• 1989 - PhD in Early Jurassic ostracods form North-west Europe - University College London
• 1985 - MSc in Micropalaeontology - University College London
• 1984 - BSc - University of Leicester

• 1984 BSc, University of Leicester
• 1985 MSc in Micropalaeontology, University College London
• 1989 PhD in Early Jurassic ostracods form north-west Europe, University College London
• 1989 to 1992 Leverhulme-funded post-doc at UEA, Norwich
• 1992 to 1994 NERC-funded ODP post-doc University of Wales, Aberystwyth
• 1994 to 1997 NERC-funded post-doc at UEA, Norwich
• 1998 to 2004 University of Newcastle, Teaching and Research position
• 2005 to present University of Birmingham, GEES

Research group

• Geosystems

Research interests

• Ostracoda as palaeoenvironmental indicators
• Late Quaternary history of the Ponto-Caspian and Aral Sea regions
• Geoarchaeology (landscape and environmental change)
• Late Triassic to early Jurassic environments of NW Europe
• Stable-isotope analysis of natural waters
• Stable-isotope records of past environmental change

Current / recent research

Much of Ian Boomer's research focuses on a group of calcareous microfossils, the Ostracoda (or ostracods).   An ostracod can be thought of as a microscopic shrimp-like organism (usually less than 1mm long) living inside a bi-valved carbonate shell or carapace. These little bugs have been around for the last 500 million years and live today in just about every aquatic environment. Their fossils can be used to date rocks, record major changes in the world’s oceans, trace climatic changes such as sea-level rise amongst other uses and even track pollution. They are still alive today (with thousands of living species known) and can be found swimming or crawling, often in great numbers, everywhere from garden ponds to coastal rock pools, rivers, lakes and oceans. One group has even learnt to survive out of water.

Ian Boomer has a particular interest in the geological record of ostracods around the period of the latest Triassic and Early Jurassic (about 200-174 million years ago during one of the ‘Big-Five’ Phanerozoic extinction events). Another part of his research focuses on using these fascinating little bugs to find out more about the rapid, global climatic changes that occurred between about 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. His studies concentrate on a region of the world that encompasses the great inland seas of SW Eurasia, the Aral, Caspian and Black seas.

Geoarchaeology

Ian Boomer is also involved with a number of archaeological projects in the north east of the UK (Bamburgh Research Project, Howick Project) where he is involved in various aspects of geoarchaeology, landscape and sea-level change, sedimentary coring and description and analysis of biological remains.

Water quality and isotope studies

Ian Boomer is currently employed as a Research Fellow in GEES, University of Birmingham, as the Laboratory Manager for the Stable-Isotope Laboratory (SILLA) which was commissioned in December 2005.  

The laboratory focuses on the stable-isotope analysis of hydrological, biological and geological samples from a wide range of projects, including cave systems, rivers, lakes, coastal sea-water and deep ocean settings.

Laboratory Manager - Stable-Isotope laboratory (SILLA)

Selected recent publications

1. Boomer, I., von Grafenstein, U. & Moss, A.G. 2012. Late Glacial-Holocene environments of the Assynt region: a preliminary insight from deep-lake coring. Proceedings Geologists Association. 123 (1): doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2011.07.006.
2. Crossman, J., Bradley, C., Milner, A. & Boomer, I. 2011.Water flow dynamics of groundwater-fed streams and their ecological significance in a glacierized catchment. Arctic & Alpine Research. 43 (3): 364-379.
3. Maurer, G., Portugal, S.J., Boomer, I. & Cassey, P. 2011. Avian embryonic development does not change the stable isotope composition of the calcite eggshell. Reproduction, Fertility and Development. 23: 339-345. doi:10.1071/RD10138.
   Boomer, I., Guichard, F. & Lericolais, G. 2010. Late Pleistocene to Recent ostracod assemblages from the western Black Sea. Journal of Micropalaeontology. 29: 119-133.
4. Mischke, S., Rajabov, I., Mustaeva, N., Zhang, C., Herzschuh, U., Boomer, I., Brown, E.T., Andersen, N., Myrbo, A., Ito, E. & Schudack, M.E. 2010. Modern hydrology and late Holocene history of Lake Karakul, eastern Pamirs (Tajikistan): A reconnaissance study. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 289: 10-24.
5. Chen, F-H., Chen, J-H., Holmes, J., Boomer, I., Austin, P., Gates, J.B., Wang, N-L., Brooks, S.J. and Zhang, J-W. 2010. Moisture changes over the last millenium in the Arid Central Asia: a review, synthesis and comparison with the monsoon region. Quaternary Science Reviews. 29: 1055-1068.
6. Mischke, S., Almogi-Labin, A., Ortal, R., Schwab, M.J. and Boomer, I. 2010. Quantitative reconstruction of lake conductivity in the Quaternary of the Near East using ostracods. Journal of Paleolimnology. 43: 667-688.
7. Boomer, I., Wünnemann, B., Mackay, A.W., Austin, P., Sorrel, P., Reinhardt, C., Keyser, D. & Fontugne, M. 2009. Advances in understanding the late Holocene history of the Aral Sea. Quaternary International. 194. 79-90.
8. Boomer, I., Lord, A. & Crasquin, S. 2008. The extinction of the Metacopina (Ostracoda). Senckenbergiana lethaea. 88 (1) 47-53.
9. Chen, F., Yu, Z., Yang, M., Ito, E., Wang,S., Madsen, D.B., Huang, X., Zhao,Y., Sato,T., Birks, J., Boomer,I., An, C.& Wünnemann, B. 2008. Holocene moisture evolution in Arid Central Asia and its out-of-phase relationship with Asian monsoon history. Quaternary Science Reviews. 27. 351-364.