I joined the Geology Department at St. Lawrence University in 2007, after serving as a Research Scientist at the Croatian Geological Survey and a visiting stint at Zagreb University. At St. Lawrence I teach courses in Sedimentology, Carbonate Sedimentology, Oceanography, and Dynamic Earth.

Academic studies, and field and laboratory research in Europe and Virginia, has formed my approach to research and teaching. I began my research career as a graduate student at Zagreb University, Croatia, studying the evolution, growth and demise of the Tethyan Adriatic platform, a platform as large as the present day Bahama platform. Through this work I have gained extended experience in foraminiferal taxonomy and biostratigraphy, paleoecology, carbonate sedimentology, geological mapping and microscopy. Furthermore, my fieldwork at the Croatian Geological Survey has given me an increased opportunity to hone my sedimentological and stratigraphic skills.

After completing my Ph.D. I went to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia on a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship to work with Fred Read. This research was in carbonate sedimentology and paleoclimate utilizing data I collected during several years of research in Croatia. While at Virginia Tech, we documented that the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) was in fact a hot greenhouse time within Frakes et al. (1992) overall “cool” mode of the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. We also showed that the geologic distribution of distinctive radial ooid units in the Late Jurassic of the Adriatic platform, reflects the juxtaposition of calcite seas, high supersaturation states, arid climate, and presence of flat-topped platforms in a greenhouse world.

On-going NSF- and Croatian Ministry of Science-funded research uses data from the Adriatic platform of Croatia, supplemented by published and ongoing studies in the Middle East and elsewhere, to evaluate whether the >50 m.y. long Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous interval, originally considered to be greenhouse, has intervals recording moderate amplitude glacioeustasy implying some high-latitude ice, and climates that are transitional between greenhouse and ice-house. Besides being a window into a generally hot time in the Earth’s history, the interval is also important because it was the time when the supergiant carbonate reservoirs of the Middle East developed.

GEOL 103 Dynamic Earth (Fall 2008 Syllabus in PDF)

GEOL 115 Oceanography (Spring 2009 Syllabus in PDF)

GEOL 216 Sedimentology (Fall 2008 Syllabus in PDF)

GEOL 247 Paleoclimatology

GEOL 347B Carbonate Sedimentology (Fall 2009 Syllabus in PDF)

GEOL 347C Tropical Coastal Environments with the Bahamas Field Trip

I have also taught Paleontology course for geology majors, and an advanced graduate course in Paleoclimate & Carbonate Platforms.

You can find my Curriculum vitae here (PDF)

2004-2005 Post-doctoral studies (Fulbright fellowship), Dept. of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, with Dr. J.F. Read. Project: Global Climate Change During Tithonian (150Ma) to Cenomanian (94Ma): Adriatic Carbonate Platform’s Response

December 2002 Ph.D.in Geology, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Thesis: Mesozoic stratigraphy of the island of Mljet within the geodynamic evolution of the southern part of the Adriatic carbonate platform

September 1998 M.Sc. in Geology, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Thesis: Biostratigraphy of the Orbitolinid deposits on the Island of Cres and correlation with corresponding deposits of the adjacent areas

June 1995 B.Sc. in Geology, University of Zagreb. Thesis: Genesis of the “Gamma” deposits based on the well-log interpretation, Zutica oil/gas field, Croatia

Husinec, A., Basch, D., Rose, B. & Read, J.F., 2008, FISCHERPLOTS: an Excel spreadsheet for computing Fischer plots of accommodation change in cyclic carbonate successions in both the time and depth domain.
Computers & Geosciences, 34, p. 269-277. DOI:10.1016/j.cageo.2007.02.004 (PDF)

Husinec, A. & Read, J.F., 2007, The Late Jurassic Tithonian, a greenhouse phase in the Middle Jurassic – Early Cretaceous “cool” mode: Evidence from the cyclic Adriatic Platform, Croatia. Sedimentology, 54, p. 317-337. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2006.00837.x (PDF)

Husinec, A. & Read, J.F., 2006, Transgressive oversized radial ooid facies in the Late Jurassic Adriatic Platform interior: Low-energy precipitates from highly supersaturated hypersaline waters. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 118, p. 550-556. DOI:10.1130/B25864.1 (PDF)

Husinec, A. & Jelaska, V. 2006, Relative sea-level changes recorded on an isolated carbonate platform: Tithonian to Cenomanian succession, southern Croatia.Journal of Sedimentary Research, 76, p. 1120-1136. DOI:10.2110/jsr.2006.099 (PDF)

Husinec, A. & Sokac, B., 2006, Early Cretaceous benthic associations (foraminifera and calcareous algae) of a shallow tropical-water platform environment (Mljet Island, southern Croatia). Cretaceous Research, 27, p. 418-441. DOI:10.1016/j.cretres.2005.07.008 (PDF)

Korbar, T. & Husinec, A., 2003, Biostratigraphy of Turonian to (?)Coniacian platform carbonates: A case study from the Island of Cres (Northern Adriatic, Croatia). Geologia Croatica, 56, p. 173-185. (PDF)

Husinec, A., 2001, Palorbitolina lenticularis from the northern Adriatic region: Palaeogeographical and evolutionary implications. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 31, p. 287-293. (PDF)

Korbar, T., Fucek, L., Husinec, A., Vlahovic, I., Ostric, N., Maticec, D. & Jelaska, V., 2001, Cenomanian Carbonate Facies and Rudists along Shallow Intraplatform Basin Margin – the Island of Cres (Adriatic Sea, Croatia). Facies, 45, p. 39-58. (PDF)

Husinec, A., Velic, I., Fucek, l., Vlahovic, I., Maticec, D., Ostric, N., & Korbar, T., 2000, Mid Cretaceous orbitolinid (Foraminiferida) record from the islands of Cres and Lošinj (Croatia) and its regional stratigraphic correlation. Cretaceous Research, 21, 1, p. 155-171. (PDF)

In press

Husinec, A., Velic, I. & Sokac, B.,Diversity patterns in mid-Cretaceous benthic foraminifers and dasyclad algae of the southern part of Mesozoic Adriatic platform, Croatia, in Demchuk, J. & Gary, A., eds., Geologic Problem Solving with Microfossils, SEPM Special Publication.

A central emphasis in my research plan is directed at the use of fossils and the sedimentary record coupled with the integration of stratigraphic analysis, modeling, isotopic approaches and spectral analysis to track the evolution of climates and oceans. This multidisciplinary research should potentially have a significant impact in academia. It is also very relevant to the petroleum industry because facies stacking patterns on carbonate platforms commonly are controlled by high frequency eustatic oscillations that may be driven by Milankovitch orbital forcing. This has a major impact on the vertical and lateral distribution of petroleum reservoir units, reservoir compartmentalization and flow units and flow barriers in carbonate successions.

The present “icehouse” world cannot tell us how the Earth would function under “greenhouse” conditions. Also, recent work suggests that a significant part of earth history previously considered ice-free was neither true greenhouse nor icehouse, but in-between (transitional), with some polar ice but not large ice sheets. The stacking patterns of sediments on Phanerozoic carbonate platforms record a 540 m.y. history of climate-induced sea-level changes, capable of resolving the distinctive signatures of greenhouse, transitional and icehouse conditions. They also provide a window into how modern tropical platforms might respond to global warming and cooling. Field studies, integrated with paleoclimate data, spectral analysis and stratigraphic modeling, will help me and my collaborators document the temporal distribution of platform stacking types, assess their climatic significance, and help refine the Phanerozoic history of the climate.

My research also addresses the 2004 International Commission on Stratigraphy new initiative on integrating cyclostratigraphy into a composite Mesozoic-Cenozoic time scale by providing inter-calibration studies between the deep sea record and shallow platforms. I am collaborating with Linda Hinnov, Johns Hopkins University, to evaluate whether any quasi-periodic signal is preserved within shallow platform succession, and whether it is compatible with Milankovitch orbital forcing. I am testing whether the dominant frequencies tell us about global ice volumes, and greenhouse versus transitional global climates through time.

RESEARCH GRANTS

American Chemical Society - Petroleum Research Fund, Research Grant 49435-UNI8 - High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy of Ordovician Red River Formation, Williston Basin, North Dakota; P.I.: A. Husinec;06/09-08-11

U.S. National Science Foundation (Geology/Paleontology Program), Research Grant EAR 0639523 – Joint U.S.-Croatian Cooperative Research Project: Greenhouse and Transitional Climates in 50 m.y. Carbonate Record of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Dinaric Platform, Croatia; U.S. P.I.: J.F. Read, Croatian P.I.: A. Husinec; 06/07-06/10

Ministry of Science, Republic of Croatia (Geosciences Program), Research Grant 181-1953068-0241 - Sedimentary Record of Jurassic-Cretaceous Climatic Changes in Karst Dinarides; P.I.: A. Husinec; 01/07-01/10

St. Lawrence University, Center for International and Intercultural Studies Fellows Grant - Greenhouse Earth in the Rock Record of Coastal Croatia; P.I.: A. Husinec; 06/08

U.S. State Department (Fulbright Program), Research Grant 68428172 - Global Climate Change During Tithonian (150Ma) to Cenomanian (94Ma): Adriatic Carbonate Platform’s Response; P.I.: A. Husinec; 09/04-07/05

Ministry of Science, Republic of Croatia (Geological Map of Croatia Program), Research Grant 0181001-05 - Geological Map of Lastovo Island; P.I.: A. Husinec; 05/01-06/04

Ministry of Science, Republic of Croatia (Geological Map of Croatia Program), Research Grant 0181-0101 - Geological Map of Mljet Island; P.I.: A. Husinec; 05/99-06/02

FISCHERPLOTS

Fischer plots are plots of accommodation (derived by calculating cumulative departure from mean cycle thickness) versus cycle number or stratigraphic distance (proxies for time), for “cyclic” carbonate platforms. The plots can be used to derive periods of increased accommodation, shown on the plots as a rising limb (which commonly matches times of more open marine, subtidal parasequence development). Times of decreased accommodation, shown on the plots as a falling limb, generally are coincident with thin, shallow, peritidal parasequences.
The plots are valuable in that they allow geologists to recognize changes in accommodation space from cyclic carbonate successions, and hence allow them to pick depositional sequences, the fundamental units of modern stratigraphy.

Download the FISCHERPLOTS
for free

Here is a simple method of generating Fischer plots of cumulative departure from mean cycle thickness plotted against either cycle number or stratigraphic distance, using an Excel spreadsheet program developed by Husinec et al. (Computers & Geosciences). The only data that needs to be input is number and thickness of covered intervals (or uncored intervals in core), and cycle thickness data. For further information see:

Husinec, A., Basch, D., Rose, B. & Read, J.F., 2008, FISCHERPLOTS: an Excel spreadsheet for computing Fischer plots of accommodation change in cyclic carbonate successions in both the time and depth domain. Computers & Geosciences, 33, p. 169-177. DOI:10.1016/j.cageo.2007.02.004 (PDF)

If you use this program in any form and material is published/reported from it please acknowledge the use of the program.

Please send mail to ahusinec@stlawu.edu if you encounter any problems or have suggestions.