Michael J. Soreghan

James Roy Maxey Professor
Professor of Geosciences

Mike Soreghan's Faculty Page

Sedimentary and Environmental Geology

My research centers on the controls on, and the impacts of, sedimentation in continental settings. Presently, the research I do falls within three different themes:  1) Documenting recent and Quaternary sedimentation in African lakes and its impacts on biologic and human systems, 2) tectonic evolution and watershed and river morphology variation within rift systems, and 3) Interpreting long-term climatic signals from late Paleozoic eolian and lacustrine strata. Please visit the link below (personal web page) to read about specific research projects and how students can be involved. My main research methods lie in field-oriented data collection, however, I employ geochemistry, computer imaging, GIS analysis and modeling to supplement the field data. My research has mainly been funded by the National Science Foundation, however, work in East Africa has also been supported by the National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy.

Historical Geology (undergrad)

The Geology of Oklahoma undergrad)

Earth, Sustainability and the Economy (Honors—occasional)

Natural Resources of Africa (undergrad)

The Earth System (undergrad)

Sedimentation and Tectonics (grad)

Interpreting Past Continental Environments (grad)

Kushner, B., Soreghan, G. S., Soreghan, M. J., 2022, Late Paleozoic cratonal sink: Distally sourced sediment filled the Anadarko Basin (USA) from multiple source regions. Geosphere, v. 18, p. 1831-1850. 

Kolawole, F., Firkin, M., Thuwaiba, A. W., Atekwana, E., Soreghan, M. J., 2021, Rift Transfer Zones and the Stages of Rift Linkage in Active Segmented Continental Rift Systems. Basin Research, v. 33, p. 2984-3020. 

Ryan, E. K., Soreghan, M. J., Mcglue, M. M., Todd, J. A., Michel, E., Kaufman, D. S., Kimirei, I., 2020, Paleoenvironmental implications of time-averaging and taphonomic variation of shell beds in Lake Tanganyika, Africa. Palios, v. 35, p. 49-66.

McGlue, M. M., Ivory, S. J., Stone, J. R., Cohen, A. S., Kamulali, T. M., Latimer, J. C., Brannon, M. A., Kimirei, I. A., Soreghan, M. J., 2020, Solar irradiance and ENSO affect food security in Lake Tanganyika, a major African inland fishery. Science Advances, v. 6(41). 10.1126/sciadv.abb2191. 

Gravina, A., Soreghan, M. J., Bogan, M. T., Busch, J., McGlue, M., McIntyre, P., Kimirei, I., Cohen, A., 2020,  Relationship of sediment influx to ostracode populations on the variably deforested Luiche and Mahale platform coasts of Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. Journal of Great Lakes Research, v. 46(5), p. 1207-1220. 

Soreghan, G. S., Soreghan, M. J., Heavens, N., 2019, Explosive volcanism as a key driver of the late Paleozoic ice age. Geology, v. 47, p. 600-604.

Busch, J., Soreghan, M. J., de Beurs, K. M., McGlue, M., Kimirel, I., Cohen, A., Ryan, E., 2018, Linking watershed disturbance with nearshore sedimentation and the shell beds of Lake Tanganyika (Mahale Mountains, Tanzania). Environmental Earth Sciences, v. 77, p. 514-534. 

Soreghan, M. J., Swift, M. M., Soreghan, G. S., 2018, Provenance of Permian eolian and related strata in the North American midcontinent: Tectonic and climatic controls on sediment dispersal in western tropical Pangea. Geological Society of America Special Paper, v. 540, 27pp. 

Soreghan, M.J., 2016, Modern sedimentation on a littoral, shell-rich platform of Lake Tanganyika (Kigoma, TZ) and its potential impacts on benthic habitats and endemic fauna.. Journal of Environmental Earth Sciences, v. 75, 13 p.  

Evans, J. and Soreghan, M.J., 2015, Long-distance sediment transport and episodic re-sedimentation of Pennsylvanian dust (eolian silt) in cave passages of the Mississippian Leadville Limestone, southwestern Colorado, U.S.A. in J. Feinberg and Y. Gao (eds.), Caves and Karst Across Time, Geological Society of America, Special Paper 516, p. 263-284.

Soreghan, M.J., Heavens, N., Link, P.K., Hamilton, M.A. and Soreghan, G.S., 2014,  Abrupt and high-magnitude changes in atmospheric circulation recorded in the Permian Maroon Formation, tropical Pangaea, Geological Society of America.

Giles, J.A., Soreghan M.J., Benison, K.C., Soreghan, G.S., Hasiotis, S.T., 2013, Lakes, loess, and paleosols in the Permian Wellington Formation of Oklahoma, U.S.A.: Implications for paleoclimate and paleogeography of the midcontinent, Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 83, p. 825-846.

Soreghan, G.S., and Soreghan, M.J., 2013, Tracing clastic delivery to the Permian Delaware Basin, U.S.A.: Implications for paleogeography and circulation in westernmost equatorial Pangaea, Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 83, p. 786-802.

Burnett, A.P., Soreghan, M.J., Scholz, C.A., Brown, E.T., 2011 Tropical East African climate change and its relation to global climate: A record from Lake Tanganyika, Tropical East Africa, over the past 90+ kyr, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 303, p. 155-167.

McGlue, M.M., Soreghan, M.J., Michel, E., Todd, J.A., Cohen, A.S. Mischler, J. O’Connell, C.S., Casteñeda, O.S., Hartwell, R.J., Lezzar, K.E., Nkotagu, H.H., 2010, Environmental controls on shell-rich facies in tropical lacustrine rifts: A view from Lake Tanganyika’s littoral, Palaios, v. 25, p. 426-438.

Soreghan, M.J., Soreghan, G.S., and Hamilton, M.A., 2008, Glacial-interglacial shifts in atmospheric circulation of western tropical Pangaea, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 268, p. 260-272.

Soreghan, M.J. and Soreghan, G.S., 2007, Whole-rock geochemistry of upper Paleozoic loessite, western Pangaea:  Implications for paleo-atmospheric circulation, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 255, p. 117-132.