Micropalaeontology

Dr Ian Boomer

Ian is a micropalaeontologist who studies calcareous benthic microfossils, particularly ostracods (microscopic Crustacea), but also foraminifera, to reconstruct past environments. His work spans much of the last 200 million years of earth history, with projects as diverse as the late-glacial history of lakes in Scotland to Mesozoic Ocean Anoxic Events.

 

Dr Tom Dunkley Jones

Tom is a micropalaeontologist and palaeoceanographer specialising  in the study of fossil coccolithophore algae. His research interests are focused on coccolithophore palaeoecology, geochemistry and macroevolution. 

 

Dr Kirsty Edgar

Kirsty is a micropalaeontologist and palaeoceanographer, specialising in planktic foraminifer and foraminifer-based geochemical records. She is interested in understanding the timing and nature of the interaction between global climate, geochemical cycling and the marine plankton. 

 

Dr Ivan Sansom

Ivan specialises in the evolution and diversification of Palaeozoic non-tetrapod vertebrates, including conodonts, with a particular focus on the earliest skeletonising fish and the origin of the sharks. Current research primarily focuses on patterns of dispersal within early vertebrates and the influence of their palaeoecology on diversity and extinction.

 

Dr James Wheeley

James' research focuses on utilising conodont oxygen isotopes to elucidate conodont palaeoecology and seawater temperature changes, particularly for the Ordovician. Recent work has been on material from Anticosti and Newfoundland, Canada. Limestone samples collected from Anticosti have also been analysed for uranium isotopes; these tell us about global ocean redox conditions during the end Ordovician mass extinction. 

Dr John Gregory

John is co-owner/director of PetroStrat and is a world-leading industrial expert in Mesozoic to Cenozoic micropalaeontology with global experience covering NW Europe, Africa, Middle East, N & S America, Greenland, Caribbean, Russia and South-East Asia. John’s  particular expertise is Jurassic to Cenozoic micropalaeontology, including siliceous microfossils (radiolaria, diatoms & silicoflagellates)  and foraminifera. John remains active in academic circles, he was President of TMS & Chief Editor of the Journal of Micropalaeontology (6 years) and has served on several committees of the Geological Society including the Stratigraphy Commission. He is Honorary lecturer at the University of Birmingham (MSc course), a Natural History Museum Scientific Associate and has co-supervised a number of MSc and PhD students (incl MedGate).

 

Dr Guy Harrington

Guy is a palynologist with world-leading expertise in Cenozoic fossil pollen and spores. With extensive experience in both academic and industrial micropalaeontology, Guy has held positions at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC and, most recently as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham. He is currently a Senior Stratigrapher at Petrostrat, as well as an Associate Lecturer contributing to the MSc in Applied and Petroleum Micropalaeontology. 

 

Dr Wyn Hughes

Wyn has expertise in thin-section foraminiferal micropalaeontology and microfacies studies of the Upper Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Tertiary through his work in the Solomon Islands Geological Survey and senior consultant for Robertson Research and for Saudi Aramco. He gained MSc, PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and has worked extensively in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Wyn is a Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum, Director of Applied Microfacies Limited, Adjunct Professor at King Fahd University, Honorary Lecturer supporting the University of Birmingham’s MSc in Applied and Petroleum Micropalaeontology and Honorary Lecturer at the Urbino School of Micropalaeontology.

Mariem Saavedra-Pellitero 

Mariem is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow with a scientific background in Earth Sciences and Geology. She is a micropalaentologist specialised in coccolithophores (tiny marine haptophyte algae) and calcareous nannoplankton (their fossil remains), which she uses to reconstruct palaeoproductivity and palaeoceanographic changes at different timescales, with actual links to palaeoclimate and plankton ecology.

Dana Noory Ridha (PhD, 2015-2020)

Dana’s research  used benthic microfossil assemblages (foraminifera and ostracods) to trace deep-water circulation changes and ventilation history associated with long-term cooling in the Indian Ocean during the Neogene. Dana has returned to Autonomous region of Kurdistan, Iraq to take up a faculty position at the University of Salahaddin, Erbil.

 

Zainab Al Rawahi (PhD, 2015-2020)

Zainab’s PhD research focused on the biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments of the Late Cretaceous Natih Formation of Oman. Sponsored by PDO (Petroleum Development Oman), this research developed a revised bio-chronostratigraphic framework using new nannoplankton biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy integrated with existing micropalaeontological biozones. Zainab has returned to her position as a Stratigrapher at PDO.

• Al Rawahi, Z. and Dunkley Jones, T. (2019). Calcareous nannofossil assemblages of the Late Cretaceous Fiqa Formation, north Oman. Journal of Micropalaeontology, Vol. 38(1), 25-54. doi.org:10.5194/jm-38-25-2019.

 

Marcelo de Lira Mota (PhD, 2015-2020)

Marcelo’s research documented sea level and ecological perturbations associated with global cooling at the Eocene-Oligocene transition. This research used exceptionally preserved palynomorphs preserved in the late Eocene Yazoo Clay succession of Jackson Mississippi, and bulk sediment geochemistry. Marcelo went on to take up as a role as an Assistant Researcher at the Technological Institute of Micropalaeontology, University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil.

 

Kate Ashley (née Newton) (PhD, 2014-2020)

Kate's doctoral research involved working with organic geochemistry, and sedimentological and physical property datasets to reconstruct the Holocene record of East Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics.

 

Azrin Azmi (PhD 2014-2018)

Azrin’s research focused on the benthic faunas of Early Jurassic successions from Northern Ireland, with the aim of providing new biostratigraphies as well as palaeoenvironmental, palaeogeographic and palaeoclimate information. Azrin now holds an academic position at the National University of Malaysia.

 

Carlos D’Apolito (PhD 2012-16) 

Carlos’ research is focused on the Neogene environmental history of the Amazon, using palynology to provide long-term estimates of tropical plant diversity. Carlos is currently studying the Neogene and Quaternary formations of western Amazonia. 

Nursufiah Sulaiman (PhD 2012-16)

Sufiah’s research focused on coccolithophore assemblage changes through the late Eocene-early Oligocene of the Mossy Grove core, Mississippi, and the development of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the late Eocene Gulf Coast.