Frederika (Fraka) Harmsen
Ph.D., Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 1984

Professor, Graduate Co-ordinator
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences 
California State University, Fresno 
2576 E. San Ramon Ave., Mail Stop ST-24
Fresno, CA 93740   

Tel.  001(559) 278-2395
Fax. 001(559) 278-5980 
E-mail: frakah@csufresno.edu 

Office:  Science II 114

Links: EES Department, University Homepage

 
TEACHING
Dr. Harmsen teaches courses in Sedimentology, Paleontology, and Basin Analysis. Field trips are an integral component of these courses and range from shipboard cruises to desert exposures. She also teaches the Evolution of Life and Continents and Field Geology. Dr. Harmsen founded the South Pacific Semester, an international semester abroad program based in New Zealand and Australia. As part of the program, she has taught courses on the Geology of New Zealand, Physical Geology and Field Geology. Students spend much time in the field visiting for example, active volcanoes, glaciers and coral reefs. Dr. Harmsen serves on the Governing Board of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) and spent a year as the Visiting Scientist there. MLML functions as an extension of the CSU Fresno campus and numerous courses in marine sciences are available to our students.

RESEARCH
Dr. Harmsen has two large grants to study the geomorphology, hydrology and riparian condition of the Kings River Experimental Watershed (KREW). The grant supports three graduate students.
  • Characterization of watershed geomorphology is focused on assessment of channel morphology and condition. Analysis of transport capacity, sediment supply, and channel history provide for a more detailed diagnosis of channel condition and guide determination of major processes controlling channel morphology and habitat structure throughout the channel network. A sediment budget is being determined that includes a quantitative description of sediment production rates, transport, storage, and output by the different processes in the drainage system.
  • Stream flow is being measured using Parshall-Montana flumes and bubbler flow gages. Multiple water samples are being collected during large storms but sampling is less frequent (every two weeks or monthly) during low flow periods. Nutrient analysis is concentrated on the typically limiting nutrients of nitrogen and phosphorous, but sulfate and chloride are also being monitored as they change with fire.
  • The riparian zone is being mapped and plant diversity quantified. The biomass of representative vegetation plots in each stream segment will be estimated throughout the growing season and it's potential contribution to energy budget of headwater streams quantified. All of the study streams contain meadows and seeps which will be mapped and described. Vegetation moisture content and canopy closure will be studied to model riparian microclimate and it's effect on the invertebrates and algae within the stream channel system as well as fire behavior.
Dr. Harmsen has also received multiple grants from Caltrans to provide a database and maps of paleontological resources in central California using GIS and to perform environmental field analysis at various sites of vertebrate remains. At least five graduate students have been, and are being, supported by these grants.

Examples of Recent International Research Projects
Analysis of Bedforms Generated During a Catastrophic Glacial Burst, Iceland. Dr. Harmsen and graduate student Chad Pyatt worked on catastrophic floodplain deposits in Iceland. The study involved examination of morphology and sedimentology of proglacial outwash following a glacial outburst from the Vatnajokull Ice Cap in southeast Iceland. Over the past several hundred years, many eruptions have occurred within ice caps covering parts of the volcanic zones in Iceland. This study focused on catastrophic flooding in glaciofluvial streams flowing from the Vatnajokull icecap that occurred in response to subglacial volcanic eruptions within the Grimsvotn caldera. A large subglacial lake formed behind a hyaloclastite seal between the glacier and bedrock. As the eruption progressed, the hydrostatic pressure under the icecap exceeded the isostatic pressure of the overlying glacier. The dam was breached, and the resulting flood had the largest magnitude recorded this century. The flow rate of one studied river exceeded 45,000 m3/s.

Facies Analysis of the Gogo Formation and Diagenesis of Fish Fauna. This was a sedimentological study of the Gogo Formation of the Canning Basin of Western Australia, internationally acclaimed as the world's most significant early vertebrate fossil site. Discoveries have included the uncovering of many new forms of lungfishes, arthrodires, and the first complete skull of an osteolepiform - the group giving rise to the first amphibians. Studies of early vertebrate evolution here have resulted in a new model for the origins of the first land animals. The environment the Gogo fish inhabited was an ancient reef yet details of their habitat were sketchy. A major focus of the research was to undertake a detailed environmental analysis of the sediments which enclose these fossils. The chemical and physical processes that operated to preserve the specimens following deposition was also studied. The Gogo fish are preserved in outstanding three-dimensional anatomical detail, providing unique opportunities for the study of evolution.

Paleontological and Sedimentological Studies of the Lower Beacon Supergroup, Darwin Mountains, Antarctica. Dr. Harmsen participated in two international expeditions to Antarctica. The last expedition completed an ambitious nine week sledging journey, traveling over 700 kilometers, passing for part of the time through unexplored territory in the Darwin Mountains. Dr. Harmsen was on Devonian strata in the TransAntarctic Mountains. Only 1% of the Antarctic continent is exposed above the ice sheet. As well as collecting fish material, the expedition was also studying the sediments in which they were found. The Aztec Siltstone was deposited by large rivers flooding across low-lying alluvial fans. Freshwater fish lived within the channels of these rivers and during floods when the rivers broke their banks, mud was spread across the river flats leaving dead and dying fish. Fossil root horizons indicate that the mud flats were often colonized by primitive vegetation. Mudcracks and soil horizons are common in the sequence. Ther are indications that the region had a savanna-like climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. See the Aztecodus harmsenae named for Dr.Harmsen – a shark thought to be larger than a great white (Specimens recovered from the Aztec Siltstone).

Past Graduate Stuents: Dr. Harmsen has supervised numerous graduate students on their MS thesis work. The most recent student, Tim McConnico, won the Presidential Graduate Medal for outstanding graduate work at CSU Fresno. He is currently a Fulbright scholar pursuing his Ph.D. in Sedimentology in New Zealand.