Dr. Bogdan P. Onac

Bogdan P. Onac, PhD
Professor


4202 E. Fowler Ave., NES 107
Tampa, FL 33620, USA
Clinicilor 5-7, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Karst geology, Isotope geochemistry, Paleoclimatology
bonac@usf.edu or bogdan.onac@ubbcluj.ro

Education:
Postdoctoral: Lund University, 1999 (Host: Prof. B. Wohlfarth)
Postdoctoral (Fulbright): Pennsylvania State University, 1998-1999 (Host: Prof. W.B. White)
PhD: Babes-Bolyai University, Geology, 1996
B.S.: Babes-Bolyai University, Geology, 1987

Research:
Bogdan Onac’s research interests center on reconstructing climate and paleoenvironmental
changes using speleothems, ice, and guano from various cave and karst deposits, as well as
understanding hypogene cave systems. He employs mineralogy, stable and radiogenic isotope
geochemistry to answer his research questions. A particular aspect of his current and nearfuture
studies is to contribute data on past sea-level positions for both warmer and colder
periods of Earth’s history using carbonate encrustations from littoral caves around the world.


Selected Publications: (underlined = student advised; *corresponding author)

  1. Onac, B.P., Mitrovica, J.X., Ginés, J., Asmerom, Y., Polyak, V.J., Tuccimei, P., Fornós, J.J.,
    Hoggard, M.J., Ashe, E.A., Coulson, S., Ginés, A., Soligo, M., Villa, I.M. (2022) Exceptionally
    stable pre-industrial sea level inferred from the western Mediterranean Sea. Science
    Advances, 8, eabm6185 (cover article)
  2. Dumitru, O.A., Austermann, J., Polyak, V.J., Fornós, J.J., Asmerom, Y., Ginés, J., Ginés, A.,
    Onac, B.P.* (2019) Constraints on global mean sea level during Pliocene warmth. Nature, 574,
    233-236.
  3. Polyak, V.J., Onac, B.P., Fornós, J.J., Asmerom, Y., Hay, C., Dorale, J.A., Ginés, J. Tuccimei,
    P., Ginés, A. (2018) A highly resolved record of relative sea-level in the western
    Mediterranean Sea during the Last Interglacial period. Nature Geoscience, 11, 860-864
    (cover article).
  4. Staubwasser, M., Dragusin, V., Onac, B.P., Assanov, S., Ersek, V., Hoffmann, D.L., Veres, D.
    (2018) Climate change impact on the transition of Neanderthals to modern humans in
    Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 115 (37), 9116-9121.
  5. Dorale, J.A., Onac, B.P.*, Fornós, J.J., Ginés, J., Ginés, A., Tuccimei, P., Peate, D.W. (2010)
    Sea-level highstand 81,000 years ago in Mallorca. Science, 327, 860-863.

Full Publication List

Teaching:
Undergraduate:

  1. Sedimentary Petrology (2005 – Present)
  2. Karst Geology (2009 – Present)
  3. Soil Geology (2001 – 2004)
  4. Crystallography (1996 – 2004)

Graduate:

  1. Geology of Karst Terrains (2006 – Present)
  2. Doctoral Dissertation (2015 – Present)
  3. Paleoclimatology (2007 – 2015)
  4. Carbonate Environments (2007 – 2010)