Nick Balascio
Associate Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences
About
Nick is a paleoclimatologist and his research examines how recent climate changes due to global warming compare to past centuries and millennia by interpreting clues in geologic archives. He primarily works in the Arctic and reconstructs past environmental conditions by analyzing physical and geochemical properties of lake sediment records. Nick holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an M.S. from Northern Arizona University, and a B.S. from Union College. He was a Lamont Postdoctoral Fellow at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and most recently was a faculty member in the Geology Department at William & Mary prior to arriving at Bates College in 2024.
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Current Projects
- Investigating the climate context for prehistoric human habitation of Peary Land, northern Greenland (WandelDal.org)
- Resolving past fire-climate relationships to understand future fire potential in the eastern United States
- Reconstructing patterns of past sea-level change in former ice sheet margin environments
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Recent Publications
*denotes undergraduate author
Balascio, N.L., Bakke, J., Perren, B., D’Andrea, W.J., *Diaz, E., Lapointe, F., Bradley, R.S., Stein, R., *Van Dusen, Z., Larsen, F.F., Madsen, C.K. (2026) Midsommersø records the Holocene climate history of Wandel Dal, Inutoqqat Nunaat (Peary Land), northern Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 378: 109874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109874
Stein, R., Curtin, L., Balascio, N.L., Bradley, R.S., Peteet, D.M., Seelenfreund, A., Rapu, R., Rull, V., D’Andrea, W.J. (2025) Prolonged drought on Rapa Nui during the decline of megalithic monument construction. Communications Earth & Environment 6: 865. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02801-4
Tsalickis, A., Vachula, R.S., Karmalkar, A., Balascio, N.L., Waters, M.N. (2025) Distinct latitudinal gradients define Holocene fire trends across the southeastern USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 350: 109161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109161
Vachula, R.S., Balascio, N.L., Karmalkar, A., *Stockton, J., *Landolt, B. (2024) Central Appalachian paleofire reconstruction reveals fire-vegetation dynamics across the last glacial-interglacial transition. Quaternary Science Reviews 338: 108805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108805
Balascio, N.L., D’Andrea, W.J., Creel, R.C., *Marshall, L., *Dia, M., Wickler, S., Anderson, R.S., Austermann, J., Vasskog, K., Nielson, P.R., Dahl, S.O. (2024) Refining Holocene sea-level dynamics for the Lofoten and Vesterålen archipelagos, northern Norway: Implications for prehistoric human-environment interactions. Journal of Quaternary Science: 39: 566-584. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3604
Full list of publications
*Topness, R., Vachula, R.S, Balascio, N.L., D’Andrea, W.J., *Puglsey, G., *Dia, M., Curtin, L., Wickler, S., Anderson, R.S. (2023) Northern Norway paleofire records reveal two distinct phases of early human impacts on fire activity. The Holocene 33: 1304-1316. https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836231185826
*Frank-DePue, L., Vachula, R.S., Balascio, N.L., *Cahoon, K., Kaste, J.M., (2023) Trends in sedimentary charcoal shapes correspond with broad-scale land use changes: insights gained from a 300-year lake sediment record from eastern Virginia, USA. Journal of Paleolimnology 69: 21-36. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10933-022-00260-x
Vachula, R.S., Karp, A.T., Denis, E.H, Balascio, N.L., Canuel, E.A., Huang, Y. (2022) Spatially calibrating polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as proxies of area burned by vegetation fires: insights from comparisons of historical data and sedimentary PAH fluxes. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 596: 110995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110995
Creel, R.C., Austermann, J., Khan, N.S., D’Andrea, W.J., Balascio, N.L., Dyer, B., Ashe, E., Menke, W. (2022) Postglacial relative sea level change in Norway. Quaternary Science Reviews 282:107422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107422
Curtin, L., D’Andrea, W.J., Balascio, N.L., Shirazi, S., Shapiro, B., de Wet, G.A., Bradley, R.S., Bakke, J. (2021) Sedimentary DNA and molecular evidence for early human occupation of the Faroe Islands. Communications Earth and Environment 2:253. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00318-0 ; EOS Article
Lapointe, F., Bradley, R.S., Francus, P., Balascio, N.L., Abbot, M., Stoner, J., St-Onge, G., de Coninck, A., Labarre, T. (2020) Annually resolved Atlantic sea-surface temperature variability over the past 2900 years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 202014166. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014166117
Balascio, N.L., Anderson, R.S., D’Andrea, W.J., Wickler, S., D’Andrea, R., Bakke, J. (2020) Vegetation changes and plant wax biomarkers from an ombrotrophic bog define hydroclimate trends and human-environment interactions during the Holocene in northern Norway. The Holocene 30: 1849-1865. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683620950456
Curtin, L., D’Andrea, W.J., Balascio, N.L., *Pugsley, G., de Wet, G., Bradley, R.S. (2019) Holocene and Last Interglacial climate of the Faroe Islands from sedimentary plant wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes. Quaternary Science Reviews 223: 105930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105930
Lapointe, F., Francus, P., Stoner, J., Abbott, M., Balascio, N.L., Cook, T.L., Bradley, R.S., Forman, S., Besonen, M., St-Onge, G. (2019) Chronology and sedimentology of a new 2.9 ka annually laminated record from South Sawtooth Lake, Ellesmere Island. Quaternary Science Reviews 222: 105875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105875
Muschitiello, F., D’Andrea, W.J., Schmittner, A., Heaton, T.J., Balascio, N.L., deRoberts, N., Caffee, M.W., Woodruff, T.E., Welten, K.C., Skinner, L., Simon, M., Dokken, T.M. (2019) Deep-water circulation changes lead North Atlantic climate during deglaciation. Nature Communications 10: 1272. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09237-3
Balascio, N.L., Kaste, J.M., *Meyer, M.G., *Renshaw, M., *Smith, K., Chambers, R.M. (2019) A high-resolution mill pond record from eastern Virginia reveals the impact of past landscape changes and regional pollution history. The Anthropocene 25: 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2019.100190
Oppedal, L.T., van der Bilt, W.G.M., Balascio, N.L., Bakke, J. (2018) Patagonian ash on sub-Antarctic South Georgia: expanding the tephrostratigraphy of southern South America into the Southern Ocean. Journal of Quaternary Science 33: 482-486. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3035
Balascio, N.L., D’Andrea, W.J., Anderson, R.S., Wickler, S. (2018) Influence of vegetation type on n-alkane composition and hydrogen isotope values from a high latitude ombrotrophic bog. Organic Geochemistry 121: 48-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2018.03.008
Balascio, N.L. and Wickler, S. (2018) Human-environment dynamics during the Iron Age in the Lofoten Islands. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift-Norwegian Journal of Geography 72: 146-160. https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2018.1466831
Balascio, N.L., D’Andrea, W.J., Gjerde, M., Bakke, J. (2018) Hydroclimate variability of High Arctic Svalbard during the Holocene inferred from hydrogen isotopes of leaf waxes. Quaternary Science Reviews 183: 177-187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.11.036
Bakke, J., Balascio, N.L., van der Bilt, W.G.M., Bradley, R.S., D’Andrea, W.J., Gjerde, M., Òlafsdottir, S., Røthe, T., de Wet, G., (2018) The Island of Amsterdamøya: A key site for studying past climate in the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard. Quaternary Science Reviews 183: 157-163.
de Wet, G., Balascio, N.L., D’Andrea, W.J., Bakke, J., Bradley, R.S., Perren, B.B. (2018) Holocene glacier activity reconstructed from proglacial lake Gjøavatnet on Amsterdamøya, NW Svalbard. Quaternary Science Reviews 183: 188-203.
Gjerde, M., Bakke, J., D’Andrea, W.J., Balascio, N.L., Bradley, R.S., Vasskog, K., Ólafsdottir, S., Røthe, T.O., Perren, B.B., Hormes, A. (2018) Holocene multi-proxy environmental reconstruction from Lake Hakluytvatnet, Amsterdamøya Islands, Svalbard (79.5°N). Quaternary Science Reviews 183: 164-176.
van der Bilt, W.G.M., D’Andrea, W.J., Bakke, J., Balascio, N.L., Werner, J.P., Gjerde, M., Bradley, R.S. (2018) Alkenone-based reconstructions reveal four-phase Holocene temperature evolution for High Arctic Svalbard. Quaternary Science Reviews 183: 204-213.
van der Bilt, W.G.M., Bakke, J., Balascio, N.L. (2016) Mapping sediment-landform assemblages to constrain lacustrine sedimentation in a glacier-fed lake catchment in northwest Spitsbergen. Journal of Maps 12: 985-993.
Nielsen, P.R., Balascio, N.L., Dahl, S.O., Jansen, H.L., Støren, E.W.N., Bradley, R.S. (2016) A high-resolution 1200-year lacustrine record of glacier and climate fluctuations in Lofoten, northern Norway. The Holocene 26: 917-934.
Balascio, N.L., D’Andrea, W.J., Bradley, R.S. (2015) Glacier response to North Atlantic climate variability during the Holocene. Climate of the Past 11: 1587-1598.
Balascio, N.L., Francus, P., Bradley, R.S., Schupack, B.B., Miller, G.H., Kvisvik, B., Bakke, J., Thordarson, T. (2015) Investigating the use of scanning XRF to locate cryptotephra in minerogenic lacustrine sediment: Experimental results. In I.W. Croudace, R.G. Rothwell (eds.), Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores, Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research 17. Springer, Netherlands, p. 305-324.
D’Anjou, R., Balascio, N.L., Bradley, R.S. (2014) Locating cryptotephra in lake sediments using fluid imaging technology. Journal of Paleolimnology 52: 257-264.
Sundqvist, H.S., Kaufman, D.S., McKay, N.P., Balascio, N.L., Briner, J.P., Cwynar, L.C., Sejrup, H.P., Seppä, H., Subetto, D.A., Andrews, J.T., Axford, Y., Bakke, J., Birks, H.J.B., Brooks, S.J., de Vernal, A., Jennings, A., Ljungqvist, F.C., Ruhland, K., Saenger, C., Smol, J.P., Viau, A. (2014) Arctic Holocene proxy climate database – New approaches to assessing geochronological accuracy and encoding climate variables. Climate of the Past 10: 1605-1631.
Balascio, N.L., D’Andrea, W.J., Bradley, R.S., Perren, B.B. (2013) Biogeochemical evidence for hydrologic changes during the Holocene in a lake sediment record from southeast Greenland. The Holocene 23: 1428-1439.
D’Anjou, R.M., Bradley, R.S., Balascio, N.L., Finkelstein, D.B. (2012) Climate impacts on human settlement and agricultural activities in northern Norway: new insights from biogeochemistry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109: 20332-20337.
D’Andrea, W.J., *Vaillencourt, D.A., Balascio, N.L., Werner, A., Roof, S.R., Retelle, M., Bradley, R.S. (2012) Mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented recent warmth in an 1800 year lake sediment record from Svalbard. Geology 40: 1007-1010.
Balascio, N.L., Bradley, R.S. (2012) Evaluating Holocene climate change in northern Norway using sediment records from two contrasting lake systems. Journal of Paleolimnology 48: 259-273.
Aarnes, I., Bjune, A., Birks, H.H., Balascio, N.L., Bakke, J., Blaauw, M. (2012) Vegetation responses to rapid climatic changes during the last deglaciation 13 500 – 8000 years ago on southwest Andøya, arctic Norway. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 21: 17-35.
Balascio, N.L., Zhang, Z., Bradley, R.S., Perren, B., Dahl, S.O., Bakke, J. (2011) A multi-proxy approach to assessing isolation basin stratigraphy from the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Quaternary Research 75: 288-300.
Balascio, N.L., Wickler, S., Narmo, L.E., Bradley, R.S. (2011) Distal cryptotephra found in a Viking boathouse: the potential for tephrochronology in reconstructing the Iron Age in Norway. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 934-941.
Kuehn, S.C., Froese, D.G., Shane, P.A.R., INTAV Intercomparison Participants (including Balascio, N. L.) (2011) The INTAV intercomparison of electron-beam microanalysis of glass by tephrochronology laboratories: Results and recommendations. Quaternary International 246: 19-47.
Balascio, N.L., Kaufman, D.S., Manley, W.F. (2005) Equilibrium-line altitudes during the last glacial maximum across the Brooks Range, Alaska. Journal of Quaternary Science 20: 821-838.
Balascio, N.L., Kaufman, D.S., Briner, J.P., Manley, W.F. (2005) Late Pleistocene glacial geology of the Okpilak-Kongakut Rivers region, northeastern Brooks Range, Alaska. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 37: 416-424.