Ashley has conducted research in Africa for over 20 years funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Her research in the East Africa Rift Valley has two components: (1) studies with paleoanthropologists at Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli on the water resources used by hominins millions of years ago, and (2) investigations of the modern water resources focused on rainfall, groundwater, and springs in the Lake Natron, Lake Manyara, and Lake Eyasi region. These areas have competing interests of tourism, herding (e.g. Maasi), agriculture, and hunting and gathering (Hadzabe).
Journal articles:
Bourel, B., Barboni, D., Shilling, A. M., & Ashley, G. M. 2021. Vegetation dynamics of Kisima Ngeda freshwater spring reflect hydrological changes in northern Tanzania over the past 1200 years: Implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions at paleoanthropological sites. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
Goman, M. F., Ashley, G. M., Owen, R. B., Driese, S. G., Muasya, A. M., & Hover, V. C. 2020. A high-resolution climate history of geochemical and biological proxies from a tropical freshwater wetland located in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Journal of African Earth Sciences.
Gebregiorgis, D., Deocampo, D. M., Longstaffe, F. J., Simpson, A., Ashley, G. M., Beverly, E. J., Delaney, J. S., & Cuadros, J. 2020. Oxygen Isotopes in Authigenic Clay Minerals: Toward Building a Reliable Salinity Proxy. Geophysical Research Letters.
Ashley, G. M. 2020. Paleo-Critical Zones, windows into the changing life and landscapes during the Quaternary Period. Quaternary Research.
Ashley, G. M., de Wet, C. B., Houser, L. M., & Delaney, J. S. 2020. Widespread freshwater carbonate in the Olduvai Basin, a precursor to a major eruption in the East African Rift System. Depositional Record.
Barboni, D., Ashley, G. M., Bourel, B., Arráiz, H., & Mazur, J. C. 2019. Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.
