M. and Binder, J. 2005. Impact of migratory snow geese on nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics in a freshwater reservoir. Freshwater Biology 50, 882-890.