Yadira Ibarra profile picture

Yadira Ibarra

Associate Professor
Carbonate sedimentology, geobiology, microbial carbonates, spring deposits (travertine, tufa), petrography
Email: yibarra@sfsu.edu
Location: TH 609

Education

B.A. Geology-Biology, Brown University

Ph.D. Geological Sciences, University of Southern California

Research Description: My research interests broadly span the co-evolution of life and the earth surface environment on geologic and recent timescales. As a sedimentary geologist and geobiologist, I use field, petrographic, and geochemical approaches to understand different scales of environmental change as recorded in the sedimentary rock record. Most of my work has been on the biogeochemistry of fluvial and lacustrine carbonate microbialites. My research offers a range of opportunities for students to study sedimentary rocks from a paleoenvironmental perspective as well as with a geobiological/astrobiological framework.

Courses Taught:

  • Our Dynamic Earth
  • Earth Systems II
  • Sedimentology & Stratigraphy
  • Research Methods in Geosciences

Selected Publications:

*Kanner, M.C., **Cortes, L., Ibarra, Y. 2022. Radiocarbon and stable isotope evidence of Early to mid-Holocene wet events from fluvial tufa deposits in Santa Cruz, CA. In Press: Journal of Quaternary Science.

*Bays, A.J., *Sanon, S., Ibarra, Y., Hayzelden, C. 2022. Taphonomic controls on microbialite textures of the Steamboat Point Member of the Ordovician Bighorn Dolomite, western Teton Mountains, WY, USA.  Palaios 37(5) p. 150-164. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2021.042

*Boelts, H.P., Ibarra, Y., Hayzelden, C. 2020. Diatom-associated carbonate porosity in terrestrial coated grains from a freshwater carbonate spring in northern California, USA. In Press: Journal of Sedimentary Research 90 (11), p. 1601-1613. https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2020.74

Petryshyn, V.A., Greene, S.E., Farnsworth, A., Lunt, D., Kelley, A., Gammariello, R. T., Ibarra, Y., Bottjer, D. J., Tripati, A. Corsetti, F.A., 2020. The role of temperature in the initiation of the end-Triassic mass extinction. Earth Science Reviews 208, 103266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103266

Clement, A.M., Tackett, L.S., Ritterbush, K.A., Ibarra, Y. 2020. Formation and stratigraphic facies distribution of early Jurassic iron oolite deposits from west central Nevada, USA. Sedimentary Geology 395, 105537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2019.105537

Ibarra, Y., *Sanon, S. 2019. A freshwater analog for the production of Epiphyton-like microfossils. Geobiology 17, 510-522, https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12341

Ibarra, Y. and Corsetti, F.A. 2016. Lateral comparative investigation of stromatolites: Astrobiological implications and assessment of scales of control. Astrobiology 16:4, p. 271-281. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2015.1388

Thibodeau, A.M., Ritterbush, K.A., Yager, J.A., West, J., Ibarra, Y., Bottjer, D.J., Berelson, W., Bergquist, B., Corsetti, F.A., 2016. Mercury anomalies, volcanism, and timing of biotic recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction. Nature Communications 7, 11147.

Ibarra, Y., Corsetti, F.A., Greene, S.E., Bottjer, D.J. 2016. A microbial carbonate response in synchrony with the End-Triassic Mass Extinction SW UK. Scientific Reports 6, 19808.             

Ibarra, Y., Corsetti, F.A., Feakins, S.J., Rhodes, E.R., Kirby, M. K. 2015. Fluvial tufa evidence of Late Pleistocene wet intervals from Santa Barbara, California. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 422, p. 36-45.

Ibarra, Y., Corsetti F.A., Greene, S.E., Bottjer. 2014. Microfacies of the Cotham Marble: A tubestone carbonate microbialite from the Upper Triassic, Southwestern United Kingdom. Palaios 29, p. 1-15.

Ibarra, Y., Corsetti, F.A., Cheetham M., Feakins S.J. 2014. Were fossil spring-associated carbonates near Zaca Lake, Santa Barbara, California deposited under an ambient or thermal regime? Sedimentary Geology 301, p. 15-25.

*graduate student

**undergraduate