Rick Behl

(Richard Behl)
Professor Emeritus

  • Postdoctoral Fellow: Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara, 1992-1995
  • Ph.D, Earth Science, UC Santa Cruz, 1992
  • B.A., Chemistry and Earth Science, UC San Diego, 1978

Courses Taught

  • Stratigraphy and Sedimentology
  • Earth Systems and Global Change
  • Sedimentary Petrology
  • Petroleum Geology
  • Physical and Chemical Oceanography

Research Interests

  • Sedimentology
  • Stratigraphy
  • Paleoceanography
  • Earth Systems Science

I am a marine sedimentologist who conducts research on land or at sea depending on the problem and time period being addressed. Most of my work focuses on the wonderfully complex Miocene Monterey Formation of California and the spectacular Quaternary record of Santa Barbara Basin.

Overall, my research is tied together by trying to unravel the tectonic, climatic, and oceanographic evolution of the California Margin and the Pacific Ocean. In particular, my research focuses on the sedimentology and paleoceanography of continental margins and deep-sea upwelling zones, and the diagenesis of siliceous sediments and other authigenic minerals associated with organic-rich sediments. These interests have also led me into research and collaboration with petroleum geologists on the relationships between diagenesis and deformation in chert and dolomite that form important fractured reservoirs for oil, and with archaeologists to determine the provenance of artifacts.

Research Projects