Phillip Larson

Phillip Larson

Professor
Director of Earth Science Programs
Co-Director EARTH Systems Lab
Minnesota State University, Mankato

Graduate Faculty, University of Minnesota

Research Interests

Drainage basin evolution and geomorphic response to perturbation, arid/desert geomorphology, fluvial and aeolian geomorphology, Cenozoic paleoclimatic/environmental/geographic change, geochronologic methods, geoarcheology

Selected Publications

  • Skotnicki, S., Seong, Y.B., Dorn, R.I., Larson, P.H., Deponty, J. ( 2020). Drainage integration of the Salt and Verde Rivers in a Basin and Range extensional landscape, central Arizona, USA. Geomorphology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107512
  • Larson, P.H., Dorn, R.I., Skotnicki, S., Seong, Y.B., DePonty, J. (2020). Impact of drainage integration on basin geomorphology and landform evolution: Case study along the Salt and Verde Rivers of the Sonoran Desert, USA. Geomorphology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107439
  • Oh, J.S., Seong, Y.B., Larson, P.H., Hong, S.C., Yu, B.Y. (2019). Asymmetric hillslope retreat on Rock Peak, San Tan Mountains, Arizona, USA: Assessing caprock lithology control on landscape evolution. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2019.1624421
  • Donovan, M., Belmont, P., Notebaert, B., Coombs, T., Larson, P.H., Souffront, M. (2019). Accounting for uncertainty in measurements of river channel migration. Earth Science Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.04.009
  • Larson, P.H., Kelley, S., Dorn, R.I., Seong Y.B. (2016). Pace of Landscape Change in the northeastern Sonoran Desert, United States. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2016.1201420
  • Faulkner, D., Larson, P.H., Jol, H.M., Running, G.L., Loope, H.M., and Goble, R.J. (2016). Episodic Incision and Terrace Formation Resulting from Abrupt Late-Glacial Base-Level Fall, Lower Chippewa River, Wisconsin, USA. Geomorphology. 266: 75-95. DOI:10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.04.016
  • Larson, P.H., Meek, N., Dorn, R.I., Douglass, J., Seong, Y.B., (2016). How Rivers Cross Mountains. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2016.1203283

Current Research

  1. Basin integration, transverse drainage development, and the establishment of through-flowing rivers. Basin-scale adjustment and geomorphology post-drainage integration. For example, Salt and Verde Rivers, Basin and Range, Arizona, USA. Post-glacial landscapes of the upper Midwest, USA.
  2. Post-glacial drainage basin/landscape evolution of the upper Mississippi River basin due to base level fluctuations: Chippewa (Wisconsin), Cannon (Minnesota), Whitewater (Minnesota), Zumbro (Minnesota), Minnesota (Minnesota) River drainage basins. This includes anthropogenic influence on these systems (e.g. climate change, land-use).
  3. Geomorphology and paleoenvironmental significance of late Pleistocene and Holocene aeolian deposition in the upper Mississippi River basin (western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota) as an analogue landscape for modern regions experiencing deglaciation and permafrost melt-out.
  4. Piedmont landform (pediments, alluvial fans, talus flat irons) and hillslope evolution in the southwestern USA (Arizona, California, Utah).
  5. Sandur geomorphology and evolution, Iceland. Fluvial geomorphology in Iceland.
  6. Bedrock river incision and knickpoint retreat due to base level fluctuations: North shore of Lake Superior
  7. Origin and evolution of entrenched and incised meanders.

Image!