Dr. Brenda Beitler Bowen

Assistant Professor

E-mail: bbowen@purdue.edu

Associated Website(s):
Sedimentary Geology Group(SED) ,

Education

  • B.S., Earth Science, 1998, University of California, Santa Cruz

  • M.S., Earth Science, 2000, University of California, Santa Cruz

  • Ph.D., Geology, 2005, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Advisor: Dr. Marjorie A. Chan - Dissertation: Sandstone bleaching and iron concretions: an index to fluid pathways and diagenetic history in Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, southern Utah (funded by NCS-PRF & GSENM)

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Geology, 2005-2007, Central Michigan University. Advisor: Dr. Kathleen C. Benison - Project: Collaborative research: biogeochemical exploration of acidic and neutral hypersaline environments of Australia (funded by NSF)

Research Interests

Interactions among sediments and fluids in both modern and ancient sedimentary environments on scales from microscopic to regional; the effects of depositional and tectonic environment, structure, and hydrogeochemical conditions on burial history and diagenesis; spatial changes in authigenic minerals; redbeds; Mars geology and fluid-rock history; combining field-based studies with analytical laboratory work including petrography, major and trace element geochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry, fluid inclusion analyses, and reflectance and imaging spectroscopy. 

Teaching Interests

Sedimentology and Stratigraphy, Diagenesis, Fluids and Basin Evolution, Geologic Remote Sensing, Geology of Mars

Awards and Honors

  • American Chemical Society- Petroleum Research Fund, Evaluating the History of Eolian and Interdune Fluid-Sediment Interactions and Mass Transfer in an Acid and Redox Influenced Diagenetic System: Mollies Nipple, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, 2007.

  • Central Michigan University Faculty Research and Creative Endeavors Grant, Geochemical and Mineralogical Analyses of Western Australia Saline Lakes, 2006

Professional Experience

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Purdue University, Fall 2007

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate & Temporary Assistant Professor, June 2005-2007: Central Michigan University, Department of Geology

  • University of Utah Graduate Research Assistant / Fellow, Aug. 2001-May 2005

  • Geoscience intern with British Petroleum, 2003

  • Intern with the United States Geological Survey, Yellowstone 1999, Hawaii 2000

Selected Publications

  • Bowen, B.B. , Martini, B.A., Chan, M.A., & Parry, W.T., 2007, Reflectance spectroscopic mapping of fluid flow pathways in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 91, p. 173-190.

  • Beitler, B. , Parry, W.T., & Chan, M.A., 2005, Fingerprints of fluid flow: Chemical diagenetic History of the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, southern Utah: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 75, p. 545-559.

  • Beitler, B. , Chan, M.A., Parry, W.T., Ormö, J. &, Komatsu, G., 2004, Diagenetic analogs to hematite regions on Mars: examples from Jurassic sandstones of Southern Utah, USA (Invited Paper), in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 5555, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology VIII, eds., Hoover, R.B., Levin, G.V., & Rozanov, A.Y., SPIE, Bellingham, WA, p. 162-169

  • Beitler, B. , Chan, M.A., & Parry, W.T., 2003, Bleaching of Jurassic Navajo Sandstone on Colorado Plateau Laramide Highs: Evidence of Exhumed Hydrocarbon Supergiants?: Geology, v. 31, p. 1041-1044.

  • Benison, K.C. & Bowen, B.B. , 2006, Acid saline lake systems give clues about past environments and the search for life on Mars: Icarus, v. 183, p. 225-229.

  • Benison, K.C., Bowen, B.B. , Oboh-Ikuenobe, F.E., LaClair, D.A., Jagniecki, E.A., Story, S.L., Mormile, M.R., & Hong, B.Y., 2007, Sedimentology of Acid Saline Lakes in Southern Western Australia: Newly Described Processes and Products of an Extreme Environment, v. 77, p. 366-388.

  • Chan, M.A., Bowen, B.B. , Parry, W.T., Ormo, J., & Komatsu, G., 2005, Red Rock and Red Planet Diagenesis: Comparisons of Earth and Mars Concretions: GSA Today, v. 15, p. 4-10.

  • Chan, M. A., Beitler, B. , and Parry, W. T., 2005, The Navajo Sandstone color palette and marvelous marbles: Canyon Legacy, Moab Museum publication, v. 54, p. 13-16.

  • Chan, M.A., Beitler, B. , Parry, W.T, Ormö, J. & Komatsu, G., 2004, A possible terrestrial analogue for hematite concretions on Mars: Nature, v. 429, p. 731-734.

  • Coe, R.S., Stock, G.M., Lyons, J.J., Beitler, B. , & Bowen, G.J., 2005, Yellowstone hotspot volcanism in California? A paleomagnetic test of the Lovejoy flood basalt hypothesis: Geology, v. 33, p. 697-700.

  • Ormö, J., Komatsu, G., Chan, M.A., Beitler, B. , & Parry, W.T., 2004, Geological features indicative of processes related to the hematite formation in Meridiani Planum and Aram Chaos, Mars: A comparison with diagenetic hematite deposits in southern Utah, USA: Icarus. v. 171, p. 295-316.

  • Parry, W.T., Chan M.A., & Beitler, B., 2004, Chemical Bleaching Indicates Episodes of Fluid Flow in Deformation Bands in Sandstone: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 88, p. 175-191.

  • Parry, W.T., Forster, C.B., Evans, J.P., Bowen, B.B., & Chan, M.A., 2007, Geochemistry of CO2 sequestration in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Colorado Plateau, Utah: Environmental Geosciences, v. 14, p. 91-109.

  • Souza-Egipsy, V., Ormö, J., Bowen, B.B. , Chan, M.A., & Komatsu, G., 2006, Ultrastructural study of iron oxide precipitates: Implications for the search for biosignatures in the Meridiani hematite concretions, Mars: Astrobiology, v. 6, p. 527-545.