Welcome to the personal website of Nick Sullivan, a geoscientist affiliated with Penn State and Buffalo State Universities. I'd characterize my research broadly as an effort to tell stories about Earth history using data from sedimentary rocks.

During my time as an undergraduate, master's student, and industry scientist, I have used biostratigraphy, geochemistry, and sequence stratigraphy to characterize cratonic sedimentary bedrock. These studies have been based on material collected during many field campaigns and long hours in core and rock sample facilities. From this work, my collaborators and I have been able to shed light on environmental change in the lower Paleozoic at sites in Europe, North America, and Asia.

More recently I've moved into the Neogene, where I apply a variety of quantitative methods to better understand the interactions between climate, ocean, and cryosphere, primarily based on sediment core data from the high southern latitudes. Specifically, I've applied cyclostratigraphic methods (astrochronology) and quantitative biochronology (CONOP) to better understand the depositional history of the Southern Ocean and the changing behavior of the Antarctic ice sheets through time. You can read about some of that work here!

I am currently a post-doctoral scholar in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Institute at Penn State, where I study the distribution of critical mineral resources in cyclic Carboniferous strata of the Northern Appalachian Basin. I also occasionally teach geoscience courses at Buffalo State University in western NY, which is where I live with my wife and son.

Look around and feel free to reach out!

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Page last updated 5 December 2023
Unless otherwise noted, all content © N. B. Sullivan