David Evans (Yale professor)

David Evans
Born	7 April 1970 (1970-04-07) (age 41)[citation needed] Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Nationality	American, Australian
Fields	Paleomagnetism, Supercontinents
Institutions	Yale University
Alma mater	Yale College, California Institute of Technology
Known for	Geology

David Evans is a professor of geology and geophysics at Yale University. He works on quantitative reconstruction of supercontinents. He is involved in the Snowball Earth theory of Precambrian ice ages by demonstrating that the magnetic latitudes of ancient ice deposits were tropical.

Biography

Evans was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second child of a lawyer and a homemaker. He attended Nicolet High School in Milwaukee. He received his undergraduate degree in geology and geophysics from Yale College in 1992. He completed his graduate work at the California Institute of Technology. He is married to Lely Dai Evans, with children Corinne (born 2002) and Jamie (born 2003).

Career

Using paleomagnetism of rocks from South Africa, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Russia and China, Evans has worked to reassemble the configuration of supercontinents that preceded Pangea. He was a member of drilling projects of the Kaapvaal craton with the Agouron institute for geobiology, and a member of the scientific team to develop a large igneous province global "barcode" record of plume magmatism on Earth. He has also contributed primary data demonstrating that ancient ice ages had continental ice sheets reaching tropical latitudes, which has been incorporated into the Snowball Earth theory of the planet's long term paleoclimate. Evans is involved with the latest efforts at reconstructing the history of supercontinents on Earth through the last three billion years. He is the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University; and the current coordinator of field student expeditions to locations including Norway, Queensland, Australia, British Columbia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as undergraduate excursions to Sicily and Barbados. He has spent sabbatical leaves in Taiwan and Australia, where he studied modern and ancient mountain building processes. Evans is a 2002 honoree of the Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, and a finalist for the Blavatnik Awards for young scientists.

Interests

Evans musical interests include Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten, Ludwig van Beethoven, Public Enemy, and Claude Debussy. He is known to colleagues and students as 'Majestic D,' his alter ego who infuses hip hop culture with educational geology themes. He is fluent in German and proficient in Chinese.

Advisees

• Timothy Raub
• Theresa Raub (née Daniels)
• Eben Rose
• Daniel Peppe
• Ross Mitchell
• Taylor Kilian
• Joseph Panzik
• Erik Sperling (Advisory committee)
• Jakob Vinther (Advisory committee)
• Simon Darroch (Advisory committee)

Selected bibliography

• Evans, D A; Beukes, N J; Kirschvink, J L (1997), "Low-latitude glaciation in the Palaeoproterozoic era", Nature 386: 262–266, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v386/n6622/abs/386262a0.html 

• Evans, D A (1998), "True polar wander, a supercontinental legacy.", Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 157: 1–8, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V61-3T2G46J-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F15%2F1998&_rdoc=2&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_origin=browse&_zone=rslt_list_item&_srch=doc-info%28%23toc%235801%231998%23998429998%2314718%23FLP%23display%23Volume%29&_cdi=5801&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=10&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9aa45bac3761d2bf7409ceedd9a351e6&searchtype=a 

• Evans, D A D (2000), "Stratigraphic, geochronological, and paleomagnetic constraints upon the Neoproterozoic climatic paradox.", Am. J. Sci. 300: 347–433, http://ajsonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/300/5/347 

• Evans, D A D (2003), "A fundamental Precambrian-Phanerozoic shift in Earth's glacial style?", Tectonophysics 375: 353–385, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V72-49MF1H9-3&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F06%2F2003&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1681887982&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=28794a7d8b627f34c4b09cbe52aacbf7&searchtype=a 

• Evans, D A D (2003), "True polar wander and supercontinents.", Tectonophysics 362: 303–320, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V72-47CXG15-1&_user=10&_coverDate=02%2F06%2F2003&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1681874681&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=da520f35d9419fb12e9328e33257ca5c&searchtype=a 

• Evans, D A D (2006), "Proterozoic low orbital obliquity and axial-dipolar geomagnetic field from evaporite palaeolatitudes.", Nature 444: 51–55, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7115/abs/nature05203.html 

• Evans, D A D (2009), "The palaeomagnetically viable, long-lived and all-inclusive Rodinia reconstruction.", Geol. Soc. London Spec. Paper 327: 371–404, http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/327/1/371.short 

See also

• Snowball Earth
• Supercontinents

References

External links

• [1] Yale University faculty page
• [2] Packard Fellowship summary

Persondata
Name	Evans, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	7 April 1970
Place of birth	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Date of death
Place of death