Chercheurs

Sciences de la Terre / PITMAN III, WALTER

pitman

Position

Adjunct Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY, USA.

Thèmes de recherche

past sea-level changes, both short- and long-term, their causes and their effects on the sedimentary record, climate change and human history.

Dr. Pitman was instrumental in interpreting the pattern of marine magnetic anomalies detected around mid-ocean ridges as indicative of active seafloor spreading, thus unlocking the "Rosetta Stone" of continental drift and plate-tectonic theory. He discovered the first matched transoceanic magnetic profile that proved the reality of plate generation and motion.
Now a senior scientist emeritus, his research interests have expanded to include theoretical geomorphology and tectonics, with particular emphasis on unraveling the history, causes and consequences of changing sea levels. He recently co-authored the much-heralded book Noah's Flood, and is an outspoken proponent multidisciplinary research. Dr. Pitman currently co-teaches a course on environmental science for future policy makers at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.

Prix et récompenses

He is a Fellow of both the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union, which has awarded him its Maurice Ewing Medal. Dr. Pitman has also received the Society for Sedimentary Geology's Francis Shepard Medal, and the Alexander Agassiz Medal of the National Academy of Sciences.
2000 G. Unger Vetlesen Prize

Publications

Pitman, W.C., III., R.L. Larson and E.M. Herron. "The age of the oceans determined from magnetic anomaly lineations (2 charts)," Geological Society of America Inc., Boulder, Colorado (1974).

Pitman, W.C., III. "The relationship between eustacy and stratigraphic sequences of passive margins," Geological Society of America Bulletin,89:1389-1403 (1978).

Pitman, W.C., III., and X. Golovchenko. "The effect of sea level changes on the morphology of mountain belts." Journal of Geophysical Research, 96(B4):6879-6891 (1991).