Colorado Glaciation – A Window into Past Environments and Climate

Pikes Peak Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society Meeting

Much of Colorado’s dramatic mountain landscape is the result of past glaciation.

Colorado College Geology Professor Emeritus Eric Leonard has spent much of his career working to understand the glaciation of the Rocky Mountains – the location and character of past glaciers, the timing of past glaciations and deglaciation, the climate changes that caused glaciers to grow and then disappear multiple times, and the causes of those climate changes.

Eric will summarize that work and talk briefly about modern glaciers in Colorado – their current state and their future prospects. Plus, he will step a bit out of his area of expertise to talk some about the significance and challenges involved in utilizing the glacial geologic record to help reconstruct the timing and environments of early human settlement of western North America.

During Eric’s family hiking and camping trips in the Sierra Nevada he developed a love of glacially sculpted mountain landscapes.

He earned his master’s degree in geography at Simon Fraser University in Canada, working in the North Cascade Range of Washington, and his PhD in geological sciences at University of Colorado, Boulder, working in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

In 1981 he joined the Colorado College Geology Department, where he taught until he retired in 2019.

While at CC, he continued his work on glaciation, climate history, tectonics and mountain building in western North America, southern South America, and Scandinavia.