Karst Paleo-Research Group
People in the Group
DIRECTOR
Dr. Bogdan P. Onac, a Professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida, is a leading researcher in reconstructing past climate and environmental changes. He earned his Bachelor’s and PhD in Geology from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. His innovative research explores clues within cave and lava tube deposits—including ice, guano, and speleothems—using stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry and mineralogy to uncover insights into Earth’s climate history.
CURRENT STUDENTS
Emma Hughes, Graduate Student
Emma Hughes is a recent graduate from Cornell College (2024) in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, where she majored in Geology. She is currently studying past sea levels in Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) using cave deposits.
Former Students
Laura CALABRO, MS Student (June 2023)
Ice-core reveals flavors of hydroclimate extremes in the American Southwest
Quinton VITELLI-HAWKINS, MS Student (defended June 2022)
Ice Deposits in Lava Tubes from West-Central New Mexico as Archives of Past Volcanic
Eruptions and Climate Change
Daniel CLEARY, PhD Student (defended March 2019)
Past hydroclimate and vegetation variation in Romania inferred from isotopic geochemistry
and pollen of cave bat guano
Oana-Alexandra DUMITRU, PhD Student (defended October 2019)
Past Climate and Sea-level Reconstruction Using Cave Deposits from Mallorca, Spain
Giuseppe LUCIA, MS Student (defended March 2019)
Assessing Paleo-Coastal Caves Evolution and Sea Level Changes in Mallorca: Results
from Radiometric Dating of Speleothems
Dylan PARMENTER, MS Student (defended October 2018)
Ice and Guano Deposits in El Malpais Lava Tubes: Potential Paleoclimate Archives for
the Southwest United States
Jackson HUBBARD, MS Student (defended March 2017)
3D Cave and ice block morphology from integrated geophysical methods: A case study
at Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania
Evan MOORE, Honors College Thesis (defended April 2017)
Speleothem evidence for climate changes in NW Romania
Daniel M. Cleary, MS (defended October 2015)
A bat guano derived d15N and d13C record of paleoenvironmental change: Zidita Cave,
Romania
Jacqueline A. DIEHL, MS (defended March 2015)
The speleogenesis of Vallgornera Cave (Mallorca, Spain): a mineralogical and morphological
study
Liana Marie BOOP, PhD (defended July 2014)
Characterization of the Depositional Environment of Phreatic Overgrowths on Speleothems
in the Littoral Caves of Mallorca (Spain): a Physical, Geochemical, and Stable Isotopic
Study
Montana PUSCAS, PhD (defended November 2013)
Hypogene speleogenesis in the Cerna River Basin, SW Romania: A sedimentological, mineralogical,
and stable isotopic approach
Virgil DRAGUSIN, PhD - Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania (defended July 2013)
MIS 3 paleoclimate reconstructions based on cave deposits from Romania
Aurel PERSOIU, PhD (defended February 2011)
Paleoclimatic significance of perennial ice accumulations in caves: an example from
Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania
Jonathan SUMRALL, MS (defended March 2009)
Using 34-S as a tracer of dissolved sulfur species from springs to cave sulfate deposits
in the Cerna Valley, Romania
Kali PACE-GRACZYK, MS (defended July 2007)
Isotopic investigations of cave drip waters and precipitation in Central and Northern
Florida, USA
Andrea BURKE, Honors College Thesis (defended July 2007)
An introduction to phosphate mining in the Bone Valley Formation of Central Florida
and the success of reclaimed wetlands