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Dr Caruthers uses a combination of invertebrate paleontology and isotope geochemistry to investigate the effects of paleoclimate change and mass extinction. He has been conducting research in the Cordilleran region of western North America for over 10 years and is specialized in the magnitude and controlling mechanisms of paleoclimate change and mass extinction during the Triassic and Early Jurassic time periods. He has diversified expertise in the following areas: invertebrate taxonomy, biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, time scale calibration, terrane paleogeography and mass extinction. Most recently, Caruthers has expanded his research interests to include the Paleozoic strata of the Michigan Basin, where he is interested in using his knowledge of carbon isotope chemostratigraphy to better understand the depositional timing and mechanisms of paleoenvironmental change that led to major evaporite deposition during the Silurian.

Recent Publications

• Them, T.R., II, Gill, B.C., Caruthers, A.H., Gerhardt, A.M., Gröcke, D.R., Lyons, T.W., Marroquín, S.M., Nielsen, S.G., Trabucho Alexandre J., and Owens, J.D. 2018. Thallium isotopes reveal protracted anoxia during the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) associated with volcanism, carbon burial, and mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(26), p. 6596–6601.
  *Featured Article in Science Daily June 11, 2018:
• Caruthers, A.H., Gröcke, D.R., Kaczmarek, S.E., Rine, M.J., Kuglitsch, J., and Harrison, W.B., III. 2018. The utility of organic carbon isotope data from the Salina Group halite (Michigan Basin): a new tool for stratigraphic correlation and paleoclimate proxy resource. GSA Bulletin, doi:10.1130/B31972.1
• Caruthers, A.H., Smith, P.L., Gröcke D.R., Gill, B.C., Them, T.R. II, and Trabucho Alexandre J. 2018. Pliensbachian–Toarcian (Early Jurassic) ammonoids from the Luning Embayment, West-Central Nevada, USA. Bulletins of American Paleontology 393, 84 p.
• Them, T.R. II, Gill, B.C., Caruthers, A.H., Gröcke, D.R., Tulsky, E.T.T, Smith, P.L., Martindale, R.C., and Poulton, T.P. 2017. High-resolution carbon isotope records of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (Early Jurassic) from North America and implications for the global drivers of the Toarcian carbon cycle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 459, p. 118–126.
• Caruthers, A.H., Smith, P.L. and Gröcke D.R. 2014. The Pliensbachian–Toarcian (Early Jurassic) extinction: a North American perspective, in Keller, G., and Kerr, A.C., eds., Volcanism, Impacts, and Mass Extinctions: Causes and Effects. Geological Society of America Special Paper 505, p. 225-243, doi:10.1130/2014.2505(11).
• Porter, S.J., Smith, P.L., Caruthers, A.H., Hou, P., Gröcke, D.R., and Selby, D. 2014. New high-resolution geochemistry of Lower Jurassic marine sections in western North America: A global positive carbon isotope excursion in the Sinemurian? Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 397, p. 19-31.
• Caruthers, A.H., Smith, P.L. and Gröcke D.R. 2013. The Pliensbachian–Toarcian (Early Jurassic) extinction, a global multi-phased event. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 386, p. 104–118.
• Caruthers, A.H. and Smith, P.L. 2012. Pliensbachian ammonoids from the Talkeetna Mountains (Peninsular Terrane) of Southern Alaska. Revue de Paléobiologie Volume spécial, No 11, p. 365-378.

• LaMaskin, T.A., Stanley, G.D. Jr., Caruthers, A.H., and Rosenblatt, M.R. 2011. Detrital Record of Upper Triassic Reefs in the Olds Ferry Terrane, Blue Mountains Province, Northeastern Oregon, United States. Palaios, 26, p. 779–789.
• Caruthers, A.H., Gröcke D.R., and Smith, P.L. 2011. The significance of an Early Jurassic (Toarcian) carbon-isotope excursion in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia Canada. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 307, p. 19–26. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.04.013.
• Caruthers, A.H. and Stanley, G.D., Jr. 2008b. Late Triassic silicified shallow-water corals and other marine fossils from Wrangellia and the Alexander terrane, Alaska and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in Blodgett, R.B., and Stanley, G.D., Jr. eds., The terrane puzzle: New perspectives on paleontology and stratigraphy from the North American Cordillera: Geological Society of America Special Paper 442, p. 151–179, doi: 10.1130/2008.442(10)
• Caruthers, A.H., and Stanley, G.D., Jr. 2008a. Systematic Analysis of Upper Triassic Silicified Scleractinian Corals from Wrangellia and the Alexander terrane, Alaska and British Columbia Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 82(3), p. 470–491.
• Senowbari-Daryan, B., Caruthers, A.H., and Stanley, G.D., Jr. 2008. The First Upper Triassic Silicified Hypercalcified Sponges from the Alexander Terrane, Gravina Island and Keku Strait, Southeast Alaska: Journal of Paleontology, 82(2), p. 344–350.
• Stanley, G.D., Jr., Caruthers, A.H., and Blodgett, R.B. 2008. From Hot and Tropical to Cold and Arctic, The Triassic History of the Wrangell Mountains Alaska. Alaska Park Science, v. 7, issue 1, p. 4–15.

For a more complete list of publications by Dr. Caruthers, please visit .