Andrew P de Wet Professor of Geosciences, Program Chair of Environmental Science

Education:

1989   Ph.D. Geology, University of Cambridge, UK.

1981/2  B.S and  B.S. (Hons)  Geology, University of Natal, Durban, SA.

Research Focus 1: Planetary Geology: Origin of channel features on Earth and Mars. Field locations include Hawaii, New Mexico, Iceland and Mars (remotely!)

Collaboration with Chistopher Hamilton (University of Arizona), Jake Bleacher (NASA) and others.

Example publication: Hamilton, C. W., Scheidt, S. P., Sori, M. M., de Wet, Andrew P., Bleacher, J. E., Mouginis‐Mark, P. J., et al. (2020). Lava‐rise plateaus and inflation pits in the McCartys lava flow field, New Mexico: An analog for pāhoehoe‐like lava flows on planetary surfaces. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 125, e2019JE005975. https:// doi.org/10.1029/2019JE005975

 

Research Focus 2: Depositional and tectonic setting of the Opache Formation, Atacama Desert, Chile. Collaboration with Carol de Wet (F&M) and Linda Godfrey (Rutgers).

Example publication: Carol de Wet, Elizabeth Driscoll, Andrew de Wet, Linda Godfrey, Teresa Jordan, Melina Luethje, Catherine Caterham, Richard Mortlock (2022) Exceptional preservation in Quaternary Atacama Desert Tufas: Evidence for increased groundwater and surface water in the Calama Basin, Atacama, Chile, The Depositional Record, Pages 1-39. DOI: 10.1002/dep2.221

 

Research Focus 3: Water resources and land-use change, stream dynamics, landfills.

Field locations: Lancaster County, Pennsylvannia and Vinalhaven, Maine.

 

Example publication: de Wet, Andrew P. (2016), Discovering and Characterizing Abandoned Waste Disposal Sites using LIDAR and Aerial Photography, Environmental and Engineering Geoscience. Vol. XXII, No. 2, pp. 113–130

Carol de Wet, Elizabeth Driscoll, Andrew de Wet, Linda Godfrey, Teresa Jordan, Melina Luethje, Catherine Caterham, Richard Mortlock (2022) Exceptional preservation in Quaternary Atacama Desert Tufas: Evidence for increased groundwater and surface water in the Calama Basin, Atacama, Chile, The Depositional Record, Pages 1-39. DOI: 10.1002/dep2.221

Patrick Whelley, Cherie N. Achilles, Alice M. Baldridge, Maria E. Banks, Ernest Bell, Hannes Bernhardt, Janice Bishop, Jennifer G. Blank, Dina M. Bower, Shane Byrne, Jaclyn Clark, David A. Crown, Larry S. Crumpler, Sean Czarnecki, Ashly Davies, Andrew de Wet, and others. 2021, The Importance of Field Studies for Closing Key Knowledge Gaps in Planetary Science. Whitepaper #165 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: field studies; habitability and water; other science themes: Terrestrial Planets and Moons., doi: 10.3847/25c2cfeb.0a087f9f

Carol B. de Wet, Andrew P. de Wet, Linda Godfrey, Elizabeth Driscoll*, Samuel Patzkowsky*, Chi Xu*, Sophia Gigliotti* and Melina Feitl (2020).  Pliocene short-term climate changes preserved in continental lacustrine-palustrine carbonates: Western Opache Formation, Atacama Desert, Chile. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 132 (9-10): 1795-1816. https://doi.org/10.1130/B35227.1

Hamilton, C. W., Scheidt, S. P., Sori, M. M., de Wet, Andrew P., Bleacher, J. E., Mouginis‐Mark, P. J., et al. (2020). Lava‐rise plateaus and inflation pits in the McCartys lava flow field, New Mexico: An analog for pāhoehoe‐like lava flows on planetary surfaces. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 125, e2019JE005975. https:// doi.org/10.1029/2019JE005975

2018. E. Bleacher, L. S. Crumpler, C. W. Hamilton, J. R. Zimbelman, W. B. Garry, Andrew P. de Wet, P. L. Whelley, S. P. Scheidt., 2018. Implications of inflated sheet-like flow emplacement on planetary surfaces. 49th LPSC, #2034.

Jacob E. Bleacher, Tim R. Orr, Andrew P. de Wet, James R. Zimbelman, Christopher W. Hamilton, W. Brent Garry, Larry S. Crumpler, David A. Williams (2017), Plateaus and sinuous ridges as the fingerprints of lava flow inflation in the Eastern Tharsis Plains of Mars, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Volume 342, 15 August 2017, Pages 29-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.03.025

Hamilton C.W., S.P. Scheidt, Andrew P. de Wet, A.E. Huff, W.H. Speiser, D.H. Needham, E.I. Schaefer, S.S. Sutton, J.E. Moersch, C.L. Kling, E. Rader, A.J. Ryan, A.L. Keske, D.K. Moyer., 2017. Sinuous channel formation within the Laki lava flow: a consequence of “Fill and Spill” emplacement, IAVCEI 2017 Scientific Assembly, Fostering Integrative Studies of Volcanoes, August 14-18, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., abstract 432, p. 402.  

P. Scheidt and L. E. Bonnefoy, C. W. Hamilton, S. Sutton, P. Whelley, and A. P. de Wet, (2017). Remote sensing analysis of Askja pumice megaripples in the Vikursundar, Iceland as an analog for Martian transverse aeolian ridges. Fifth Intl Planetary Dunes Workshop (LPI Contrib. No. 1961) 3020.pdf

de Wet, Andrew P. (2016), Discovering and Characterizing Abandoned Waste Disposal Sites using LIDAR and Aerial Photography, Environmental and Engineering Geoscience. Vol. XXII, No. 2, pp. 113–130

de Wet, C.B.; Godfrey, L.; and de Wet, Andrew P. (2015), Sedimentology and Stable Isotopes from a Lacustrine-to-Palustrine Limestone Deposited in a Hyperarid Setting, Climatic and Tectonic Factors: Miocene-Pliocene Opache Formation, Atacama Desert, Chile. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 426, p. 46-67. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003101821500111X

SHETTY, Alaekya, DE WET, Andrew and THOMAS, Benjamin, (2022), Stream Dynamics Over Time at Walnut Run, Lancaster County. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 54, No. 3 doi: 10.1130/abs/2022NE-375382

THOMAS, Benjamin, DE WET, Andrew and SHETTY, Alaekya, (2022), Stream Channel Dynamics in the Little Beaver Creek Watershed, Southern Lancaster County. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 54, No. 3
doi: 10.1130/abs/2022NE-375381

Brush, Jared; de Wet, Andrew P.; de Wet, Gregory; Bradley, Raymond S.; Zhao, Boyang (2018), Spatial analysis of watersheds associated with the eastern Norse settlement of Greenland. GSA Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 50, No. 2.

Lewis, Evan, Williams, Rebecca, and de Wet, Andrew P., (2015), Morphological Attributes of Martian Stepped Fans, GSA Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 47, No. 7, p.780.

Xu, Chi, Gigliotti, Sophia, de Wet, Carol, de Wet, Andrew P., and Godfrey, Linda (2015), Palustrine Origin for Western Opache Formation (Miocene-Pliocene), Calama Basin, Atacama Desert, Chile, GSA Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 47, No. 3, p.52.

Samuels, Ryan C., de Wet, Andrew P., Bleacher, Jacob E., Hamilton, Christopher W., and Garry, W. Brent, (2014), Channel and Tube Flow Features Associated with the Twin Craters Lava Flow, Zuni-Bandera Volcanic Field, NM: Insights into similar features on Mars, GSA Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 46, No. 2, p.41

NSP174: Climate Change: Challenges and Solutions      

GEO/ENE114: Earth, Environment and Humanity (Introductory Geology)

NTW131/FND149: Life on Mars?

NSP149: Life on Mars?

GEO/ENE250: Environmental Resources and Geographic Information Systems

ENE375: Remote Sensing and Planetary Geology

2010-11: Kristin Taddei: Tectonics and Geomorphology of Hovsgol Area, Mongolia

2011-12: Julia Signorella: Channels on Ascraeus Mons, Mars

2012 (Spr): Michele Tartaglia: (GIS internship – Lititz, Pa).

2012-13: Devin Hunter: Origins of Sinuous Channels of the Northern Part of Tharsis Montes, Mars

2013 (Spr): Chelsey Talhelm: Mapping and Assessment of the Wetlands Restoration at the Spalding Conservancy

2013-14: Ryan Samuels: Formation of tubes and channels in the Twin Craters Flow (ZBVF) compared to similar features on Ascraeus Mons, Mars.

2014-15: Evan Lewis: Stepped Fans on Mars (Internship with Becky Eby Williams ’96)

2015 (Fall): Evan Lewis: Stepped Fans on Mars

2015-2016: Nora Bryson: Volcanic Rootless Cones at Laki, Iceland.

2016-17: Otto Magee: An investigation of the relationship between a’Ᾱ and spiny pᾹhoehoe at the Holuhraun lava field in Iceland

2017-18 (fall): Aidan Molloy: Spatial Analysis of the High Point Lake Wilhelm Property.

2017-18: Jared Brush: Spatial Analysis of Watersheds Associated with the Eastern Norse Settlement of Greenland

Kriti Krishna, Fall 2018 (while Eve Bratman was on Medical Leave)

Amelia Cadwell, Fall 2018 (while Eve Bratman was on Medical Leave)

2019: Diane Wagner: The Comparison of channel and inflation features on Mars to terrestrial fluvial features.

2022: Alaekya Shetty: Stream Dynamics Over Time at Walnut Run, Lancaster Co.

2022: Ben Thomas: Stream Channel Dynamics in Little Beaver Creek, Southern Lancaster Co.

2023: Sydney Levins: Depositional Environment and geochemistry of the Conestoga Formation, Lancaster Co. 

2016: Dana Venditti: Behavioral Tradeoffs Between Ultraviolet Radiation and Predator Avoidance in Freshwater Snails, Department of Biology. Advisor: Mark Olson

2018: Kriti Krishna: Honey Laundering & Food Fraud: Applying Supply Chain Transparency to Create An Ethical Economy. Earth & Environment Departmental Honors Thesis. Advisor: Eve Bratman.

2018: Jane E. Braswell: Social Networks and Personality as Predictors of Cooperation in Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus apella) Biological Foundations of Behavior, Advisor: Dr. Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf.

2020: Nic Hertzler: Characteristics and origin of Colluvial Periglacial Lobate Landforms in the Pennsylvanian Appalachian Mountains. Dept of ENE. Advisor: Dorothy Merritts

2022: Shruti Daga: Anthropogenic, behavioral, and demographic factors impacting free-ranging Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) survival in the United States, Dept of ENE Advisor: Sarah Dawson.

2022: Glory Jacquat: Regional influences on Corbicula fluminea densities in Lancaster, PA streams. Dept of Biology Advisor: Professor Mark Olson

2022: Ella Mure: Spatial Patterns of Environmental Equity and Green Space Distribution in Lancaster, PA. Dept. of Biology. Advisor: Dan Ardia.

2022: Catherine Caterham. Deposition and Diagenesis of Two Miocene Travertine/Tufas, Atacama Desert, Chile. Dept. of ENE. Advisor: Carol de Wet