Michael J. Soreghan

James Roy Maxey Professor
Associate Professor of Geosciences

Mike Soreghan's Faculty Page

Sedimentary and Environmental Geology

My research centers on the controls on, and the impacts of, sedimentation in continental settings. Presently, the research I do falls within two different themes:  1) Documenting recent sedimentation in African lakes and its impacts on biologic and human systems, and 2) Interpreting long-term climatic signals from late Paleozoic eolian and lacustrine strata. Please visit the link below (personal web page) to read about specific research projects and how students can be involved. My main research methods lie in field-oriented data collection, however, I have increasingly employed geochemistry, computer imaging and modeling to supplement the field data. My research has mainly been funded by the National Science Foundation, however, work in East Africa has also been supported by the National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy.

The Dynamic Earth

The Geology of Oklahoma

Earth, Sustainability and the Economy

Conservation and Social Issues Regarding African Lakes

Earth System History

The Earth System

Sedimentation and Tectonics

Soreghan, M.J., 2016, Modern sedimentation on a littoral, shell-rich platform of Lake Tanganyika (Kigoma, TZ) and its potential impacts on benthic habitats and endemic fauna.. Journal of Environmental Earth Sciences, v. 75, 13 p. 

Evans, J. and Soreghan, M.J., 2015, Long-distance sediment transport and episodic re-sedimentation of Pennsylvanian dust (eolian silt) in cave passages of the Mississippian Leadville Limestone, southwestern Colorado, U.S.A. in J. Feinberg and Y. Gao (eds.), Caves and Karst Across Time, Geological Society of America, Special Paper.  v. 516, p. 263-284.

Soreghan, M.J., Heavens, N., Link, P.K., Hamilton, M.A. and Soreghan, G.S., 2014 Abrupt and high-magnitude changes in atmospheric circulation recorded in the Permian Maroon Formation, tropical Pangaea, Geological Society of America.

Giles, J.A., Soreghan M.J., Benison, K.C., Soreghan, G.S., Hasiotis, S.T., 2013, Lakes, loess, and paleosols in the Permian Wellington Formation of Oklahoma, U.S.A.: Implications for paleoclimate and paleogeography of the midcontinent, Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 83, p. 825-846.

Soreghan, G.S., and Soreghan, M.J., 2013, Tracing clastic delivery to the Permian Delaware Basin, U.S.A.: Implications for paleogeography and circulation in westernmost equatrorial Pangaea, Journal of Sedimentary Reserach, v. 83, 786-802.

Burnett, A.P., Soreghan, M.J., Scholz, C.A., Brown, E.T., 2011 Tropical East African climate change and its relation to global climate: A record from Lake Tanganyika, Tropical East Africa, over the past 90+ kyr, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v 303, p. 155-167.

McGlue, M.M., Soreghan, M.J., Michel, E., Todd, J.A., Cohen, A.S. Mischler, J. O’Connell, C.S., Casteñeda, O.S., Hartwell, R.J., Lezzar, K.E., Nkotagu, H.H., 2010, Environmental controls on shell-rich facies in tropical lacustrine rifts: A view from Lake Tanganyika’s littoral, Palaios, v. 25, p. 426-438.

Soreghan, M.J., Soreghan, G.S., and Hamilton, M.A., 2008, Glacial-interglacial shifts in atmospheric circulation of western tropical Pangaea, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 268, p. 260-272.

Soreghan, M.J. and Soreghan, G.S., 2007, Whole-rock geochemistry of upper Paleozoic loessite, western Pangaea:  Implications for paleo-atmospheric circulation, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 255 p. 117-132.

Soreghan, M.J. and Francus, P., 2004, Backscatter electron thin section studies, in Francus, P. (ed.), Image Analysis, Sediments and Paleoenvironments:  Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Kluwar Publishing, p. 203-225.

Soreghan, M.J., Soreghan, G.S., and Hamilton, M.A., 2002, Paleowinds inferred from detrital zircon geochronology of Upper Paleozoic loessite, western equatorial Pangea: Geology. V. 30, p. 695-698.

Soreghan, M.J., and Gehrels, G.E., (eds.), 2000, Paleozoic and Triassic Paleogeography and Tectonics of Western Nevada and Northern California: Geological Society of America Spec. Paper 347, 252 p. 

Soreghan, M.J., Scholz, C.A., and Wells, J.T., 1999, Coarse-grained, deep-water sedimentation along a border fault margin of Lake Malawi, Africa:  Seismic stratigraphic analysis: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 69, p. 832-846.

Soreghan, M.J. and Cohen, A.S., 1996, Textural and compositional variability across littoral segments of Lake Tanganyika:  The effect of asymmetric basin structure on sedimentation in large rift lakes: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 80 p. 382-409. 

Soreghan, M.J., and Cohen, A.S., 1993, The effects of basin asymmetry on sand composition:  Examples from Lake Tanganyika, Africa, in Johnsson, M.J., and Basu, A., eds., Processes controlling the composition of clastic sediments:  Geological Society of America Special Paper 284, p. 285-301.