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teaching

In my courses I challenge students to identify, understand, and quantify the chemical and physical processes that shape landscapes, generate soils, and modify water quality. My teaching approach emphasizes a mechanistic understanding of Earth systems, including hands-on field components and readings from current research whenever appropriate. Central in my teaching philosophy is the development of problem-solving skills and critical thinking abilities. Whenever possible, I include exercises based on my experience as an industry consultant – the goal is to help prepare our geology and geophysics graduates as best I can for the real-world problems they will face throughout their careers.

Recent Courses

• GEOL/ENR 4525/5525 Environmental Data Analysis (Fall)
• GEOL 4820 Capstone (Spring)
• GEOL 5200 Writing Science (Spring)

Research overview

My group seeks quantitative insight on processes that break rock down and move sediment across landscapes. To obtain it, we use a variety of geochemical, isotopic, and geophysical methods to measure properties of the surface and shallow subsurface. Together these measurements reveal patterns of erosion, weathering, regolith formation, and biogeochemical cycling. This work is vital to understanding connections between life and landscapes and to making advances in understanding how humans and natural processes shape Earth's dynamic surface.

top research methods

• cosmogenic nuclides, which reveal long-term erosion rates of rock, soil & entire catchments;
• detrital thermochronometry, which sheds light on the sources of eroded material in streams and deposits;
• geochemical mass balance, which constrains the relative importance of chemical and physical erosion; &
• near-surface geophysics, which reveals the architecture of weathering and water storage in the critical zone.

study sites

Our research focuses on understanding the evolution of Earth's surface, with an emphasis on interpreting observations and measurements from the field. It should therefore come as no surprise that we often find ourselves in beautiful places around the world. In the latest project, which was funded as part of NSF's , we will be doing work in eight mountain landscapes spanning the coterminous US.

research facilities

 We oversee two spacious wet-chemical labs devoted to purification and dissolution of quartz and magnetite. Once minerals are dissolved, cosmogenic nuclides are extracted and prepared for analysis. We use these nuclides to measure rates of weathering, erosion, and sedimentation. Our cosmogenic nuclide lab facilities are open for use by collaborators on select projects. (Contact me by e-mail for information.)

 We have facilities for isolating other minerals, besides quartz; of particular interest to us at the moment is apatite, for detrital thermochronometry. We also boast a cottage industry in the geochemical analysis of soils and rock using XRF and XRD; this supports our quest for a quantitative understanding of weathering, erosion, and soil development in landscapes.

Bedrock Critical Zone Collaboration Network

I am currently serving as associate director of a new NSF-funded project focused on understanding linkages between subsurface weathering and surface processes across a network of sites spanning the lower 48 in the United States. This is exciting transdisciplinary work at the interface between water, rock, and life and involves collaboration with top scientists at seven institutions across the country. Students with an interest in critical-zone science, surface processes, and near-surface geophysics are encouraged to contact me and apply in the 2021-2022 application cycle for admission in Fall 2022. 

Recent Publications

Citation statistics: []

* denotes student author

Riebe, C. S., Callahan, R. P.*, Granke, S. B-M.*, Carr, B. J., Hayes, J. L., Shell, M. S.* & Sklar, L. S. 2021.  Geology. 49.

Verdian, J.*, Sklar, L. S., Riebe, C. S., & Moore, J. R. 2021.  Earth Surface Dynamics. 9: 1073–1090.

Preece, J. R.*, Shinker, J. J., Riebe, C. S., & Minckley, T. A. 2021.  International Journal of Climatology. 41, 2: 1199–1210.

Callahan, R. P.*, Riebe, C. S., Pasquet, S., Ferrier, K. L., Grana, D., Sklar, L. S., Taylor, N. J., Flinchum, B. A., Hayes, J. L., Carr, B. J., Hartsough, P. C., O’Geen, A. T. & Holbrook, W. S. 2020.  Geophysical Research Letters. 47, 15

Leone, J. D., Holbrook, W. S., Riebe, C. S., Chorover, J., Ferré, T. P. A., & Callahan, R. P.* 2020. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 45, 12: 2998–3010.

Sklar, L. S., Riebe, C. S., Genetti, J., Leclere, S., & Lukens, C. E.* 2020.  Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 45: 1828–1845.

Lukens, C. E.*, Riebe, C. S., Sklar, L. S., & Shuster, D. L. 2020.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 531, 115929.

Aarons, S. M., Arvin, L. J., Aciego, S. M., Riebe, C. S., Johnson, K. R., Blakowski, M. A., Koornneef, J. M., Hart, S. C., Barnes, M. E., Dove, N., Botthoff, J. K., Maltz, M., & Aronson, E. L., 2019.  Aeolian Research, 41, 100545.

Hayes, J. L.*, Riebe, C. S., Holbrook, W. S., Flinchum, B., & Hartsough, P. C. 2019.  Science Advances, 5, paper eaao0834

Holbrook, W. S., Marcon, V., Bacon, A., Brantley, S., Carr, B. J., Flinchum, B. A., Richter, D., Riebe, C. S. 2019.  Scientific Reports, 9(1), paper 4495.

Callahan, R. P.*, Ferrier, K. L., Dixon, J., Dosseto, A., Hahm, W. J.*, Jessup, B. S.*, Hunsaker, C. T., Johnson, D. L., Sklar, L. S., Riebe, C. S., 2019.  maintained by feedbacks between bedrock channel incision and hillslope sediment production. GSA Bulletin, 131, p. 1179–1202.

Richter, D. D., Billings, S. A., Groffman, P. M., Kelly, E. F., Lohse, K. A., McDowell, W. H., White, T. S., Anderson, S., Baldocchi, D. D., Banwart, S., Brantley, S., Braun, J. J., Brecheisen, Z. S., Cook, C. W., Hartnett, H. E., Hobbie, S. E., Kazanski, C., Gaillardet, J., Jobbagy, E., Jungkunst, H. F., Kazanski, C. E., Krishhnaswamy, J., Markewitz, D., O'Neill, Riebe, C. S., Schoeder, P., Siebe, C., Silver, W. L., Thompson, A., Verhoef, A., & Zhang, G. 2018.  Biogeoscience, 15, p. 4815-4832.

Flinchum, B. A., Holbrook, W. S., Rempe, D., Moon, S., Riebe, C. S., Carr, B. J., Hayes, J. L., St. Clair, J., & Peters, M. P., 2018.  Journal of Geophysical Research, Earth Surface, 123 (6), 1317-1343.

Klos, P. Z., Goulden, M., Riebe, C. S., Tague, C., O’Geen, A.T., Flinchum B.A., Safeeq, M. Conklin, M., Hart, S., Berhe, A.A., Hartsough, P., Holbrook, W.S., & Bales, R. 2018.   Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs) Water 1277, p 1-14.

Huntington, K.W., Klepeis, K. A., with 66 community contributors (including Riebe, C.S.), 2018, Challenges and opportunities for research in tectonics:  A community vision document submitted to the U.S. National Science Foundation. University of Washington, 84 pp., https://doi.org/10.6069/H52R3PQ5.

Arvin, L. J.*, Riebe, C. S., Aciego, S. M., & Blakowski, M. 2017. Science Advances 3, 1588.

Aciego, S. M., Riebe, C. S., Hart, S., Blakowski, M. A., Carey, C., Aarons, S. M., Dove, N., Botthoff, J. K., Sims, K. W. W., & Aronson, E. 2017. . Nature Communications 8: 14800

Riebe C. S., Hahm, W. J.*, & Brantley, S. L. 2017. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 42: 128–156.

Sklar, L. S., Riebe, C. S., Marshall, J. A., Genetti, J., Leclere, S., Lukens, C. L.*, Merces, V. 2017.  Geomorphology 277: 31–49.