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Penrose Medalist Thure Cerling: A year of exceptional accomplishments

Published on:

October 9 2025
Above: Geoscientist Thure Cerling

In a year of exceptional accomplishments Thure Cerling has been been awarded the Penrose Medal by the Geological Society of America. He will accept the award on October 19th at GSA Connects 2025 in Texas.

The GSA bestows medals and awards to recognize individuals who have, through their outstanding achievements, made significant contributions to the geosciences. A Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics and the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah, Cerling certainly merits this recognization.

Nominated for the award by colleague Marjorie Chan, distinguished professor emerita of Geology & Geophysics at the U, Chan wrote, “Dr. Cerling is an exceptional, award-winning geoscientist who has advanced our understanding of Earth history through groundbreaking isotope geochemistry work in forensics, cosmogenic dating, and paleo-CO2 records of biological and geological significance. This impactful work has addressed major scientific questions and societal issues. His outstanding science, service, and mentoring make him one of the most influential, creative living scientists and fully deserving of GSA’s highest honor.”

The announcement of the Penrose Medal this year is an opportunity to highlight many of the research papers published this year by the celebrated scientist and beloved former chair of the Department of Geology & Geophysics who also holds an appointment in the School of Biological Sciences:

Pedogenic carbonate as a transient soil component in a humid, temperate forest (Michigan, USA)

Kelson JR, TE Huth, K Andrews, MN Bartleson, TE Cerling, L Jun, MP Salinas, NE Levin, (2025). Quaternary Research 124: 105-120. [Link to paper] 

This study investigated unusual carbonate rinds found in a forested environment in Michigan — an environment where carbonates rarely form. The combined study of carbon and oxygen isotopes, including 17-O, clumped isotopes, and 14C, show that these carbonates are a mix of detrital and modern soil carbonates.

Behavioral drive during human evolution

Fannin LD, Seyoum CM, Venkataraman VV, Yeakel JD, Janis CM, Cerling TE, Dominy NJ (2025). Science Advances 389(6759): 488-493. [Link to paper]

Stable isotopes show that diet change occurs well before morphological change in teeth in many mammalian taxa -— elephants, suids, and primates including early humans.

Fifty years in the foothills: Ecosystem evolution in the Neogene Siwalik record of Pakistan

Badgley C, Barry J,  Behrensmeyer AK, Cerling T, Flynn LJ, Morgan ME, Pilbeam D, (2025). Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences 53: 479–509.
[Link to paper]

This paper reviews the 50 years of work in the Siwaliks of Pakistan, a key locality for studying the evolution of primates and other mammals.

Strontium isotope mapping of elephant enamel supports an integrated microsampling-modeling workflow to reconstruct herbivore migrations

Yang D, Podkovyroff K, Uno KT, Bowen GJ, Fernandez DP, Cerling TE (2025). Communications Biology, 8(1) 1–9. [link to paper]

Strontium isotopes in modern and fossil teeth are increasingly used to study migration. This study uses an elephant with a unique migration (transfer between a zoo in California to one in Utah) to show that modeling strontium recycling from bone is necessary to properly model animal movement -— it takes two years for an elephant to equilibrate to a new environment.

Boulder armored benches in the Teasdale/Torrey lowlands, Fremont River, Utah

Marchetti DW, Ellwein AL, Huth TE, Cerling TE, Anderson LS, Passey BH, Hynek SA, (2025). Geosphere [Link to paper]

Numerous debris flows and river terraces in the Torrey / Teasdale lowlands reach of the Fremont River in the northwestern Colorado Plateau are dated using cosmogenic 3-Helium. researchers determined that asymmetrical downcutting on the south side of the Fremont River is significantly higher than on the north side. This disparity is attributed to two key factors: a thicker and more extensive layer of erosion-resistant volcanic boulders on the south side and a lower river gradient upstream.