Rod Parnell is Professor of Geology and Environmental Sciences at Northern Arizona University and Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments. He received his Ph.D. in Geology from Dartmouth College in 1982. Rod has been a faculty member at St. Lawrence University, the University of Virginia, and Northern Arizona University. He has chaired the Geology Department, the Environmental Sciences Program, and the Center for Environmental Sciences and Education while at NAU.
Rod starting working in the Grand Canyon as a seasonal ranger in 1974. In spite of completing his education back East, he has always found a way to return to the Canyon. He now works with the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center of the U.S. Geological Survey performing biogeochemical and geomorphological research and monitoring to aid in adaptive management of the Glen Canyon Dam and the Colorado River’s flow through Grand Canyon.
He has received over six million dollars in research support from federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the US Geological Survey, as well as the Electric Power Research Institute, The Norwegian Institute of Water Research, the Colombian National Science Foundation, mining companies, and numerous state and private organizations. He has supervised 22 undergraduate research projects and has had 31 graduate students complete their degrees under his direction.
Recent publications related to Grand Canyon and Colorado River research
Hazel, Joseph, E., Jr., Kaplinski, M., Parnell, R., and Kohl, K. 2008. Monitoring fine-grained sediment in the Colorado River ecosystem, Arizona: control network and conventional survey techniques. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1276.
Hazel, Joseph E. Jr., Kaplinski, M., Parnell, R.A. Jr., and Fairley, H.C.. 2008. Aggradation and Degradation of the Palisades Gully Network, 1996 to 2005, with Emphasis on the November 2004 High-Flow Experiment, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. U.S. Geological Survey. Open-File Report 2008-1264.
Springer, A.E., Stevens, L.E., Anderson, D.E., Parnell, R.A. Jr., Kreamer, D.K., and Flora, S.P. 2008. Comprehensive Springs Classification System: Integrating Geomorphic, Hydrogeochemical and Ecological Criteria. in Every Last Drop: Ecology and Conservation of Springs in Arid North America. University of Arizona Press.
Kaplinski, M., Hazel, J.E. Jr., Parnell, R.A. Jr., Breedlove, M, and Schmidt, J.C. 2007. Integrating Bathymetric, Topographic, and LiDAR Surveys of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon to Assess the Effect of a Flow Experiment From Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River Ecosystem. Hydrographic Society of America, proceeding of national meeting, Norfolk, VA. 22pp.
Hazel, Joseph, E., Jr., Kaplinski, M., Parnell, R., Kohl, K., and Topping, D.J., 2006, Stage-Discharge Relations for the Colorado River in Glen, Marble, and Grand Canyons, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1243, 18 p.
O'Brien, G.R., Kaufman, D. S., Sharp, W., Atudorei, V., Crossey, L., and Parnell, R.A. Jr. 2006. Oxygen isotope composition of early Holocene banded travertine, Grand Canyon, Arizona, Quaternary Science Reviews. V. 65: 366-379.
Kaplinski, M., Behan, J. Hazel, J.E., Parnell, R. A., Jr., and H. Fairley. 2005. Chapter 12. Recreational Values and Campsites in the Colorado River Ecosystem. In S.P. Gloss, J. E. Lovich, and T. S. Melis (ed))The State of Natural and Cultural Resources in the Colorado River Ecosystem: The SCORE Report. US Geological Survey Circular 1282. 220 pp.
Stevens, L. Parnell, R. A., Jr. and 9 co-authors. 2001. Planned flooding and riparian trade-offs; the 1996 Colorado River Planned Flood. Ecological Applications v.11: 701-710.
Schmidt,J., Parnell, R.A., Jr., Grams, P., Hazel, J., and Stevens, L. 2001. Geomorphic effectiveness of the 1996 /habitat building flow in Grand Canyon. Ecological Applications v.11: 657-671.
Parnell, R.A. Jr., Bennett, J., and L. Stevens, 1999. Floods bury riparian vegetation: Impacts of the 1996 controlled flood of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon on nutrient concentrations in bar/eddy complexes. in Webb, R.H., Schmidt, J. S., Marzolf, G. R., and Valdez, R. A. (eds),The Controlled Flood in Grand Canyon. AGU Geophysical Monograph 110, American Geophysical Union, Washington , DC.
Hazel, J. Jr., Kaplinski, M.A., Parnell, R.A. Jr., Manone, M., and A. Dale. 1999. Effects of the 1996 beach/habitat-building flow on Colorado River sand bars and sediment storage along the Colorado River Corridor, in Webb, R.H., Schmidt, J. S., Marzolf, G. R., and Valdez, R. A.(eds), The Controlled Flood in Grand Canyon. AGU Geophysical Monograph 110
Parnell, R.A., Jr. and Shirley, D. 1999. Geochemical and mineralogical evidence for the estuarine origin of the Surprise Canyon Formation, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, U.S.A. Chapter H., in Billingsley, George H., and Beus, Stanley S., eds., Geology of the Surprise Canyon Formation of the Grand Canyon, Arizona: Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 61, Northland Press, Flagstaff, p. 119-136.
Parnell, R.A. Jr., Springer, A., Stevens, L., Bennett, J., Hoffnagle, T., Melis, T. and Staniski-Martin, D. 1997.Flood-induced backwater rejuvenation along the Colorado River Corridor in Grand Canyon, Az. in Patten, D. and Garrett, L. (ed.) Symposium on the Glen Canyon Dam Beach/Habitat-Building Flow. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation/GCMRC, Flagstaff, Az. pp. 41-51.
Parnell, R.A. Jr., Springer, A., Bennett, J., Stevens, L. 1997. Effects of the 1996 Glen Canyon Dam controlled flood on nutrient spiraling along the Colorado River Corridor in Grand Canyon, Az. in Patten, D. and Garrett, L. (ed.). Symposium on the Glen Canyon Dam Beach/Habitat-Building Flow. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation/ GCMRC, Flagstaff, Az. pp.52-56.
Blakey, R. and Parnell, R.A., Jr. 1995. Middle Jurassic magmatism: The volcanic record in the eolian Page Sandstone and related Carmel Formation, Colorado Plateau. in Miller, D. M. and Busby, C. Jurassic Magmatism and Tectonics of the North American Cordillera, Geol. Soc. Amer. Special Paper 299. Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, CO. 425 pp.
