Biography
of Wolf Berger
Dr. Wolf Berger is the P.I. for the California Space Grant
Consortium and is the Director of the California Space Institute.
Dr. Berger received his Ph.D. degree in Geology from the University
of Colorado and received his Ph.D. in Oceanography at Scripps
at UCSD.
Berger
studies the stable isotopes of the shells made by marine animals
secreting calcium carbonate, especially the fossil shells
of foraminifera. These pin-head-size to microscopic organisms
have lived in the ocean for many millions of years. From knowing
when certain species lived and what conditions are needed
to support their life, one can determine the productivity
and the history of the ocean’s circulation.
Berger’s contributions to understanding carbonate sedimentation
in the oceans began with his Ph.D. thesis on the production
and preservation of calcium carbonate shells in planktonic
foraminifera, microscopic organisms that are widespread in
the upper ocean waters. He developed the concept of the lysocline
– the depth level on the seafloor that separates well
preserved from poorly preserved calcareous fossils. Fluctuations
of this level through geological time go parallel with major
changes in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere. The
same is true for fluctuations in the depth of carbonate compensation
– the maximum depth of carbonate deposition. Berger’s
studies provided reconstructions of such fluctuations, which
yielded information useful in assessing and ultimately predicting
the effects of CO2 emission on climate change.
More recently, Berger’s work has concentrated on the
history of the California Current over the last 1,000 years,
based on sediments with annual layers from the Santa Barbara
Basin. Such studies help define the normal background fluctuations
in climate conditions. This information needs to be known
if man-made changes (i.e. global warming and its effects on
ocean productivity) are to be detected.
He is the author of more than 200 scientific publications
and has written a popular book titled, “Walk along the
Ocean,” about the shoreline of San Diego’s North
County beaches. He is coauthor, with E. Seibold, of a textbook
on marine geology, “The Sea Floor” (Springer-Verlag,
1982, 3rd edition printed in 1995), which has been translated
into Russian and Japanese. He has served on the editorial
boards of Geology, the AGU Monograph Series,
Marine Geology, Marine Micropaleontology, the Journal
of Foraminiferal Research, AGU Paleoceanography,
and the Journal of Paleoclimatology.
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