Adi Torfstein
Lamont Assistant Research Professor
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University
61 Rt. 9W, Palisades
NY 10964-1000 USA
Phone: 845-365-8918
adi.torf@ldeo.columbia.edu
Education
Ph.D., Geology, August 2008
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Dissertation title: “Brine-freshwater interplay and effects on the evolution of saline
lakes: the Dead Sea Rift terminal lakes”. Advisors: Prof. Yehoshua Kolodny, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Dr. Mordechai Stein, Geological Survey of Israel.
M.S., Geology
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Advisors: Prof. Amitai Katz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dr. Mordechai Stein,
Geological Survey of Israel, Dr. Ittai Gavrieli, Geological Survey of Israel
B.Sc., Geology, 2002
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Research and
Experience
Lamont Assistant Research Professor
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University, NY
June 2011 – present
Studying quantitative constraints on fluxes in sedimentary environments with applications in the fields of paleoclimate, paleoceanography, geochemistry and geochronology.
Focus on the development of the U-decay series ”Comminution Dating” method.
Current and upcoming projects:
• Provenance studies of Weddell Sea sediments and reconstruction of iceberg discharge fluxes from Antarctica using U-decay series
• The interplay between climate change, continental weathering, and ocean chemistry from 234 U-238 U disequilibrium in continental and marine sediments and water
in the Gulf of Aqaba
• Helium isotopes in interplanetary dust particles as paleo-oceanographic and sediment flux proxies
•
231 Pa-235 U
and
230 Th-234 U
dating systematics in lake sediments
• Geochemical and limnological history of the Quaternary Dead Sea basin lacustrine
bodies, dust records and provenance of clastic sediments from the Dead Sea region
from Pb-Nd-Sr-Hf isotopes and minor and trace chemistry
Postdoctoral research scientist
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University, NY
September 2008 – June 2011
Graduate student
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
2004 – 2008
Studied the geochemical-limnological evolution of the late Quaternary Dead Sea basin
lakes. Focus on S, O and C isotopes, as well as Sr and Pb isotopes and major and trace
chemistry, for the reconstruction of the geochemical-hydrological evolution of Lake Lisan
and the Dead Sea. Studied the chronology of Lake Amora and Lake Lisan using U-series
dating and oxygen isotope stratigraphy.
Visiting student
Max-Planck Institut fur Chemie,
Department of Geochemistry
Mainz, Germany
Summer 2006
Visiting student
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University
November-December 2003
Research assistant
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
2002
Deep-water sampling in Gulf of Eilat during cruises, sample preparation, Radon analyses.
Research assistant
Geological Survey of Israel
Jerusalem, Israel
2001-2002
Sample preparation and chemical separation, operation of XRD, pollen separation and
extraction, and general technical assistance for the project: ”Evidence for a fungal event,
methane-hydrate release and soil erosion at the Permian-Triassic boundary in southern
Israel”.
Teaching and
advising
Committee member, Will Jacobson (PhD, Columbia University) 2012-present
Mentor of undergraduate students in LDEO radiogenic isotope group, 2011-2012
Advisor for LDEO summer internship program, 2009 (1 student), 2010 (2 students)
Guest speaker (2009, 2011, Columbia University):
Introduction to terrestrial paleoclimate
Teaching assistant (2004-2008, Hebrew University):
Introduction to geochemistry
Introduction to geochemical methods (lab)
Negev field trip for undergraduate students
Introduction to geology for geography students
Teaching assistant (2006, Israel Maritime College):
Field trip to Negev
Honors and
Awards
Hebrew University Bentor award for excellence in research, Autumn 2010
Sussman postdoctoral award of the Sussman Center for Environmental Sciences at the
Weizmann Institute of Science, Spring 2008
Postdoctoral scholar fellowship at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Spring 2008
(I declined)
Postdoctoral associate fellowship at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, Spring 2008 (I declined)
Israel Geological Society Peretz-Grader award for excellence in research, 2007
International limnogeology congress travel grant, Summer 2007
Hebrew University scholarship for freshman studies, 1999-2000
Proposals and
Grants
”Lessons from Life in the Dead Sea: Development of a 200,000-year record of Levant
climate from biomarkers in the DSDDP drill core”, PIs- Tierney and Torfstein,
NSF, pending.
”Deglacial ice dynamics in the Weddell Sea embayment using sediment provenance”,
PIs- Williams, Hemming, Licht, Brachfeld and Torfstein, NSF, pending.
”Calibration and integration of leaf wax δD and siliciclastic Sr-Nd isotopic compositions
in the Dead Sea”, PIs- Torfstein and Tierney, Climate Center, 2012-2013.
”A study of 234 U/238 U disequilibrium and comminution dating boundary conditions
along the Antarctic Peninsula”, PIs- Torfstein and Johnson (British Antarctic
Survey), Climate Center, 2011-2012.
Made substantial contributions to the proposal: ”The interplay between climate change,
continental weathering, and ocean chemistry from 234 U-238 U comminution dating
of sediments in the Gulf of Aqaba”, PIs- McManus and Kolodny, USA-Israel Binational Science Foundation, 2012-2015.
”U-series Disequilibrium in Weddell Sea Sediments: Rates of Iceberg Discharge and
Impact on Global Oceans”, PIs- Torfstein and McManus, NSF, 2010-2011.
”Towards an improved age resolution of lake records: Protactinium-231 dating of the
Lisan Formation, the Dead Sea Basin”, Comer Science and education foundation,
2010-2011.
Community
service
Assistant coordinator, LDEO summer internship program, 2010
LDEO Geochemistry seminar coordinator, 2009-2010
Manuscript reviews: Chemical Geology, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Global
and Planetary Change, Geology, Quaternary Research, Quaternary Science Reviews, Journal of Quaternary Science, and others.
Proposal reviews: German-Israeli Foundation (GIF) for scientific research and development
Volunteer at Lamont-Doherty annual open house 2008, 2012
Treasurer and member of organizing committee of Israel Geological Society, 2005-2006
Field Work
Participation in the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) campaign in
the Dead Sea, November 2010
Estancia Basin, New Mexico, March 2009
Dead Sea basin, 2003-present
Adi Torfstein
Journal
Publications
Torfstein A., Hammerschmidt K., Friedriechsen H., Starinsky A. and Kolodny Y., Helium isotopes in the Dead Sea Transform waters. Chemical Geology, in review.
Torfstein A., Goldstein S.L., Stein M. and Enzel Y. (in press) Impacts of Abrupt Climate
Changes in the Levant from last glacial Dead Sea levels. Quaternary Science Review.
Torfstein A., Goldstein S.L., Kagan E. and Stein M. (2013) Integrated multi-site U-Th
chronology of the last glacial Lake Lisan. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 104, p.
210-231.
Torfstein A. (2012) Size fractionation Reproducibility and Provenance of Helium Isotopes in North-Equatorial Pacific Pelagic Clays. Earth and Planetary Science Letters
339-340, p. 151-163.
Torfstein A., Winckler G. and Tripati A. (2010) Productivity feedback did not terminate
the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Climate of the Past 6, p. 265-272.
Waldmann N., Torfstein A. and Stein M. (2010) Northward migration of monsoon activity across the Saharo-Arabian desert belt during the last interglacial: evidence from
the Levant. Geology 38, p. 567-570.
Stein M., Torfstein A., Gavrieli I. and Yechieli Y. (2010) Abrupt aridities and salt
deposition in the post-glacial Dead Sea and their North Atlantic connection. Quaternary
Science Review 29, p. 567-575.
Torfstein A., Hasse-Schramm A., Waldmann N., Kolodny Y. and Stein M. (2009) Useries and oxygen isotope chronology of the mid-Pleistocene Lake Amora (Dead Sea
basin). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73, p. 2603-2630.
Torfstein A., Gavrieli I., Katz A., Kolodny Y. and Stein M. (2008) Gypsum as a monitor of the paleo- limnological-hydrological conditions in Lake Lisan and the Dead Sea.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72, p. 2491-2509.
Torfstein A., Gavrieli I. and Stein M. (2005) The sources and evolution of sulfur in the
hypersaline Lake Lisan (paleo-Dead Sea). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 236, p.
61-77.
In preparation:
Torfstein A., Goldstein S.L., Stein M. and the DSDDP group, The catastrophic drydown of the Dead Sea during the last interglacial. (in preparation).
Torfstein A. (in preparation for Computers and Geosciences) Uranium Series Data reduction and Calculation (USDAC): a Matlab program for the treatment of dirty carbonate dating.
Miscellaneous
publications
Torfstein A. (2012) The history of the ancient Dead Sea lakes, Melakh Haaretz, special
series dedicated to Dead Sea studies (In Hebrew).
Torfstein A. (2008) Brine freshwater interplay and effects on the evolution of saline lakes:
The Dead Sea Rift terminal lakes, Geological Survey of Israel. Report GSI/20/2008.
Torfstein A., Kagen E., Stein M. and Agnon A. (2007) Paleo-seismology and paleolimnology in the Dead Sea Basin during the Quaternary: new studies of the Amora,
Lisan and Ze’elim Formations, Annual Meeting, Israel Geological Society, Neve Zohar,
Field trip guide, p. 105-132 (In Hebrew).
Torfstein A. (2007) Lakes of the Dead Sea Rift: The history books of nature (part II),
Teva Hadvarim, p. 100-101 (In Hebrew).
Conference
Abstracts and
presentations
Torfstein A. and McManus J. (2012) Temporal variations in the strength of the Antarctic
coastal current from the provenance and comminution ages of Weddell Sea sediments,
AGU meeting.
Goldstein S.L., Stein M., Ben-Avraham Z., Agnon A., Ariztegui D., Brauer A., Haug
G.H., Ito E., Kitagawa H., Torfstein A. (2012) The ICDP Dead Sea deep drill cores:
records of climate change and tectonics in the Levant, AGU meeting.
Duchesne A.E., Pierce E., Williams T., Hemming S., Johnson D., May T., Gombiner
J. and Torfstein A. (2012) K/Ar Dating of Fine Grained Sediments Near Prydz Bay,
Antarctica: East Antarctic Ice Sheet Behavior During the Middle-Miocene Climate
Transition, AGU meeting.
Johnson D., Pierce E., Williams T., Hemming S., van de Fliert T., Roy M., Torfstein
A. and Gombiner J. (2012) Argon Concentrations of Fine-Grained Marine Sediments
near Wilkes Land, Antarctica: Source Characterization and Implications for Ice Sheet
Behavior during the Middle Miocene, AGU meeting.
Wright M., Hemming S., Barbeau D., Torfstein A., Pierce E., Williams T., McManus
J. and Gombiner J. (2012) Characterizing Cretaceous Glaciation Events: K-Ar Ages of
Southern Ocean Sediments, AGU meeting.
Torfstein A., McManus J. and Hemming S. (2012) Provenance, weathering and comminution ages of late Quaternary Weddell Sea sediments, Goldschmidt meeting.
Torfstein A., Goldstein S.L., Stein M. and Enzel Y. (2012) Abrupt changes in Levant
precipitation during the last glacial from Dead Sea lake levels, EGU meeting.
Goldstein S.L., Stein M., Ben-Avraham Z., Agnon A., Ariztegui D., Brauer A., Haug G.,
Ito E., Kitagawa H., Torfstein A. and Yasuda Y. (2012) Extreme Dead Sea drying event
during the last interglacial from the ICDP Dead Sea Deep Drill Core, EGU meeting.
Goldstein S.L., Stein M., Ben-Avraham Z., Agnon A., Ariztegui D., Brauer A., Haug
G.H., Ito E., Kitagawa H., Torfstein A. and Yasuda Y. (2011) Extreme drying event
in the Dead Sea basin during MIS5 from the ICDP Dead Sea Deep Drill Core, AGU
meeting.
Torfstein A., Goldstein S.L. and Stein M. (2011) Provenance and grain size effects of
siliciclastic sediments in the Dead Sea basin from Pb-Sr-Nd isotopes and trace chemistry,
Goldschmidt meeting.
Torfstein A., Waldmann N. and Stein M. (2009) Northward migration of tropical storms
via the Saharo-Arabian desert belt during past interglacials, AGU meeting.
Torfstein A. and Winckler G. (2009) Extraterrestrial 3 He in terrigenous environments:
a reconnaissance study, Comer Science and Education Foundation annual meeting.
Torfstein A., Stein M., Gavrieli I. and Yechieli Y. (2009) Dry-spells in the Levant During
the Last Deglaciation Identified by Dead Sea Lake Levels, Chapman AGU abrupt climate
change meeting.
Torfstein A., Haase-Schramm A., Waldmann N., Kolodny Y. and Stein M. (2007) U-Th,
δ 18 O and paleomagnetic dating of a mid-Pleistocene lacustrine sequence: The Amora
Formation, Mount Sedom, Israel, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71, p. A1031.
Torfstein A., Haase-Schramm A., Waldmann N., Kolodny Y. and Stein M. (2007)
Chronostratigraphy of a ∼700 ka old lacustrine sequence: A multi tool dating of the
mid-Pleistocene Amora Formation, Mount Sedom, Israel, 4’th International limnogeology congress, Barcelona, Spain.
Torfstein A., Gavrieli I., Katz A., Kolodny Y. and Stein M. (2007) Brine exchange
between Dead Sea rift lakes and surrounding rocks: Evidence from sulfur mass balance
and isotopic compositions in lake sediments, Annual Meeting, Israel Geological Society,
Neve Zohar.
Torfstein A., Waldmann N., Kolodny Y., Gavrieli I. and Stein, M. (2006) U-Th and δ 18 O
chronology of the Amora Formation, Mount Sedom, Annual Meeting, Israel Geological
Society, Bet-Shean.
Torfstein A., Katz A., Gavrieli I., Stein M. and Kolodny Y. (2005) Sulfur in the hypersaline Lake Lisan (Paleo- Dead Sea), First Kaplan workshop on environmental geochemistry, Hagoshrim, Israel.
Torfstein A., Katz A., Gavrieli I. and Stein M. (2005) Mass balance constraints on
gypsum deposition in Lake Lisan, Annual Meeting, Israel Geological Society, Mashabim.
Torfstein A., Gavrieli I., Goldstein S.L., Katz A., Haase-Schramm A. and Stein M.
(2004) Brine-freshwater interaction and redox conditions in Lake Lisan during MIS2,
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 68, p. A495.
Torfstein A., Gavrieli I., Katz A., Goldstein S., Haase-Schramm A. and Stein, M. (2004)
The limnological history of Lake Lisan: Inferences from δ 34 S, U and Ce* data, Annual
Meeting, Israel Geological Society, Hagoshrim.
Torfstein A., Gavrieli I. and Stein, M. (2003) δ 34 S in gypsum as a limnological tracer of
Lake Lisan, Annual Meeting, Israel Geological Society, Ein Boqeq.
Select Talks
and Seminars
(2012) Comminution dating and provenance of terrigenous material in the Weddell Sea,
Antartica, Inter-University Institute, Eilat (INVITED)
(2012) Provenance, weathering and comminution ages of late Quaternary Weddell Sea
sediments, British Antarctic Survey
(2012) Impacts of abrupt climate change in the Levant from last glacial Dead Sea levels,
Cambridge University (INVITED)
(2011) The Dead Sea lacustrine record as a dust archive, Comer Science and Education
Foundation annual meeting (INVITED)
(2010) An integrated basin-wide chronology revealing abrupt millennial-scale oscillations
of Lake Lisan, Comer Science and Education Foundation annual meeting (INVITED)
(2010) Extra-terrestrial 3 He as a flux proxy in sedimentary environments, Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute (INVITED)
(2010) Helium isotopes as a extra-terrestrial, sedimentary and hydrological flux proxy,
Geological Survey of Israel and Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(2010) The chronology and limnological history of Lake Amora, the Dead Sea Basin,
Interuniversity Institute of Eilat, Israel (INVITED)
(2009) A record of abrupt humid episodes during dry interglacials: the Dead Sea basin
lakes, Comer Science and Education Foundation annual meeting (INVITED)
(2009) Extra-terrestrial 3 He: new applications in Paleoceanography, Weizmann Institute
of Science
(2008) Combined U-series and oxygen isotope chronology of a mid-Pleistocene lacustrine sequence: the Amora Formation, Dead Sea basin, Israel, Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory
(2008) The chronology and limnological history of Lake Amora, the Dead Sea Basin,
Weizmann Institute of Science
(2007) The sources and evolution of sulfur in the late Quaternary Dead Sea basin hypersaline lakes, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University
(2007) The Mystery Interval (17-14 ka) and cycles of gypsum deposition in the late
Pleistocene Dead Sea basin lacustrine bodies, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory