Bogdan P. Onac
Professor, Ph.D.
I graduated from the Babes-Bolyai
University, Faculty of
Biology-Geology in 1987. I got my Ph.D. from the same
University in 1996.
I am working at the Department of Geology, Babes-Bolyai
University and at the Institute of Speleology "Emil
Racovita"
Fields of interest
- Cave mineralogy and geochemistry.
- Quaternary palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment
reconstruction based on speleothems analysis.
- Sea-level changes based on cave deposits.
Key publications:
Quaternary Paleoclimate
Onac, B. P., Pace-Graczyk, K., Atudorei, V. 2008: Stable isotope study
of precipitation and cave drip water in Florida (USA): implications for
speleothem-based paleoclimate studies. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies 44 (2): 149-161.
Onac, B. P., Constantin, S. 2008: Archives of Climate and Environmental Change in Karst. Quaternary International 187: 1-4.
Zak, K., Onac, B. P., Perșoiu, A. 2008: Cryogenic carbonates in cave environments: a review. Quaternary International 187: 84-96.
Feurdean, A., Mosbrugger V., Onac, B. P., Polyak, V., Vereș, D. 2007:
Younger Dryas to mid-Holocene environmental history of the lowlands of
NW Transylvania, Romania. Quaternary Research 68 (3): 364-378.
Onac, B. P., Viehmann, I., Lundberg, J., Lauritzen, S. E., Stringer,
C., Popiță, V. 2005: U-Th ages constraining the Neanderthal footprint
at Vârtop Cave, Romania. Quaternary Science Reviews 24 (10/11): 1151-1157.
Tămaș, T., Onac, B. P., Bojar, A.-N. 2005. Lateglacial-Middle Holocene
stable isotope records in two coeval stalagmites from the Bihor
Mountains, NW Romania. Geological Quarterly 49 (2): 185-194.
Holmlund, P., Onac, B. P., Hansson, M., Holmgren, K., Mörth, M.,
Nyman, M. & Perșoiu, A. 2005: Assessing the palaeoclimate potential
of cave glaciers: the example of the Scărișoara Ice Cave (Romania). Geografiska Annaler 87A: 193-201.
Onac, B. P., Constantin, S., Lundberg, J., Lauritzen, S. 2002: Isotopic
climate record in a Holocene stalagmite from Ursilor Cave (Romania).
Journal of Quaternary Science 17 (4): 319-327.
Onac, B. P., Bjorkman, L., Björck, S., Clichici, O., Tamas, T., Peate,
D., Wohlfarth, B. 2001: The first dated Eemian lacustrine deposit in
Romania. Quaternary Research 56 (1): 62-65.
Wohlfarth, B., Hannon, G., Feurdean, A., Ghergari, L., Onac, B. P.,
Possnert, G. 2001: Reconstruction of climatic and environmental changes
in NW Romania during the early part of the last deglaciation
(~15,000-13,600cal years BP). Quaternary Science Review 20 (18):
1897-1914.
Bjorck, S., Walker, M. J. C., Cwynar, L. C., Johnsen, S., Knudsen,
K-L., Lowe, J. J., Wohlfarth, B., INTIMATE Members (Onac, B. P.) 1998:
An event stratigraphy for the Last Termination in the North Atlantic
region based on the Greenland ice-core record: a proposal by the
INTIMATE group. Journal of Quaternary Science 13 (4): 283-292.
Mineralogy & Geochemistry
Onac, B.P., Sumrall, J., Tămaș, T., Povară, I., Kearns, J., Dârmiceanu,
V., Veres, D., Lascu, C. 2009: The relationship between cave minerals
and hypogene activity along the Cerna Valley (SW Romania). Acta Carsologica 38 (1): 67-79.
Onac, B. P., Bernhardt, H.-J., Effenberger, H. 2009: Authigenic burbankite in the Cioclovina Cave sediments (Romania). European Journal of Mineralogy 21: 507-514.
Cinta Pinzaru, S., Onac, B. P. 2009: Raman study of natural berlinite from the Cioclovina Cave phosphate deposit. Vibrational Spectroscopy 49: 97-100.
Onac,
B. P., Effenberger, H. 2009: Apatite-(CaOH) in the fossil bat guano
deposit from the “Dry” Cioclovina Cave, Sureanu Mountains, Romania. Canadian Mineralogist 47: 207-208.
Onac, B. P., Effenberger, H. 2007: Re-examination of berlinite from Cioclovina Cave, Romania. American Mineralogist 92: 1998-2001.
Onac, B. P., Hess, J. W., White, W. B. 2007: The relationship between
the mineralization of breccia pipes and mineral composition of
speleothems: evidence from Corkscrew Cave, Arizona, USA. Canadian Mineralogist 45 (5): 1177-1188.
Onac,
B. P., Effenberger, H, Ettinger, K., Panzaru Cinta, S. 2006:
Hydroxylellastadite from Cioclovina Cave (Romania): microanalytical,
structural, and vibrational spectroscopy data. American Mineralogist 91: 1927-1931.
Onac, B. P., Ettinger, K., Kearns, J., Balasz, I. I. 2005: A modern,
guano-related occurrence of foggite, CaAl(PO4)(OH)2·H2O and
churchite-(Y), YPO4·2H2O in Cioclovina Cave, Romania. Mineralogy and Petrology 85: 291-302.
Onac, B. P., White, W. B. 2003: First reported sedimentary occurrence
of berlinite (AlPO4) in the phosphate-bearing sediments from Cioclovina
Cave, Romania. American Mineralogist 88: 1395-1397.
Onac, B. P., Vereș, D. Ș. 2003: Sequence of secondary phosphates
deposition in a karst environment: evidence from Măgurici Cave
(Romania). European Journal of Mineralogy 15 (4): 741-745.
Onac, B. P. 2002: Caves formed within Upper Cretaceous skarns at Băița,
Bihor County, Romania: mineral deposition and speleogenesis. Canadian Mineralogist 40 (6): 1693-1703.
Onac, B. P., White, W. B., Viehmann, I. 2001: Leonite K2Mg[SO4]2 4H2O,
Konyaite Na2Mg[SO4]2 5H2O and Syngenite K2Ca[SO4]2 H2O from Tausoare
Cave (Rodnei Mts., Romania). Mineralogical Magazine 65 (1): 1-7.
Onac, B. P., Veni, G., White, W. B. 2001: Depositional environment for
metatyuyamunite and related minerals from Caverns of Sonora, Texas
(USA). European Journal of Mineralogy 13: 135-143.
Onac, B. P., Mylroie, J. E., White, W. B. 2001: Mineralogy of cave deposits on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Carbonates and Evaporites 16 (1): 8-16.
Check other publications
Ongoing and Past Funded Grants
(1) 2008-2010 NSF (P2C2) – (PI) Northern Annular Mode (NAM)
Variability during the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period in a
Cave Ice Core Record from Northwestern Romania;
(2) 2008-2009 NSF – (PI) US-Spain Planning Visit: Collaborative
Research on Sea-Level Changes Recorded in Coastal Caves of Mallorca;
(3) Ice deposits in caves: a novel paleoclimate archive – (PI) (USF Division of Sponsored Research)
(4) Identification of hypogene caves on Cerna Valley (Romania) based on
stable isotope analysis (PI) (Romanian National University Research
Council)
(5) Paleoclimate reconstructions based on interdisciplinary studies of
ice deposits from caves in Romania (PI) (Romanian National University
Research Council);
(6) Isotopic and paleomagnetic investigations on rapid climatic changes
recorded in Romanian karst deposits (co-PI) (European Community &
Ministry of Education and Research, Romania);
(7) 14C time-scale and mechanism of rapid climate change during the last deglaciation (co-PI) (European Science Foundation);
I have completed nine other grants:
(1) Sea-level changes in western Mediterranean recorded on unusual cave
deposits from Mallorca, Spain (USF Division of Sponsored Research, PI);
(2) Study of rapid climate changes during the Late Pleistocene based on
speleothems from caves in Southern and Western Carpathians:
reference-profiles for the paleoclimate (co-PI) (Romanian National
University Research Council).
(3) Chemical reactions within the cave environment: mineralogical,
geochimic, and geochronological aspects (Romanian National University
Research Council; PI);
(4) Mineralogy, dating and soil pollution (World Bank Grant; PI)
(5) Quaternary paleoclimate reconstruction in NW Romania based on cave
deposits (Romanian National University Research Council; PI);
(6) Interference between karst and geothermal fields (Romanian National University Research Council; PI).
(7) A 150,000-years climate reconstruction in the Caribbean region based on cave deposits (CAS - USF, PI);
(8) Extreme climatic events during the last 25,000 years recorded in
cave deposits from NW Romania (Grant HPRI-CT-1999-00008, European
Community)
(9) Multiproxy study of the Eemian lacustrine deposit at Turbuta
(Romania). (Quaternary Research Association Grant; PI).
I am/was involved in the following international projects:
- Speleothem Pole-Equator-Pole Transect III (part of PAGES program)
led by Dr. Stein-Erik LAURITZEN (Dept. of Geology, Bergen University, Norway).
The aims of this project is to reconstruct the Quaternary palaeoclimate throughout
the Europe and Africa on the basis of uranium/thorium dating and stable isotope
analysis performed on speleothems.
- IGCP 448 - World Correlation on Karst Geology (led by Prof. Yuan
DAOXIAN, Institute of Karst Research, Guilin, China);
- INTIMATE (INTegration of Ice core, MArine and TErrestrial records;
INQUA program) - cooperation with Dept. of Quaternary Geology, Lund University,
Sweden - Dr. Barbara WOHLFARTH.
- Scarisoara Ice Core Project - Paleoclimate and paleoenvironment
reconstruction of the last 3,500 years based on the ice core recovered from
the ice block hosted by the Scarisoara Glacier Cave. (Partners: drs. Per Holmlund
and Karin Holmgren - Stockholm University)
- Euroclimate (partners: dr. Bernd Kromer - Heidelberg University,
dr. Svante Bjorck - Lund University, dr. Barbara Wohlfarth - Stockholm University)
- Focul Viu Ice Core Project - An interdisciplinary paleoclimate
study based on ice core investigations (Partners: drs. A. Bini & V. Maggi,
and M.
Citterio, S. Turri - University of Milano, A. Persoiu - Speological
Institute, Cluj Dept.)
Copyright: 2001-2009 Bogdan P. Onac
Author: Bogdan P. Onac
E-mail: bogdan.onac@ubbcluj.ro
Made: March 25, 1996
Changed: November 5, 2009