Dr. Peter P. Flaig
Google Scholar profile
Hidden World
Research Interests
Clastic Sedimentology - Fluvial Sedimentology
Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Continental, Deltaic, Shoreface, and Shallow-Marine Clastic Systems
High-Latitude Clastic Depositional Sequences
Dinosaur-Bearing Clastic Successions and Extinction Events
High-Resolution Imaging (e.g Photography, LiDAR) of Clastic Systems
Paleopedology
Remote Logistics
Education
Ph.D. Geology, 2010, The University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
M.S. Geology, 2005, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
B.S. Geology & Geography Minor, 2002, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Professional History
Research Associate Professor (Present – 2023) Bureau of Economic Geology’s State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) program, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
Affiliate Faculty (Present – 2023) University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department of Geology
Freelance Photographer (Present – 1988)
Research Scientist (2023 – 2019) Bureau of Economic Geology’s STARR program, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
Research Associate (2019 – 2011) Bureau of Economic Geology, STARR & Quantitative Clastics Laboratory, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
Sedimentologist (2011-2010) National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs project OPP/ANT 0944282: Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic analysis of the Beacon Supergroup, Beardmore Glacier Area, Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin
Postdoctoral Fellow (2011 – 2009) Bureau of Economic Geology, Quantitative Clastics Laboratory, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin
Research Assistant (2009 – 2005) Office of Polar Programs Project (OPP 0425636, OPP 0424594): Collaborative Research: An Ancient Arctic Dinosaur Ecosystem from the Late Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation, North Slope, Alaska – A Natural Case Study in a Greenhouse Climate Model, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
Research Assistant (2005 – 2002) Office of Polar Programs Project (OPP 0126146, OPP 0126086): Late Paleozoic-Mesozoic Fauna, Environment, Climate, and Basinal History, Beardmore Glacier Area, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Geosciences, Milwaukee, WI
Peer-Reviewed Manuscripts
Lorente, M.A., Noto, C., and Flaig, P.P., 2025, A glimpse into the Cenomanian palynology of the Arlington Archosaur Site, Texas, USA. Palynology, 49(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2024.2441667.
Noto, C. R., Flaig, P. P., & Lorente, M. A., 2025, Multiproxy synthesis at the Arlington Archosaur Site: New insights into Cretaceous paralic paleoenvironments and regional stratigraphy, Woodbine Group, Texas, USA. Sedimentologika, 3(1), 1–24, https://doi.org/10.57035/journals/sdk.2025.e31.1435.
Jensen, J.L., Flaig, P.P., and Hattori, K.E., 2024, The effects of facies variability and bioturbation intensity on permeability in a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate core from the Upper Strawn Group, Katz Field, Stonewall County, Texas: Geosciences, v. 1, no.12, 339, https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14120339.
Speed, C.M., Sylvester, Z, Durkin, P.R., and Flaig, P.P., 2024, 3D anatomy of a Cretaceous river avulsion, Geology: https://doi.org/10.1130/G52254.1.
Andrzejewski, K., Ludvigson, G., Suarez, M., McCarthy, P., and Flaig, P., 2023, Exploring the deuterium excess of Cretaceous Arctic paleoprecipitation using stable isotope composition of clay minerals from the Prince Creek Formation (Maastrichtian) in northern Alaska, Geosciences, v.13, no. 9, 273; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences13090273.
Sharman, G., Covault, J., Flaig, P.P., Fussee-Durham, P., Larson, T., Shanahan, T., and Shaw, J., 2023, Coastal response to global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology,
111664, 15. p., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111664.
Calle, A.Z., Horton, B.K., Garcia, R., Anderson, R.B., Stockli, D.F., Flaig, P.P., and Long, S.P., 2023, Sediment dispersal and basin evolution during contrasting tectonic regimes along the western Gondwanan margin in the central Andes: Journal of South American Earth Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104286.
Flaig, P.P., Denison, C.N., Ambrose, W.A., and Demchuk, T.D., 2022, Outcrop evidence for variations in channel-floodplain facies and stratal architectures across the Simsboro to Calvert Bluff transition, Wilcox Group, Butler, Texas: GCAGS Journal, v. 11, p. 83–103.
Buntin, R.C.C. II, Hasiotis, S.T., and Flaig, P.P., 2022, Evaluating the ichnofossil Teredolites as an indicator of salinity and paleoenvironment: PALAIOS, v. 37, p. 53–72, http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/palo.2020.074.
Roberts, A.K., Ambrose, W.A., Flaig, P.P., Steel, R.J., and Olariu, C., 2022, Controls on facies variability and distribution during the Pennsylvanian glacial period from the Lower Strawn Group, Fort Worth Basin, TX: The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 106, no. 8, p. 1679–1702, http://doi.org/10.1306/02072221057.
Burnham, B.S., Flaig, P.P., Brice, R., Young, M., and Spagnoio, M., 2022, Rapid sediment re-deposition may limit carbon release during catastrophic thermokarst lake drainage: GSA Today, v. 32, no.5, p. 60–61, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG529GW.1.
Burnham, B.S., Bond, C.E., Flaig, P.P., van der Kolk, D.A., and Hodgetts, D., 2022, Outcrop conservation: Promoting accessibility, inclusivity and reproducibility through digital preservation: The Sedimentary Record, v. 20, p. 5–14, https://doi.org/10.2110/sedred.2022.1.2.
Ludvigson, G.A, Dieffendorf, A.F., Suarez, M.A., Gonzalez, L.A., Corcoran, M.C., Schlanser, K., Flaig, P.P., McCarthy, P.J., van der Kolk, D.A., Houseknecht, D., and Sanders, M., 2022, Stable isotope tracers of Cretaceous Arctic paleoprecipitation: Geosciences, Special Issue - Terrestrial Paleoclimatology and Paleohydrology of the Cretaceous Greenhouse World, v. 12, 143; 1–17 https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12040143.
Sharman, G.R., Stockli, D.F., Flaig, P.P., Raynolds, R.G., Dechesne, M., and Covault, J.A., 2022, Tectonic influence on axial-transverse sediment routing in the Denver Basin, in Craddock, J.P., Malone, D.H., Foreman, B.Z., and Konstantinou, A., eds., Tectonic Evolution of the Sevier-Laramide Hinterland, Thrust Belt, and Foreland, and Postorogenic Slab Rollback (180–20 Ma): Geological Society of America Special Paper 555, p. 293–311, https://doi.org/10.1130/2021.2555(11).
Bonelli, J.R., and Flaig, P.P., 2021, Quantitative biofacies analysis to identify relationships and refine evolutionary controls for paleosol development, Prince Creek Formation, North Slope, Alaska, USA: Geosciences, Special Issue -Terrestrial Paleoclimatology and Paleohydrology of the Cretaceous Greenhouse World, 11, 460; 1–21 https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11110460.
Zhang, J., Flaig, P.P., Wartes, M., Aschoff, J., and Shuster, M., 2021, Integrating stratigraphic forward modelling, inversion analysis, and shelf-margin records to guide provenance analysis: An example from the Cretaceous Colville Basin, Arctic Alaska: Basin Research, v. 33, p. 1954–1966, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bre.1254.
Senger, K., Betlem, P., Birchall, T., Buckley, S.J., Coakley, B.J., Eide, C.H., Flaig, P.P., Forien, M., Galland, O., Gonzaga, L., Jensen, M., Kurz, T., Leconte, I., Mair, K., Malm, R. H., Malm, R.H., Mulrooney, M.J., Naumann, N., Nordmo, I., Nolde, N., Ogata, K., Rabbel, O., Schaff, N.W., and Smyrak-Sikora, A., 2021, Using virtual outcrops to make the high Arctic more accessible through the Svalbox Database: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 69, no. 2, p. 123–137, DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2020.1813865.
Ambrose, W.A., Flaig, P.P., Zhang, J., Olariu, M.I., Denison, C., Demchuk, T., and O’Keefe, J.O., 2020, The Midway to Carrizo succession in the southeastern Texas Gulf Coast: Evolution of a tidally influenced coastline: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Journal, v. 9, p. 41–75.
Chiarenza, A.A., Fiorillo, A.R., Tykoski, R.S., McCarthy, P.J., Flaig, P.P., and Conteras, D.L., 2020, The first juvenile dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from Arctic Alaska: PLoS ONE, v. 15, no. 7, e0235078. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235078.
Flaig, P.P., Hasiotis, S.T., Prather, T.J., and Burton, D., 2019, Characteristics of a Campanian delta deposit controlled by alternating river-floods and tides: The Loyd Sandstone, Rangely Anticline, Colorado, U.S.A.: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 89, p. 1181–1206, https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2019.63.
Sharman, G.R., Stockli, D.F., Flaig, P.P., Raynolds, R.G., and Covault, J.A., 2018, Local-to-distant provenance cyclicity of the southern Front Range, central Colorado: Insights from detrital zircon geochronology, in Ingersoll, R.V., Lawton, T.F., and Graham, S.A., eds., Tectonics, Sedimentary Basins, and Provenance: A Celebration of William R. Dickinson’s Career: Geological Society of America Special Paper 540, p. 547–569, https://doi.org/10.1130/2018.2540(24).
Flaig, P.P., Hasiotis, S.T., and Fiorillo, A.R., 2018, A paleopolar dinosaur track site in the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Prince Creek Formation of Arctic Alaska: Track characteristics and probable trackmakers: Ichnos, v. 25, p. 208–220, http://doi.org/10.1080/10420940.2017.1337011.
Burton, D., Flaig, P.P., and Prather, T.J., 2016, Regional controls on depositional trends in tidally modified deltas: Insights from sequence stratigraphic correlation and mapping of the Loyd and Sego Sandstones, Uinta and Piceance Basins of Utah and Colorado, U.S.A.: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 86, p. 763–785, http://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2016.48.
Flaig, P.P., Hasiotis, S.T., and Jackson, A.M., 2016, An Early Permian, paleopolar, postglacial, river-dominated deltaic succession in the Mackellar–Fairchild formations at Turnabout Ridge, Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 441, no. 2, p. 241–265, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.08.004.
Jackson, A.M., Hasiotis, S.T., and Flaig, P.P., 2016, Ichnology of a paleopolar, river-dominated, shallow marine deltaic succession in the Mackellar Sea: the Mackellar Formation (Lower Permian), Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 441, p. 266–291, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.07.010.
Suarez, C.A., Flaig, P.P., Ludvigson, G.A., Gonzalez, L.A., Tian, R., Zhou, H., McCarthy, P.J., van der Kolk, D.A., and Fiorillo, A.R., 2016, Reconstructing the paleohydrology of a Cretaceous Alaskan paleopolar coastal plain from stable isotopes of bivalves: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 441, no. 2, p. 339–351, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.07.025.
Fiorillo, A.R., McCarthy, P.P., and Flaig, P.P., 2016, A multi-disciplinary perspective on habitat preferences among dinosaurs in a Cretaceous Arctic greenhouse world, North Slope, Alaska (Prince Creek Formation: lower Maastrichtian): Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 441, no. 2, p. 377–389, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.07.024.
van der Kolk, D.A., Flaig, P.P., and Hasiotis, S.T., 2015, Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of a Late Cretaceous, muddy, river-dominated polar deltaic system: Schrader Bluff - Prince Creek Formation transition, Shivugak Bluffs, North Slope of Alaska, U.S.A: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 85, p. 903–936, http://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2015.58.
Flaig, P.P., Fiorillo, A.R., and McCarthy, P.J., 2014, Dinosaur-bearing hyperconcentrated flows of Cretaceous Arctic Alaska: Recurring catastrophic event beds on a distal paleopolar coastal plain: PALAIOS, v. 29, p. 594–611, http://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2013.133.
Hudock, J.W., Flaig, P.P., and Wood, L.J., 2014, Washover fans: a modern geomorphologic analysis and proposed classification scheme to improve reservoir models: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 84, no. 10, p. 854–865, http://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2014.64.
Flaig, P.P., McCarthy, P.J., and Fiorillo, A.R., 2013, Anatomy, evolution, and paleoenvironmental interpretation of an ancient arctic coastal plain: Integrated paleopedology and palynology from the upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Prince Creek Formation, North Slope, Alaska, USA: in Driese, S.G. and Nordt, L.C., eds.: New Frontiers in Paleopedology and Terrestrial Paleoclimatology, Paleosols and Soil Surface Analogue Systems, SEPM Special Publication No. 114, p. 179–230.
Suarez, C., Ludvigson, G., Gonzalez, L.A., Fiorillo, A.R., Flaig, P.P., and McCarthy, P.J., 2013, Use of multiple oxygen isotope proxies for elucidating Arctic Cretaceous palaeo-hydrology, in Bojar, A.V., Melinte-Dobrinescu, M.C., and Smit, J., eds., Isotopic Studies in Cretaceous Research, Geological Society of London, Special Publication 382, p. 185–202, http://doi.org/10.1144/SP382.3.
Gulbranson, E.L., Isbell, J.L., Taylor, E.L., Ryberg, P., Taylor, T. N., and Flaig, P.P., 2012, Permian polar forests: deciduous and environmental variation: Geobiology, v. 10, p. 479–495, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4669.2012.00338.x.
Burton, D., Dunlap, D.B., Wood, L.J., and Flaig, P.P., 2011, Lidar intensity as a remote sensor of rock properties: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 81, p. 339–347, https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2011.31.
Flaig, P.P., McCarthy, P.J., and Fiorillo, A.R., 2011, A tidally influenced, high-latitude coastal-plain: the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Prince Creek Formation, North Slope, Alaska, in Davidson, S., Leleu, S., and North, C. eds., From river to rock record: the preservation of fluvial sediments and their subsequent Interpretation: SEPM Special Publication 97, p. 233–264.
Fiorillo, A.R., McCarthy, P.J., and Flaig, P.P., 2010, Taphonomic and sedimentologic interpretations of the dinosaur-bearing Upper Cretaceous strata of the Prince Creek Formation, northern Alaska: insights from an ancient high-latitude terrestrial ecosystem: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 295, p. 376–388, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.02.029.
Fiorillo, A.R., McCarthy, P.J., Flaig, P.P., Brandlen, E., Norton, D., Jacobs, L., Zippi, P., and Gangloff, R.A., 2010, Paleontology and paleoenvironmental interpretation of the Kikak-Tegoseak Dinosaur Quarry, (Prince Creek Formation: Late Cretaceous), Northern Alaska: a multi-disciplinary study of an ancient high-latitude, Ceratopsian Dinosaur Bonebed, in Ryan, M.J., Chinner-Algeier, B.J., and Eberth, D.A., eds., New perspectives on horned dinosaurs: The Royall Tyrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium: Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press, p. 456–477.
Fiorillo, A.R., Tykoski, R., Currie, P., McCarthy, P.J., and Flaig, P.P., 2009, Description of two partial Troodon braincases from the Prince Creek Formation (Upper Cretaceous) North Slope, Alaska: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 29, p. 178–187, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20491077.
Peer-Reviewed State Reports
Flaig, P.P. and van der Kolk, D.A., 2015, Depositional environments of the Prince Creek Formation along the east side of the Toolik River, Sagavanirktok Quadrangle, North Slope, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Preliminary Interpretive Report 2015-4, 17 p., 1 sheet. http://dx.doi.org/10.14509/29407
