Nicholas Swanson-Hysell

Associate Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences

Associate Director, Institute for Rock Magnetism

Contact

nicks-h@umn.edu

352 John T. Tate Hall
116 Church Street Se
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Affiliations

Institute for Rock Magnetism

Nicholas Swanson-Hysell

Associate Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences

Associate Director, Institute for Rock Magnetism

Research

Accepting new undergraduate research students

Accepting new graduate research students

Prof. Nick Swanson-Hysell seeks to place quantitative constraints on the long-term evolution of Earth through integrating geophysical and geochemical data sets that are developed within a rigorous geologic context. A major focus of our work is on paleomagnetic and rock magnetic data sets that our research group develops to test hypotheses about the migrating positions of continents (paleogeography), changes to the surface environment (particularly planetary climate change), and the evolution of Earth’s magnetic field. Hypotheses abound in Earth science related to major transitions such as the reorganization of continental blocks into and out of supercontinents and the initiation and terminations of ice ages including global glaciation. Our research projects bring quantitative constraints to such changes, including their timing and rates, in order to test such hypotheses and further understanding of Earth’s long-term evolution.

These research efforts involve undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. For more information about our research and group members, please visit our research group webpage: swanson-hysell.esci.umn.edu. Undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing research with us are encouraged to reach out to Nick via email.

Our research group is affiliated with the Institute for Rock Magnetism (IRM) providing rich opportunities for access to state-of-the-art instrumentation as well as interactions with IRM faculty, staff and visiting fellows.

Research Tags:

Geological History

Geology

Tectonics

Biography

Teaching

Publications & Awards

Honors and Awards

2023 Miller Research Professor
2020 Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
2019 NSF CAREER Award
2015 Hellman Fellow
2014 William Gilbert Award (Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Section, American Geo-
physical Union)
2010 Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellowship (Princeton University)
2009 Arnold Guyot Teaching Award (Princeton University)

Selected Publications

Zhang, Y.*, Hodgin, E.B.*, Alemu, T.*, Pierce, J.*, Feuntes, A.*, and Swanson-Hysell, N.L. (2024), Tracking Rodinia into the Neoproterozoic: new paleomagnetic constraints from the Jacobsville Formation, Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2023TC007866.
|link to journal page (open access) | code, data, and manuscript on Github | data in MagIC database |

Macdonald, F.M. and Swanson-Hysell, N.L. (2023), The Franklin large igneous province and initiation of Snowball Earth, Elements, doi:10.2138/gselements.19.5.296.
|link to journal page|geochronology data analysis and visualization code on Github|energy balance model code on Github|

Slotznick, S.P.*, Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Zhang, Y.*, Clayton, K.E., Wellman, C.H., Tosca, N.J., and Strother, P.K. (2023) Reconstructing the paleoenvironment of an oxygenated Mesoproterozoic shoreline and its record of life, GSA Bulletin, doi:10.1130/B36634.1
|link to journal page| code and data on Github |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Rivers, T. and van der Lee, S. (2023) The late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic Grenvillian Orogeny and the assembly of Rodinia: Turning point in the tectonic evolution of Laurentia in Whitmeyer, S., Kellett, D., Tikoff, B. and Williams, M. eds., GSA Memoir Laurentia: Turning Points in the Evolution of a Continent, doi:10.1130/2022.1220(14)
|link to journal page| open access version | code and data on Github | code and data on Zenodo |

Pierce, J.*, Zhang, Y.*, Hodgin, E.B.*, and Swanson-Hysell, N.L. (2022), Quantifying inclination shallowing and representing flattening uncertainty in sedimentary paleomagnetic poles, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2022GC010682.
| link to journal page (open access) | code and data on Github | code and data on Zenodo |

Zhang, Y.*, Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Avery, M.S.*, and Fu. R.R. (2022), High geomagnetic field intensity recorded by anorthosite xenoliths requires a strongly powered late Mesoproterozoic geodynamo, PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.2202875119.
| link to journal page (open access) | code and data on Github | code and data on Zenodo | data in MagIC database |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L. (2021), The Precambrian Paleogeography of Laurentia, in: Pesonen, L.J., Salminen, J., Evans, D.A.D., Elming, S.-Å., Veikkolainen, T. (eds.) Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of the Earth, doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-818533-9.00009-6.
| open access version | code, data and manuscript on Github | publisher page |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Avery, M.S.*, Zhang, Y.*, Hodgin, E.B.*, Sherwood, R.J.*, Apen, F.E., Boerboom, T.J., Keller, C.B., and Cottle, J.M. (2021), The paleogeography of Laurentia in its early years: new constraints from the Paleoproterozoic East Central Minnesota batholith Tectonics, doi:10.1130/G47873.1.
| link to journal page | open access version | code and data archive on Zenodo | code, data and manuscript on Github | data in MagIC database |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Hoaglund, S.A., Crowley, J.L., Schmitz, M.D., Zhang, Y.*, and Miller Jr., J.D. (2021), Rapid emplacement of massive Duluth Complex intrusions within the Midcontinent Rift, Geology, doi:10.1130/G47873.1.
| link to journal page | open access version | supplemental materials | code and data archive on Zenodo| code, data and manuscript on Github | data in MagIC database |

Park, Y.*, Maffre, P.*, Goddéris, Y., Macdonald, F.M., Anttila, E. and Swanson-Hysell, N.L. (2020), Emergence of the Southeast Asian Islands as a driver for Neogene cooling, PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.2011033117.
| link to journal page | open access version | code and data archive on Zenodo | code and data on Github |

Slotznick, S.P.*, Sperling, E.A., Tosca, N.J., Miller, A.J., Clayton, K., van Helmond, N.A.G.M., Slomps, C.P., and Swanson-Hysell, N.L. (2020), Unraveling the mineralogical complexity of sediment iron speciation using sequential extractions, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2019GC008666.
| link to journal page | open access archive |

Park, Y.*, Swanson-Hysell, N.L., MacLennan, S.*, Maloof, A., Schoene, B., Tremblay, M.*, Antilla, E.*, Gebreslassie, M., Tesema, T., Alene, M. and Haileab, B. (2020), The onset of the Sturtian Snowball Earth: Neoproterozoic chemostratigraphy time-calibrated by the Tambien Group of Ethiopia, Geological Society of America Bulletin, doi:10.1130/B35178.1.
| link to journal page | open access version | code and data on Github |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Fairchild, L.M.*, and Slotznick, S.* (2019), Primary and secondary red bed magnetization constrained by fluvial intraclasts, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, doi:10.1029/2018JB017067.
| link to journal page | open access version | data in MagIC database | code, data and manuscript on Github |

Macdonald, F.M., Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Park, Y.*, Lisiecki, L., and Jagoutz, O. (2019), Arc-continent collisions in the tropics set Earth’s climate state Science doi:10.1126/science.aav5300.
| link to journal page | open access version | code and data on Github |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Ramenzani, J., Fairchild, L.M.* and Rose, I.* (2019), Failed rifting and fast drifting: Midcontinent Rift development, Laurentia’s rapid motion and the driver of Grenvillian orogenesis, Geological Society of America Bulletin, doi:10.1130/B31944.1.
| link to journal page | open access version | data in MagIC database | code, data and manuscript on Github |

Slotznick, S.*, Swanson-Hysell, N.L., and Sperling, E. (2018), An oxygenated Mesoproterozoic lake revealed through magnetic mineralogy, PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1813493115.
| link to journal page | open access archive |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L. and Macdonald, F.A. (2017), Tropical weathering of the Taconic orogeny as a driver for Ordovician cooling, Geology, doi:10.1130/G38985.1 | link to journal page | open access archive | code and data on Github |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Kilian, T.M.*, and Hanson, R.H. (2015), A new grand mean paleomagnetic pole for the Umkondo Large Igneous Province with implications for paleogeography and the geomagnetic field, Geophysical Journal International, 203, 2237-2247, doi:10.1093/gji/ggv402.
| open access archive | link to journal page | Github repository with publication, data and code | paleomagnetic data in the MagIC database | code, data and manuscript on Github |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Maloof, A.C., Condon, D.J., Jenkin, G.R.T., Alene, M., Tremblay, M.M.*, Tesema, T., Rooney, A.D. and Haileab, B. (2015), Stratigraphy and geochronology of the Tambien Group, Ethiopia: Evidence for globally synchronous carbon isotope change in the Neoproterozoic, Geology, 43, 323-326, doi:10.1130/G36347.1. | open access archive | link to journal page | non-technical summary | Github repository with Tonian carbon isotope composite | code and data on Github |

Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Maloof, A.C., Kirschvink, J.L., Halverson, G.P., and Hurtgen, M.T. (2012), Constraints on Neoproterozoic paleogeography and Paleozoic orogenesis from paleomagnetic records of the Bitter Springs Formation, Amadeus Basin, central Australia, American Journal of Science, 312, 817-884, doi:10.2475/08.2012.01.
| open access archive | link to journal page | word cloud of text