About

Carmala N. Garzione is a Professor and Dean of the College of Science at the University of Arizona. She is a faculty member in the Department of Geosciences. Her role involves academic leadership and research within the geosciences discipline. The page does not provide specific details about her research focus, background, or key contributions.

Research topics

• Geology
• Paleontology
• Seismology
• Geomorphology
• Geochemistry

Selected publications

• Plio–Pleistocene Paleoclimate Insights into Alpine Permafrost Stability and Ice-Age Megafaunal Dispersal in Asia

  2026-03-14

  articleOpen access

  As the largest elevated plateau on Earth, the Tibetan Plateau has played a pivotal role in shaping both global and regional climate as well as mammalian dispersal. Yet how paleoclimate and biome shift in and around the Plateau responded to Plio–Pleistocene cooling, marked by a ~3–4 °C global temperature drop at ~2.7 million years ago (Ma) and the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation, remains to be further investigated. Here we integrate novel climate and biome simulations with new carbonate stable and dual clumped isotope analyses to reconstruct past climate and ecosystems across the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings. Our clumped-isotope temperatures indicate warmer mean annual air temperatures prior to 2.7 Ma, supporting a permafrost-free northern Plateau under climates warmer than today. Combined with climate modeling and global permafrost distribution, these results suggest that under conditions similar to the mid-Pliocene Warm Period (3.3–3.0 Ma), ~60% of alpine permafrost, containing ~85 petagrams of carbon—may have been vulnerable to thaw, compared to only ~20% of circumarctic permafrost. This implies that up to ~25% of global permafrost carbon, and associated permafrost–climate feedbacks, could originate in alpine regions. In addition, our results show the emergence of cold steppe–tundra habitats suitable for woolly rhinoceroses during Plio–Pleistocene cooling, forming plateau–circumarctic dispersal corridors. The ~3–4 °C cooling around 3.0–2.7 Ma along these corridors coincided with ~8 °C cooling on the Plateau. A >30% decline in plateau habitat suitability, alongside a ~23-fold corridor expansion, points to temperature decline as the primary driver of poleward megafaunal dispersal. Taken together, our findings highlight the amplified temperature sensitivity of high-elevation regions and underscore the central role of global temperature change in shaping the past, present, and future dynamics of cold-adapted mammals across the cryosphere.

  PublisherDOI

• Neotropical terrestrial records indicate colder, more densely vegetated lowland landscapes between the middle and late Miocene

  Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · 2026-04-19

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  PublisherDOI

• Terrestrial Paleotemperature and Phytolith Records Reveal Neotropical Mid to Late Miocene Cooling, Increased Humidity, and Non-Analog Forests

  Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2025-01-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Iron Fertilization of the North Pacific Did Not Drive Long‐Term Pliocene to Quaternary Cooling

  AGU Advances · 2025-08-29

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract While several hypotheses exist to explain the development of large‐scale perennial Northern Hemisphere ice sheets in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, the prevailing view is that a decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) drove this substantial change in late Neogene climate. However, the primary mechanism responsible for this reduction in CO 2 has yet to be fully explored. Mineral dust‐derived iron enhancement of ocean organic carbon production and export to the deep ocean and marine sediments has previously been invoked to explain reductions in atmospheric CO 2 on multiple timescales. Here we test the hypothesis that iron fertilization of the Pliocene subarctic North Pacific affected atmospheric CO 2 , and in turn drove the formation of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. By compiling Pliocene dust and export productivity proxy data sets from across the North Pacific and then progressively filtering for the most reliable records, we find that there is no relationship between North Pacific dust inputs and export production in the Pliocene. Finally, we apply these new composites to broadly assess previously proposed drivers of Pliocene Asian dust dynamics as well as North Pacific Ocean circulation and biogeochemistry.

  PublisherDOI

• Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Hydroclimate Evolution of the Western Altiplano, Northern Chile: Implications for Aridity Trends Under Warming Climate Conditions

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Constraining carbonate diagenesis using clumped isotope temperatures and U-Pb dating: A case study and implications for paleoelevation interpretations in western central Tibet

  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2024-04-06 · 10 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Reliability of micritic carbonates in recording well-preserved isotopic composition and implications for paleoelevation estimates in central Tibet

  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2024-04-07 · 12 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Late Miocene-early Pliocene hydroclimate evolution of the western Altiplano, northern Chile: Implications for aridification trends under warming climate conditions

  Global and Planetary Change · 2024-12-09 · 2 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Neogene surface uplift of the Lunpola Basin in Central Tibet: Implications for uplifting and flattening of orogenic plateaus

  Earth and Planetary Science Letters · 2024-09-02 · 14 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WAKE OF TRAUMA

  Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2023-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Miocene-Pliocene Paleoelevation of the Bolivian Altiplano

  NSF · $188k · 2003–2007

• Collaborative Research: Plio-Quaternary History of Basin Evolution, Climate Change, and Fold Growth in the Qaidam Basin-Investigating Wind-enhanced Climate-Tectonic Feedback

  NSF · $180k · 2014–2018

• Collaborative Research: Basin Evolution and Elevation History of the SE Margin of the Tibetan Plateau: Constraints on the Timing and Mechanisms of Surface Uplift

  NSF · $62k · 2010–2015

• Collaborative Research: Surface Uplift and Climate Change in the Southern Altiplano: Evaluating Mechanisms for Surface Rise and the Effects of Tectonics on Climate

  NSF · $186k · 2007–2010

• PIRE: DUST stimulated drawn-down of atmospheric CO2 as a trigger for Northern Hemisphere Glaciation

  NSF · $4.2M · 2015–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Gregory D. Hoke

  Syracuse University

  51 shared

• Junsheng Nie

  Lanzhou University

  45 shared

• Bruce J. MacFadden

  Florida Museum of Natural History

  43 shared

• John M. Eiler

  42 shared

• Prosenjit Ghosh

  32 shared

• Julie C. Libarkin

  Michigan State University

  32 shared

• Lin Li

  29 shared

• Saunia Withers

  28 shared