Mead Allison Senior Research Scientist, UTIG B.S. College of William and Mary, VA, 1985 M.S. East Carolina University, NC, 1988 Ph.D. State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, 1993 Telephone 512-471-6156 email: mallison@ig.utexas.edu     Mead's CV

Research Interests
Dr. Allison's are in sedimentology of the upper continental margin focusing on:
- Quaternary geologic evolution and sedimentary processes of deltas
- Microfabric of modern sediments
- Use of radioisotopes as tracers of sediment accumulation and mixing
- Sediment transport in high-concentration suspended sediment regimes
- Remote sensing (satellite and aerial) image analysis for examining coastal geological processes
- Seafloor mapping with high-resolution sidescan, swath bathymetry, and subbottom acoustics
- Behavior of light in sediments
- Contaminated sediment depocenters and transport mechanisms

Student Involvement

Recent Publications (* denotes student in Mead's lab at Tulane)
*Wilson, C.A. and Allison, M.A., submitted. Sediment dynamics and geomorphology of eroding marsh shorelines in southeastern Louisiana. Estuarine, Shelf and Coastal Science.

Allison, M.A. and *Taylor, B.B., submitted. Effects of sediment microfabric on the in-sediment light field in sandy coastal settings. Limnology and Oceanography.

Mayer, L.M., Schick, L.L., Allison, M.A. and Bentley, S., submitted. Input of nutritionally rich organic matter from the Mississippi River to the Louisiana coastal zone. Limnology and Oceanography.

*Nittrouer, J.A., Allison, M.A., and Campanella, R., in press. Evaluation of bedload transport in the lower Mississippi River: implications for sand transport to the Gulf of Mexico. JGR-Surface Processes.

*Galler, J.J. and Allison, M.A., in press. Estuarine controls on fine-grained sediment storage in the lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. Geological Society of America Bulletin.

*Bianchi, T.S., Galler, J.J., and Allison, M.A., accepted. Effects of hydrodynamic sorting on compositional abundance of organic carbon in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. Marine Chemistry.

Majzlik, E.J., Dellapenna, T.M., and Allison, M.A., in press. Occurrence of scour pits on the inner continental shelf of Matagorda Peninsula, Texas, following the landfall of Hurricane Claudette in 2003. Continental Shelf Research.

Mayer, L.M., Schick, L.L., Allison, M.A. and Bentley, S., in press. Marine vs. terrigenous organic matter in Louisiana coastal sediments: The uses of bromine:organic carbon ratios. Marine Chemistry.

Thieler, E.R., Butman, B., Schwab, W.C., Allison, M.A., Driscoll, N.W., Donnelly, J.P. and Uchupi, E., 2007. A catastrophic meltwater flood event and the formation of the Hudson Shelf Valley. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246: 120-136

Allison, M.A., Bianchi, T.S., McKee, B.A., and Sampere, T.P., 2007. Carbon burial on river-dominated continental shelves: impact of historical changes in sediment loading adjacent to the Mississippi River. Geophysical Research Letters L01606, doi:10.1029/2006GL028362. PDF

Bianchi, T.S., Allison, M.A., Canuel, E.S., McKee, B.A., Wakeham, S.B. 2006. Evidence for rapid export of riverine and shelf-derived organic matter into Mississippi Canyon. EOS-Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 87:565, 572-573

Dellapenna, T.M., Allison, M.A., Gill, G., and Warnken, K., 2006. The role of shrimp trawling on resuspension in shallow estuaries. Estuarine, Shelf and Coastal Science 69:519-530.

Goñi, M.A., Gordon, E.S., Monacci, N.M., Clinton, R., Gishewhite, R., Allison, M.A., and Kineke, G.C., 2006. The effect of Hurricane Lili on the distribution of organic matter in the Inner Louisiana Shelf (Gulf of Mexico, USA). Continental Shelf Research 26:2260-2280.

Corbett, D.R., McKee, B.A., and Allison, M.A., 2006. Nature of decadal-scale sediment accumulation in the Mississippi River deltaic region. Continental Shelf Research 26:2125-2140.

Allison, M.A.,, Sheremet, A., Goñi, M.A., Stone, G.W., 2005. Storm layer deposition on the Mississippi-Atchafalay subaqueous delta generated by Hurricane Lili in 2002, Continental Shelf Research, 25: 2213-2232, doi:10.1016/j.csr.2005.08.023. PDF.

Neill, C.F. and Allison, M.A.,, 2005. Subaqueous deltaic formation on the Atchafalay Shelf, Louisiana, Marine Geology, 214:411-430. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2004.11.002. PDF

Kuehl, S.A., Allison, M.A., Goodbred, S.L., and Kudrass, H., 2005. The Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, River Deltas - Cancepts, Models, and Examples, SEPM Special Publication No. 83, p. 413-434.

Allison, M.A. and Lee, M.T., 2004. Sediment exchange between Amazon mudbanks and shore-fringing mangroves in French Guiana, Marine Geology, 208:169-190. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2004.04.026. PDF

McKee, B.A., Aller, R.C., Allison, M.A., Bianchi, T.S., and Kineke, G.C., 2004. Transport and transformation of dissolved and particulate materials on continental margins influenced by major rivers: Benthic boundary layer and seabed processes, Continental Shelf Research, 24: 899-926. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2004.02.009. PDF