Member of the Faculty,
PhD Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School, CUNY.
Ph.D. Columbia University
Office: SB E-202
Telephone: (718) 997-3322
FAX: (718) 997-3299

Research Interests

Continental transform boundaries are regions of high seismic risk, associated with broad zones of deformation that commonly cross heavily populated regions of the world such as California, USA, and Istanbul, Turkey. Large earthquakes and tsunamis associated to tectonic plate boundaries cause devastating loss of life and property. Recent research applies new methodologies to document pre-instrumental earthquake ruptures along fault segments of tectonics boundaries. Students Jessica Dutton, George Lozefski and Adina Akinian have been studying the North Anatolia Fault in the Marmara Sea Turkey, El Pilar Fault in Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, and the floor of the Ionan Basin in the Mediterranean associated to the Calabrian Ridge plate boundary.

Other research projects relate to extracting a paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic signal from sediments recovered in marginal basins such as the Marmara Sea and Black Sea, Turkey. The reconnections of these marginal basins to the world's ocean after the Last Glacial Maximum can track global sea-level rise due to the dramatic sedimentation changes and complete replacement in the fauna and flora that occurs as these basins change from lacustrine to marine settings. Damayanti Gurung a Ph.D. student is involved in this project.

Closer to home we are studying Sandy Hook Bay and Long Island Sound, highly urbanized estuaries that have been severely impacted by anthropogenic activities. Students Elana Klein, Alexandrea Bowman and Theanet Charles are measuring heavy metals, organic matter concentrations, and interpreting the abundances in terms of coastal and estuarine processes that erode, transport, and deposit sediments.

Long Island Sound was covered by ice ~20,000 ago and has recorded in its sediments the transition from glacial deposits to a fresh water lake, marine transgression, estuarine sedimentation and anthropogenic impact. Vadim Acosta and Jeniffer Rios are studying the glacial to interglacial climatic transition from the biostratigraphic record of sediment cores and geophysical images.

Long term research (2 Ocean Drilling Program Legs, Alvin Dives, and oceanographic cruises) to the New Jersey Continental passive margin have permitted to study eustatic, paleoclimatic, and sedimentation process such as submarine canyon formation and mass-wasting. Students Robert Applebaum Corinne Hartin and Helene Gould.

Teaching Philosophy and Interests

Teaching students at Queens College and The City University of New York is a great experience due to the diverse student population. Having immigrated to New York City from Buenos Aires, Argentina after high school and without speaking the language, the most important message I give my students is, "set a goal, something that you truly like, and go for it!" It can be done!

A list of courses taught:

Undergraduate

• GEOL8 Oceanography
• GEOL216 Dynamics of the Oceans and Atmospheres

Graduate

• GEOL747 Coastal and Estuarine Processes
• GEOL780 Marine Geology

Selected Publications

McHugh, C.M.G., Seeber, L., Cormier, M.-H., Dutton, J., Cagatay, N., Polonia, A., Ryan, W. B. F., and Gorur, N. 2006. Submarine earthquake geology along the North Anatolia Fault in the Marmara Sea, Turkey: A model for transform basin sedimentation. Earth and Planetary Sciences 248, 661-684. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.05.038

Cormier, M.H., L. Seeber, C.M.G. McHugh, A. Polonia, M.N. Çagatay, Ö. Emre, L. Gasperini, N. Görür, G. Bortoluzzi, E. Bonatti, W.B.F. Ryan, and K.R. Newman, The North Anatolian fault in the Gulf of Izmit (Turkey): Rapid vertical motion in response to minor bends of a non-vertical continental transform, Journal of Geophysical Research 111, doi:1029/2005JB003633, B04102, 2006.

Seeber, L., M.-H. Cormier, C. McHugh, Ö. Emre, A. Polonia, , C. Sorlien, 2006. Rapid subsidence and sedimentation from oblique slip near a bend on the North Anatolian transform fault in the Marmara Sea, Turkey. Geology 34(11), p. 933-936.

McHugh, C.M.G., Pekar, S., Christie-Blick, N. , Ryan, W.B.F., Carbotte, S., Bell, R., 2004, Spatial variations in a condensed interval between estuarine and open marine settings: Holocene Hudson River Estuary and adjacent continental shelf. Geology 32 (2), 169-172.

McHugh, C.M.G., and Olson, H.C., 2002. Pleistocene chronology of continental margin sedimentation: New insights into traditional models, New Jersey. Marine Geology 185, p. 389-411.

McHugh, C. M. G., Damuth, J. E, and Mountain, G. S. 2002. Cenozoic mass-transport facies and their correlation with relative sea-level change, New Jersey continental margin. Marine Geology 184, p. 295-334.

McHugh, C.M.G. and Ryan, W.B.F., 2000. Sedimentary features associated with channel overbank flow: examples from the Monterey Fan. Mar.Geol.163, 199-215.

McHugh, C. M. G., Snyder, S. W., and Miller, K. G., 1998. Upper Eocene ejecta of the New Jersey continental margin reveal dynamics of Chesapeake Bay. Earth and Plan. Sci. v.160, 3-4, p 353-367.

McHugh, C. M. G., Ryan, W. B. F., Eittreim, S., and Reed, D, 1998, Influence of the San Gregorio fault zone on the morphology of Monterey Canyon system off-shore Monterey Bay, California. Marine Geology , v. 146, p. 63-91.