Faculty of Science
Department of Oceanography
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA | CANADA B3H 4R2 | +1 (902) 494-3557

Markus Kienast

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University
1355 Oxford Street
PO BOX 15000
Halifax NS  B3H 4R2

Phone: (902) 494-8338
   Fax: (902) 494-3877
Email: markus.kienast@dal.ca

Education Background

  • PhD - Geochemistry and Palaeoceanography, University of British Columbia
  • MSc (Diplom) - Marine Geology and Geophysics, University Kiel, Germany
  • BSc (Vor-Diplom) - Geology, University Clausthal, Germany

Awards and Honours

  • Associate Editor, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G3)
  • Co-coordinator PAGES/IMAGES working group on the Nitrogen Cycle in the Ocean, Past and Present (NICOPP; website)
  • Canadian national representative of IMAGES (The International Marine Past Global Change Study; website)
  • Member Canadian National Committee for the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (CNC/SCOR; website)
  • Dalhousie representative in the Canadian Consortium for Ocean Drilling (CCOD; website)
  • Geology, editorial board (2004-2008 )
  • Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award (2005)
  • Scholar, CIFAR Earth System Evolution Program (2004- ) (CIFAR website)
  • Adjunct Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2004- )

Research Interests

  • Paleoceanography of the tropical Pacific Ocean
  • Marine geochemical proxies of global climate change
  • Nitrogen isotope indicators of past changes in nutrient availability and consumption (see NICOPP website)
  • Asian palaeomonsoon

3420.03: Geochemistry of Aquatic Environments
5285.03: Marine Geochemical Processes
4000.03: Oceans and Global Change
5240.03 02: Special Topics in Oceanography: Paleo-oceanography / Paleo-climatology

Tesdal, J.-E., Galbraith, E.D., Kienast, M. - 2013 - Nitrogen isotopes in bulk marine sediment: linking seafloor observations with subseafloor records. - Biogeosciences, 10, 101-118, 2013, doi: 10.5194/bg-10-101-2013

Yu, P., Kienast, M., Chen, M., Cacho, I., Flores, J.A., Mohtadi, M., Mix, A.C. - 2012 - Influences of extratropical water masses on equatorial Pacific cold tongue variability during the past 160 ka as revealed by faunal evidence of planktic foraminifers - Journal of Quaternary Science (2012), 27(9) 921-931, doi: 10.1002/jqs.2582

Robinson, R., Kienast, M., and the NICOPP working group - 2012 - A review of nitrogen isotopic alteration in marine sediments. - Paleoceanography, 27, PA4203, doi:10.1029/2012PA002321

Kienast, M., G. MacIntyre, N. Dubois, S. Higginson, C. Normandeau, C. R. Chazen, and T. D. Herbert - 2012 - Alkenone unsaturation in surface sediments from the eastern equatorial Pacific: Implications for SST reconstructions - Paleoceanography, 27, PA1210, doi:10.1029/2011PA002254

Bolliet T., A. Holbourn, W. Kuhnt, C. Kissel, C. Laj, L. Beaufort, M. Kienast, N. Andersen, D. Garbe-Schönberg - 2011 - Mindanao Dome variability over the last 160 kyr: Episodic glacial cooling of the West Pacific Warm Pool - Paleoceanography, 26, doi:10.1029/2010PA001966

Dubois, N. and M. Kienast - 2011 - Spatial reorganization in the equatorial divergence in the Eastern Tropical Pacific during the last 150 kyr - Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L16606, doi:10.1029/2011GL048325

Dubois, N., Kienast, M., Kienast, S., Normandeau, C., Calvert, S.E., Herbert, T.D., and Mix, A. - 2011 - Millennial-scale variations in hydrography and biogeochemistry in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific over the last 100 kyrs - Quaternary Science Reviews, 30, 210-223

Dubois, N., M. Kienast, S. Kienast, S.E. Calvert, R. Francois, and R.F. Anderson - 2010 - Sedimentary opal records in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific: It’s not all about leakage - Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 24, GB4020, doi:10.1029/2010GB003821

Kissel, C., C. Laj, M. Kienast, T. Bolliet, A. Holbourn, P. Hill, W. Kuhnt, and P. Braconnot - 2010 - Monsoon variability and deep oceanic circulation in the western equatorial Pacific over the last climatic cycle: Insights from sedimentary magnetic properties and sortable silt - Paleoceanography, 25, doi:10.1029/2010PA001980

MARGO project members (MARGO: Multiproxy Approach for the Reconstruction of the Glacial Ocean Surface) - 2009 - Constraints on the magnitude and patterns of ocean cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum - Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/NGEO411

Dubois, N., M. Kienast, C. Normandeau, and T.D. Herbert - 2009 - Eastern equatorial Pacific cold tongue during the Last Glacial Maximum as seen from alkenone paleothermometry - Paleocenography, 24, PA4207, doi:10.1029/2009PA001781

Kienast, M., Lehmann, M., Timmermann, A., Galbraith, E., Bolliet, T., Holbourn, A., Normandeau, C., and Laj, C. - 2008 - A mid-Holocene transition in the nitrogen dynamics of the western equatorial Pacific: Evidence of a deepening thermocline? - Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L23610, doi:10.1029/2008GL035464

Steinke, S., Kienast, M., Groeneveld, J., Lin, L.-C., Chen, M.-T., Rendle-Buhring, R. - 2008 - Proxy dependence of the temporal pattern of deglacial warming in the tropical South China Sea: Toward resolving seasonality - Quaternary Science Reviews, 27, 688-700

Galbraith, E.D., Kienast, M., Jaccard, S.L., Pedersen, T.F., Brunelle, B.G., Sigman, D.M., and Kiefer T. - 2008 - Consistent relationship between global climate and surface nitrate utilization in the western subarctic Pacific throughout the last 500 ka - Paleoceanography, 23, PA2212, doi: 10.1029/2007PA001518

Kienast, S.S., Kienast, M., Mix, A.C., Calvert, S.E., and Francois R. - 2007 - Thorium-230 normalized particle flux and sediment focusing in the Panama Basin Region during the last 30,000 years - Paleoceanography, V.22, PA2213, doi:10.1029/2006PA001357

Weaver, A.J., Eby, M., Kienast, M., and Saenko, O.A. - 2007 - Response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to increasing atmospheric CO2: Sensitivity to mean climate state - Geophys. Res. Lett.,34:5,L05708 10.1029/2006GL028756

Kienast, M., Kienast, S. S., Calvert, S. E., Eglinton, T. I., Mollenhauer, G., François, R., and Mix, A - 2006 - Eastern Pacific cooling and Atlantic overturning circulation during the last deglaciation. - Nature, 443, 846-849, doi:10.1038/nature05222

Kienast, S. S., Kienast, M., Jaccard, S., Calvert, S. E., and François, R. - 2006 - Testing the silica leakage hypothesis with sedimentary opal records from the eastern equatorial Pacific over the last 150 kyrs. - Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L15607, doi:10.1029/2006GL026651.

Lehmann, M.F., Sigman, D.M., McCorkle, D.C., Brunelle, B.G., Hoffmann, S., Kienast, M., Cane, G., and Clement, J. - 2005 - Origin of the deep Bering Sea nitrate deficit – Constraints from the nitrogen and oxygen isotopic composition of water-column nitrate and benthic nitrate fluxes. - Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 19, GB4005, doi:10.1029/2005GB002508.

Kienast, M., Higginson, M.J., Mollenhauer, G., Eglinton, T.I., Chen, M-T., Calvert, S.E. - 2005 - On the sedimentological origin of downcore variations of bulk sedimentary nitrogen isotope ratios. - Paleoceanography, 20, PA2009, doi:10.1029/2004PA001081.

Kiefer, T. and Kienast, M. - 2005 - Patterns of deglacial warming in the Pacific Ocean: A review with emphasis on the time interval of Heinrich event 1. - Quaternary Science Reviews, 24, 1063-1081.

Mollenhauer, G., Kienast, M., Lamy, F., Meggers, H., Schneider, R.R., Hayes, J., and Eglington, T.I. - 2005 - An evaluation of 14C age relationships between co-occurring foraminifera, alkenones, and total organic carbon in continental margin sediments. - Paleoceanography, 20, PA1016, doi:10.1029/2004PA001103.

Galbraith, E.T., Kienast, M., Pedersen, T.F., and Calvert, S.E - 2004 - Glacial-interglacial modulation of the marine nitrogen cycle by high latitude O2 supply to the global thermocline. - Paleoceanography, 19, PA4007, doi:10.1029/2003PA001000

Kienast, M., Hanebuth, T.J.J., Pelejero, C., and Steinke, S. - 2003 - Synchroneity of Meltwater Pulse 1a and the Bølling warming: New evidence from the South China Sea. - Geology, 31(1), 67-70.

Steinke, S., Kienast, M., and Hanebuth, T. - 2003 - On the significance of sea-level variations and shelf palaeo-morphology sedimentation in the southern South China Sea during the last deglaciation - Marine Geology, 201, 197-206.

Kienast, M., Steinke, S., Stattegger, K., and Calvert, S.E. - 2001 - Synchronous tropical South China Sea SST change and Greenland warming during deglaciation. - Science, 291, 2132-2134.

Steinke, S., Kienast, M., Pflaumann, U., Weinelt, M., and Stattegger, K. - 2001 - A high-resolution sea surface temperature record from the South China Sea (16,500-3,000 yr B.P.) - Quaternary Research, 55, 352-362.

Kienast, M., Calvert, S.E., Pelejero, C., and Grimalt, J.O. - 2001 - A critical review of marine sedimentary d13Corg-pCO2 estimates: New palaeo-records from the South China Sea and a revisit of other low-latitude d13Corg-pCO2 records. - Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 15(1), 113-127.

Kienast, M. - 2000 - Unchanged nitrogen isotopic composition of organic matter in the South China Sea during the last climatic cycle: Global implications. - Paleoceanography, 15(2), 244-253.

Pelejero, C., Kienast, M., Wang, L., and Grimalt, J. - 1999 - The flooding of Sundaland during the last deglaciation: Imprints in hemipelagic sediments from the southern South China Sea. - Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 171, 661-671.

Pelejero, C., Grimalt, J.O., Heilig, S., Kienast, M., and Wang, L. - 1999 - High resolution UK37-temperature reconstructions in the South China Sea over the past 220 kyr. - Paleoceanography, 14(2), 224-231.

Jian, Z., Wang, L., Kienast, M., Sarnthein, M., Kuhnt, W., Lin, H., and Wang, P. - 1999 - Benthic foraminiferal paleoceanography of the South China Sea over the last 40,000 years. - Marine Geology, 156(1-4), 159-186.

Wang, L., Sarnthein, M., Erlenkeuser, H., Grimalt, J., Grootes, P., Heilig, S., Ivanova, E., Kienast, M., Pelejero, C., and Pflaumann, U. - 1999 - East Asian monsoon climate during the late Pleistocene: High-resolution sediment records from the South China Sea. - Marine Geology, 156(1-4), 245-284.