Professor
Research
Duncan FitzGerald’s major interests are in the fields of shallow marine geology, extending from the coastal zone to the inner continental shelf. During the past ten years his research has centered on the hydraulics and sediment-transport characteristics of tidal inlets and estuaries (New England, North Carolina) and the morpho-stratigraphy of coastal sedimentary accumulation forms (New England, South Carolina). This research involves extensive fieldwork, lab analyses, and numerical modeling. Recently, his group has begun several new projects that seek to quantify 1. the effects of accelerated sea-level rise on backbarrier marshes and accompanying increases in tidal prism (Mississippi River delta, Maine marshes); 2. the morphodynamics of bedform evolution (Long Island Sound, NY; Humboldt Bay, CA); 3. the wave-current interactions from natural and man-made waves in Boston Harbor, MA; 4. the inner-shelf sedimentary signatures from transgression and regressions (New England, Louisiana); and 5. the progradational sequences from Santa Catarina, Brazil. Data comes from water column measurements, shallow seismic and side-scan imagery, bottom sediment samples, bedform morphology, ground-penetrating radar, and sediment cores. Ongoing research is supported by the Coastal Inlets Research Program, USACE, National Park Service, USGS, NOAA, and the Minerals Management Service.
Teaching
- EE 142 Introduction to Beach & Shoreline Processes
- EE 544 Coastal Sedimentology