Benjamin P. Flower
Associate Professor
Paleoceanography, Geochemistry of Marine Sediments, Marine Stratigraphy
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1993
Faculty Mentor Award, Honorable Mention
Email: bflower@usf.edu
CV: View PDF
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Update
We are saddened to announce that Benjamin Flower passed away on Sunday July 1, 2012.
Dean Jackie Dixon writes "I am saddened to let you know that Ben Flower passed away this morning at 8:50 am at Bayfront Hospital. He went peacefully surrounded by his family, friends, and colleagues. He has been blanketed in love these last few days."
A memorial fund has been setup in honor of Ben Flower. If you would like to give to this fund please visit the following link, click on the checkbox beside "260027001 Benjamin Flower Memorial Fund".
Link to the Benjamin Flower Memorial Fund
Link to Tampa Bay Times article on Ben Flower
Research Interests
My research focuses on the role of ocean circulation in past global climate change. I am particularly interested in sedimentary records of Earth's changing environment and biota, on time frames ranging from the early Cenozoic to the present. I use ocean sediment cores (including Ocean Drilling Program cores, IMAGES piston cores, and short box cores and multicores) to examine major changes in the evolution of the ocean/climate system. One of the most valuable tools for elucidating past climate change from sediment cores is the measurement of oxygen and carbon isotopes in foraminifera by mass spectrometry. Mg/Ca paleothermometry is a relatively new technique I use to isolate the temperature component of the oxygen isotopic composition of foraminifera and calculate the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater, which is controlled by ice volume and salinity. We are also developing Ba/Ca in forams as a proxy for paleosalinity of the Mississippi River system. This multi-proxy approach allows investigation into the phasing of climatic and hydrologic changes, and into what causes regional to global climate change, including the role of Laurentide Ice Sheet meltwater.
A second major project will re-assess Gerard Bond’s finding that ice-rafting in the North Atlantic was closely tied to solar irradiance forcing during the Holocene (cited >700 times based on ISI Web of Science). With a new Postdoctoral Associate funded by NSF and the Comer Science and Education Foundation, I will (a) verify that the counting techniques can be replicated, (b) examine other cores to investigate the regional coherence of ice-rafting history, (c) conduct robust statistical comparison to improved 14C and 10Be records of solar activity, and thereby (d) increase understanding of the climatic linkages between solar activity and ice-rafting.
A new project will assess the impact of the BP oil spill on sediments and benthic communities on the West Florida Shelf and Slope. We will sample sediments from 100-2400 m near DeSoto Canyon using a new Ocean Instruments Multicore system (funded by NSF RAPID program). Analysis will include radioisotope dating, organic and inorganic geochemistry, and isotopic and faunal analyses of benthic foraminifera, in order to (a) document the presence/absence of oil and dispersants, (b) quantify the uptake of hydrocarbons in the food chain, and (c) assess any impacts on the benthic communities.
Current projects include:
- Impact of the BP oil spill on sediments and benthic communities on the West Florida Shelf and Slope
- Coherence of North Atlantic ice-rafting and solar variability during the Holocene
- Holocene climate variability in the Gulf of Mexico
- Laurentide Ice Sheet meltwater input to the Gulf of Mexico during the last glacial cycle
- Oligocene to Miocene cyclostratigraphy and paleoceanography of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
- Climatic and hydrologic variability in Tampa Bay since the last glacial maximum
Courses:
- Paleoceanography
- Global Climate Change: Past and Future
- Marine Stratigraphy
- Stable Isotopes in Marine Science
- Field Methods in Marine Biogeochemistry
Selected Publications
Publications (* denotes USF graduate student; # USF postdoctoral student):
Richey, J. N., R. Z. Poore, B. P. Flower, T. M. Quinn, and D. J. Hollander (2009), Regionally coherent Little Ice Age cooling in the Atlantic Warm Pool, Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L21703, doi:10.1029/2009GL040445.
Williams*, C., Flower, B.P., Hastings, D.W., Guilderson, T., Quinn, K., and Goddard, E.A., accepted to Paleoceanography, Deglacial abrupt climate change in the Atlantic Warm Pool: A Gulf of Mexico perspective.
Richey*, J.N., Hollander, D.J., Flower, B.P., and Eglinton, T., accepted to Paleoceanography, Merging late Holocene molecular organic and foraminiferal-based geochemical records of sea-surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico.
Montero-Serrano, J.C., Bout-Roumazeilles, V., Sionneau, T., Tribovillard, N., Bory, A., Flower, B.P., and Riboulleau, A., accepted to Global and Planetary Change, Changes in precipitation regimes over North America during the Holocene as recorded by mineralogy and geochemistry of Gulf of Mexico sediments.
Sionneau, T., V. Bout-Roumazeilles, B.P. Flower, A. Bory, N. Tribovillard, C. Kissel, B. Van Vliet-Lanoe, and J.C. Montero-Serrano, 2010, On the provenance of freshwater pulses in the Gulf of Mexico during the last deglaciation: Evidence from grain size and clay mineralogy, Quaternary Research, 74: 235-245.
Montero-Serrano, J.C., Bout-Roumazeilles, V., Tribovillard, N., Sionneau, T., Riboulleau, A., Bory, A., and Flower, B.P., 2009, Sedimentary evidence of deglacial megafloods in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Pigmy Basin), Quaternary Science Reviews, 28: 3333-3347, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.09.011.
Richey*, J. N., R. Z. Poore, B. P. Flower, T. M. Quinn, and D. J. Hollander (2009), Regionally coherent Little Ice Age cooling in the Atlantic Warm Pool, Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L21703, doi:10.1029/2009GL040445.
Meckler, A.N., Schubert, C.J., Hochuli, P.A., Plessen, B., Birgel, D., Flower, B.P., Hinrichs, K.-U., and Haug, G.H., 2008, Glacial to Holocene terrigenous organic matter input to sediments from Orca Basin, Gulf of Mexico – a combined optical and biomarker approach, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 272: 251-263; doi: 10 .1016/j.epsl.2008.04.046.
Rashid#, H. Flower, B.P., Poore, R.Z., and Quinn, T.M., 2007, A ~25 ka Indian Ocean monsoon variability record from the Andaman Sea, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol 26: 2586-2597. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.07.002.
Richey*, J.M., Poore, R.Z., Flower, B.P., and Quinn, T.M., 2007, A 1400 year multiproxy record of climate variability from the northern Gulf of Mexico, Geology, vol. 35 (5): 423-426.
Cronin, T., Edgar, N.T., Brooks, G., Hastings, D., Larson, R., Hine, A., Locker, S.D., Suthard B., Flower, B., Hollander, D., Wehmiller, J., Willard, D., and Smith, S., 2007, Sea level rise in Tampa Bay, EOS, vol. 88, No. 10. 117-118.
LoDico*, J.M., Flower, B.P., and Quinn, T.M., 2006, Subcentennial-scale climatic and hydrologic variability in the Gulf of Mexico during the early Holocene, Paleoceanography, 21, PA3015, doi:10.1029/2005PA00124
Flower, B.P., and Chisholm, K.E., 2006. Magnetostratigraphic calibration of the late Oligocene climate transition. In Tiedemann, R., Mix, A.C., Richter, C., and Ruddiman, W.F. (Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 202 [Online].
Hill*, H.W., Flower, B.P., Quinn, T.M., Hollander, D.J., and Guilderson, T.P., 2006, Laurentide Ice Sheet meltwater and abrupt climate change during the last glaciation, Paleoceanography, 21, PA1006, doi:10.1029/2005PA001186.
Flower, B.P., Hastings, D.W., Hill*, H.W., and Quinn, T.M., 2004. Phasing of deglacial warming and Laurentide ice sheet meltwater in the Gulf of Mexico, Geology, 32, 597-600.
Raymo, M.E., Oppo, D.W., Flower, B.P., Hodell, D.A., McManus, J., Venz, K.A., Kleiven, K.F., McIntyre, K., 2004. Stability of North Atlantic water masses in face of pronounced natural climate variability, Paleoceanography, 19, PA2008, doi:10.1029/2003PA000921.
Channell, J.E.T., Curtis, J.H., and Flower, B.P., 2004. The Matuyama-Brunhes Boundary Interval (500-900 ka) in North Atlantic Drift Sediments, Geophysical Journal International, 158, 489-505.
Mallinson, D.J., Flower, B.P., Hine, A.C., Brooks, G., Garza, R.M., 2003. Paleoclimate implications of High Latitude Precession-Scale Mineralogic Fluctuations During Early Oligocene Antarctic Glaciation: The Great Australian Bight record, Global and Planetary Change, 39, 257-269.
Wright, A.K., and Flower, B.P., 2002. Surface and Deep Ocean Circulation in the Subpolar North Atlantic During the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution, Paleoceanography, 17, 1068, doi: 10.1029/2002PA000782.
Zachos, J.C., Shackleton, N.J., Revenaugh, J., Palike, H., and Flower, B.P., 2001. Climate Response to Orbital Forcing Across the Oligocene-Miocene Boundary, Science, 292, 274-278.
