Alan L. Deino received a B.S. degree as a double major in Chemistry and Geology in 1975 from the University of California, Davis, and his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985. His graduate studies focused on the eruptive history of mid-Cenozoic ignimbrite volcanism of the Great Basin of the western United States. He joined the Institute of Human Origins (IHO) in 1985, and led the development effort that produced the world’s first fully automated ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating system in 1987. Deino’s research efforts have included extensive work in the Rift Valley of East Africa aimed at understanding the chronology of hominin evolution, the impact of climate change, and the interplay of volcanism and tectonics across the region. His work has recently focused on using 40Ar/39Ar dating, paleomagnetism, and tephrochemistry to elucidate the accumulation history of deep sedimentary drill cores extracted from sites in East Africa and Asia.
Primary Areas of Research Interest
Volcanism
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Ignimbrites flare-up of the Great Basin
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Eruptive events of the Phlegrean Fields, Campania, Italy
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Character and development of the Tondano Caldera system, north Sulawesi Island, Indonesia
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Neogene to Quaternary volcanic history of East Africa
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Late-Cenozoic volcanism of the California Coast Ranges
Climate Change
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Late Cenozoic climate history of East Africa (Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi)
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Onset of the Messian Salinity Crisis in the western Mediterranean
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Chronology of the last million years of climate change in Indonesia
Paleontology, archaeology and hominin evolution
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Evolution of Miocene primates in Uganda and Kenya
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Chronostratigraphy of Miocene fauna, high Andes, Bolivia
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Hominin evolution in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania
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Rates of Cenozoic biotic evolution in East Africa
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Timing of the appearance of modern tool-use and trading technologies in Kenya (Olorgesailie) and Tanzania (Laetoli and Olduvai Gorge)
Selected Publications
Deino, A.L., 2012. Ar-40/Ar-39 dating of Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and the chronology of early Pleistocene climate change. J. Hum. Evol. 63(2) 251--273.
Deino, A.L., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Brooks, A.S., Yellen, J.E., Sharp, W.D., and Potts, R., 2018. Chronology of the Acheulean to Middle Stone Age transition in eastern Africa. Science 360(6384) 95--98.
Deino, A.L., Dommain, R., Keller, C.B., Potts, R., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Beverly, E.J., King, J., Heil, C.W., Stockhecke, M., Brown, E.T., Moerman, J., and deMenocal, P., 2019. Chronostratigraphic model of a high-resolution drill core record of the past million years from the Koora Basin, south Kenya Rift: Overcoming the difficulties of variable sedimentation rate and hiatuses. Quaternary Science Reviews 215213--231.
Deino, A.L., Kingston, J.D., Glen, J.M., Edgar, R.K., and Hill, A., 2006. Precessional forcing of lacustrine sedimentation in the late Cenozoic Chemeron Basin, Central Kenya Rift, and calibration of the Gauss/Matuyama boundary. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 247(1-2) 41--60.
Deino, A.L., Sier, M.J., Garello, D., Keller, B., Kingston, J., Scott, J., Dupont-Nivet, G., and Cohen, A., 2019. Chronostratigraphy of the Baringo-Tugen-Barsemoi (HSPDP-BTB13-1A) Core -- 40Ar/39Ar dating, magnetostratigraphy, tephrostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy and Bayesian age modeling. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, in press.