At present I am a professor emeritus having taught geology at Minot State University (North Dakota, USA) from 1968 until 1997. I was trained in geology at Columbia University and the University of Wyoming where my studies emphasized regional geomorphology. While working at Minot University I taught geology and also served as Faculty Development Coordinator. In 1995 I began part-time work directing the National Geographic Society Education Foundation funded North Dakota Geographic Alliance, which I continued to do until 2007. For off site questions and discussions about my Missouri River drainage basin landform origins research project essays I can be reached at eric2clausen@gmail.com

Geomorphology is the study of landforms and my interest as a geomorphology researcher is in determining the origin of large drainage systems, such as the Missouri River drainage basin in North America. The Missouri River drainage basin consists of thousands of smaller drainage basins, each of which has a history my essays are trying to unravel. What I try to do is reconstruct the landscape the way it looked prior to the present day drainage system. I then try to determine how the present day drainage system evolved.

For many years I have pursued a research interest that developed when as result of geologic field work and interpretation of large mosaics of detailed North American topographic maps I discovered significant evidence previous investigators had ignored. Over a period of many years, after studying such anomalous evidence, I was forced to develop a fundamentally different interpretation of North American geomorphic history than that which is generally accepted. My essay “About the thick ice sheet that melted fast geomorphology paradigm” briefly describes how my interest in alternate geomorphology paradigms began and evolved.

The “thick ice sheet that melted fast” geomorphology paradigm is being introduced on this website. Essays on this website are interpreting detailed Missouri River drainage basin landform origins from the “thick ice sheet that melted fast” perspective. This is a fundamentally different geomorphology paradigm or perspective than the paradigm or perspective used by previous geomorphology researchers and is enabling me to interpret literally thousands of previously unexplained and ignored landform features. In addition to the Missouri River drainage basin drainage divide area essays on this website I have also included a few essays (under pages on the sidebar) describing (but not illustrating) the evolution of New England drainage basin areas as determined from similar topographic map evidence.