Lyle Nelson

Research Interests

My research group focuses on regional sedimentary geology to understand relationships in the co-evolution of life and surface environments across pivotal transitions in Earth history, especially during significant biological shifts — such as extinctions and the emergence of new species — and during shifts in ocean chemistry and climate. The fragmented records of these environmental and biotic changes are in sedimentary rocks that were tectonically uplifted and are now exposed in mountain belts around the world.

The Neoproterozoic-Cambrian period (around 800 to 500 million years ago) was a critical time for the development of modern Earth environments. Our research aims to answer big questions, such as how the reorganization of continents influenced the carbon cycle and climate, the causes and effects of ancient ice ages, and what factors drove the evolution of early life forms and the rapid diversification of animals during the Cambrian period.

The research tools we implement integrate geologic mapping, sedimentology, stable isotope geochemistry, paleontology and biostratigraphy, and high precision radioisotopic geochronology. Past and current fieldwork areas include Arctic Alaska, Yukon, SW United States, Namibia, South Africa, NW Mexico, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the Appalachians.

Topics I investigate:

• The evolution of complex life and the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition
• Proterozoic climate and carbon cycle
• Precambrian to Paleozoic sedimentary basins and tectonic reconstructions

Biographic Sketch

Lyle Nelson joined the EAPS faculty in 2024. Nelson earned a bachelor’s degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University in 2015 and then worked as an exploration geologist, before completing his PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 2022. Prior to coming to MIT, Nelson was an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada.

Geology is ultimately the study of our origin story. How have the environments of our home, Earth, evolved across 4.5 billion years? How did complex life develop here? My goal is to solve tiny pieces of this immense four-dimensional puzzle.

Lyle Nelson