David William Leverington, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Geosciences

I conduct research regarding surface processes and landforms, as well as the use of remote sensing and GIS techniques in the study of surface environments.

Graduate student projects are available in areas including the following: 1) hyperspectral imaging of surface cover; 2) ground-based laser scanning of landforms for quantification of rates of surface processes; 3) GIS-based reconstruction of deglacial landscapes; and 4) planetary studies.

Courses taught in the Department of Geosciences:

1) GEOL 1303: Introduction to Physical Geology
2) GEOL 3301: Geomorphology
3) GEOL 5001: Problems in the Geosciences
4) GEOL 5428/3428: GIS in Natural Science and Engineering
5) GEOL 5341/4331: Digital Imagery in the Geosciences


CAREER AND EDUCATION

2005-pres.
Assistant Professor (tenure track), Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.

2001-2005.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

2001-2001.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

1996-2001
Ph.D., Geological Sciences, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

1993-1995
M.Sc., Earth Science, Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

1988-1992
B.A. (Hon.), Physical Geography, (Magna Cum Laude), Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.



JOURNAL AND CHAPTER CONTRIBUTIONS

Leverington, D.W., (in press), Discrimination of sedimentary lithologies using Hyperion and Landsat TM data: A case study at Melville Island, Canadian High Arctic, International Journal of Remote Sensing.

Leverington, D.W., 2009, Reconciling channel formation mechanisms with the nature of elevated outflow systems at Ophir and Aurorae Plana, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research, 114: E10005, doi:10.1029/2009JE003398.

Leverington, D.W., 2007, Was the Mangala Valles system incised by volcanic flows?, Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, E11005, doi:10.1029/2007JE002896.

Thompson, T.W., Campbell, B.A., Ghent, R.R., Hawke, B.R., Leverington, D.W., 2006, Radar probing of planetary regoliths: An example from the northern rim of Imbrium Basin, Journal of Geophysical Research, 111: E06S14, doi:10.1029/2005JE002566.

Leverington, D.W., 2006, Volcanic processes as alternative mechanisms of landform development at a candidate crater-lake site near Tyrrhena Patera, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, E11002, doi:10.1029/2004JE002382.

Duguay, C.R., Zhang, T., Leverington, D.W., Romanovsky, V.E., 2005, Satellite remote sensing of permafrost and seasonally frozen ground, In Remote Sensing in Northern Hydrology: Measuring Environmental Change (C.R. Duguay and A. Pietroniro, Eds), Geophysical Monograph 163, American Geophysical Union, pp.91-118.

Leverington, D.W., Moon, W.M., 2005, On the use of consensus algorithms to address variability in the results of neural network classifications: Preliminary tests involving two northern study areas, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 31: 269-273.

Clarke, G.K.C., Leverington, D.W., Teller, J.T., Dyke, A.S., Marshall, S.J., 2005, Fresh arguments against the Shaw megaflood hypothesis - A reply to comments by David Sharpe, Correspondence, Quaternary Science Reviews, 24: 1533-1541.

Ghent, R.R., Leverington, D.W., Campbell, B.A., Hawke, B.R., Campbell, D.B., 2005, Earth-based observations of radar-dark crater haloes on the Moon: Implications for regolith properties, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110: E02005, doi:10.1029/2004JE002366.

Leverington, D.W., 2004. Volcanic rilles, streamlined islands, and the origin of outflow channels on Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research, 109: E10011, doi:10.1029/2004JE002311.

Leverington, D.W., Maxwell, T.A., 2004. An igneous origin for features of a candidate crater-lake system in western Memnonia, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research, 109: E06006, doi:10.1029/2004JE002237.

Teller, J.T., Leverington, D.W., 2004. Glacial Lake Agassiz: A 5000-year history of change and its relationship to the delta 18O record of Greenland, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 116: 729-742.

Leverington, D.W., Ghent, R.R., 2004. Differential subsidence and rebound in response to changes in water loading on Mars: Possible effects on the geometry of ancient shorelines, Journal of Geophysical Research, 109: E01005, doi:10.1029/2003JE002141.

Clarke, G.K.C., Leverington, D.W., Teller, J.T., Dyke, A.S., 2004. Paleohydraulics of the last outburst flood from glacial Lake Agassiz and the 8200 BP cold event, Quaternary Science Reviews, 23: 389-407.

Leverington, D.W., Teller, J.T., 2003. Paleotopographic reconstructions of the eastern outlets of glacial Lake Agassiz, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 40: 1259-1278.

Clarke, G.K.C., Leverington, D.W., Teller, J.T., Dyke, A.S., 2003. Superlakes, megafloods, and abrupt climate change, invited 'Perspectives' article, Science, 301: 922-923.

Irwin, R.P., Maxwell, T.A., Howard, A.D., Craddock, R.A., Leverington, D.W., 2002. A large paleolake basin at the head of Ma'adim Vallis, Mars, Science, 296: 2209-2212.

Leverington, D.W., Mann, J.D., Teller, J.T., 2002. Changes in the bathymetry and volume of glacial Lake Agassiz between 9200 and 7600 14C yr B.P., Quaternary Research, 57: 244-252.

Teller, J.T., Leverington, D.W., Mann, J.D., 2002. Freshwater outbursts to the oceans from glacial Lake Agassiz and global change during the last deglaciation, Quaternary Science Reviews, 21: 879-887.

Leverington, D.W., Teller, J.T., Mann, J.D., 2002. A GIS method for reconstruction of Late Quaternary landscapes from isobase data and modern topography, Computers and Geosciences, 28: 631-639.

Leverington, D.W., Mann, J.D., Teller, J.T., 2000. Changes in the bathymetry and volume of glacial Lake Agassiz between 11,000 and 9300 14C yr B.P., Quaternary Research, 54: 174-181.

Mann, J.D., Leverington, D.W., Rayburn, J.A., Teller, J.T., 1999. The volume and paleobathymetry of glacial Lake Agassiz, Journal of Paleolimnology, 22: 71-80.

Leverington, D.W., Duguay, C.R., 1997. A neural network method to determine the presence or absence of permafrost near Mayo, Yukon Territory, Canada, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 8: 205-215.

Leverington, D.W., Duguay, C.R., 1996. Evaluation of three supervised classifiers in mapping 'depth to late-summer frozen ground', central Yukon Territory, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 22: 163-174.

Leverington, D.W., 1995. A field survey of 'late-summer depths to frozen ground' at two study areas near Mayo, Y.T., Canada, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 6: 373-379.



SELECTED RECENT CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTIONS

Leverington, D.W., 2009, Mapping surface cover using EO-1 Hyperion data: Ongoing studies in arid environments, 17th International Conference on Geoinformatics, Fairfax, Virginia, August. [extended abstract]

Leverington, D.W., 2009, Potential implications of a common origin for outflow systems on Venus, Mars, and the Moon, International Conference on Comparative Planetology, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, May. [abstract]

Lodge, J., Leverington, D.W., Holterhoff, P., 2009. Classifying digital imagery of modern isolated carbonate platforms for facies conditioning of reservoir models: Alacran Reef, Gulf of Mexico, American Association of Petroleum Geologists - Southwest Section Meeting, Midland, Texas, April. [abstract]

Leverington, D.W., 2009. Reconciling channel formation processes with the nature of elevated Hesperian outflow systems at Valles Marineris, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Abstract 1469, Houston, Texas, March.

Leverington, D.W., 2008. Discrimination of sedimentary lithologies through unmixing of EO-1 Hyperion data: Melville Island, Canadian High Arctic, Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, California, December.

Leverington, D.W., 2008. Discrimination of geological end members using Hyperion imagery: Preliminary results, Big Bend National Park, Texas, IEEE International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium, Boston, Massachusetts, July.

Leverington, D.W., 2008. Channels and basin terraces of the Moon, NLSC Lunar Science Conference, Moffett Field, California, July.

Leverington, D.W., 2007. Was the Mangala Valles system incised by volcanic flows?, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Abstract 1458, Houston, Texas, March.

Leverington, D.W., Matile, G., 2006. Correlation of Lake Agassiz shoreline deposits through reconstruction of late-glacial paleotopography, Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Abstract H53B-0633, San Francisco, California, December.

Leverington, D.W., 2006. Discrimination of surface lithologies on eastern Melville Island, Canadian High Arctic: Ongoing investigations involving TM and Hyperion datasets, 9th Bi-Annual Circumpolar Remote Sensing Symposium, Seward, Alaska, May.

Leverington, D.W., 2005. Evaluation of candidate crater-lake sites on Mars, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Abstract 1522, Houston, Texas, March.

Leverington, D.W., 2004. Volcanic resurfacing as an alternative mechanism for formation of Martian crater lake features, American Geophysical Union Annual Spring Meeting, Abstract P33D-08, Montreal, Quebec, May.

Leverington, D.W., Maxwell, T.A., 2004. A critical evaluation of crater lake systems in Memnonia Quadrangle, Mars, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Abstract 1439, Houston, Texas, March.

Ghent, R.R., Leverington, D.W., Campbell, B.A., Hawke, B.R., Campbell, D.B., 2004. Properties of lunar crater ejecta from new 70-cm radar observations, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Abstract 1679, Houston, Texas, March.

Leverington, D.W., Teller, J.T., 2003. Catastrophic floods through the eastern outlets of glacial Lake Agassiz: Drainage routes and event magnitudes, Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Abstract H52A-1180, San Francisco, California, December.

Leverington, D.W., 2003. Preliminary results from a survey of candidate permafrost and periglacial features on Mars, Third International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration, Abstract 8013, Lake Louise, Alberta, October.

Leverington, D.W., 2002. Empirical determinations of the extent and form of ice-proximal water bodies in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago during the last deglaciation, American Geophysical Union Annual Spring Meeting, Abstract U42A-13, Washington, DC, May.



A random set of field photographs is given here.

Basic background information related to selected ongoing research projects is given below:
Introduction to Feedforward Backpropagation Neural Network Classifiers
Brief Overview of Reflectance Spectroscopy and Hyperspectral Imaging
GIS-Based Techniques for Reconstruction of Quaternary Landscapes
Outflow Channels of the Inner Solar System

Returning to base camp along the shore of Tingmisut Lake, Melville Island, Canadian High Arctic
(photo by Ian Fieldhouse)