Dr Ian Boomer

Dr Ian Boomer

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Honorary Associate Professor in Micropalaeontology

Contact details

Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Ian is a micropalaeontologist who studies calcareous microfossils, particularly ostracods (microscopic Crustacea), but also benthic foraminifera, to reconstruct past environments.

Qualifications

  • 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

Teaching

Ian contributes to year 2 modules on Palaeoecology and Sedimentology and year 3 Basins module which includes the Spain field course. In the 4th year of the MSci programme I lead the Placements, Advanced Skills and Advanced Project modules.

Doctoral research

PhD title
My PhD was entitled "The temporal and spatial distribution of Early Jurassic Ostracoda from North West Europe"

Research

Ian's research focuses on calcareous microfossils, mainly the Ostracoda (or ostracods). Ostracods are microscopic crustaceans (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 and lake evolution, they can also track pollution. 
Ian has a particular interest in the geological record of ostracods around the period of the latest Triassic and Early Jurassic, especially the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. Other research includes studies of climate changes that occurred between about 15,000 and 10,000 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean and Arid Central Asia (Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea). Recently, Ian has been working with teams of vertebrate palaeontologists, using microfossils from the matrix surrounding large, vertebrate fossils to help identify the age and geographic origin of museum specimens. Ian also has an interest in Holocene coastal change and modern coastal processes. He has worked with archaeological teams as a geoarchaeologist and has been employed in archaeological consultancy (2022-2024, Archaeological Research Services Ltd) and continues to work as a consultant to archaeological projects.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Marsden, MK, Gunn, J, Maidment, SCR, Nichols, G, Wheeley, JR, Russell, CE, Boomer, I, Stukins, S & Butler, RJ 2025, 'Palaeoenvironment and taphonomy of the Hypsilophodon Bed, Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation, Isle of Wight', Journal of the Geological Society. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2024-046

Larkin, NR, Lomax, DR, Evans, M, Nicholls, E, Dey, S, Boomer, I, Copestake, P, Bown, P, Riding, JB, Withers, D & Davis, J 2023, 'Excavating the ‘Rutland Sea Dragon’: The largest ichthyosaur skeleton ever found in the UK (Whitby Mudstone Formation, Toarcian, Lower Jurassic)', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 134, no. 5-6, pp. 627-640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.09.003

Hesselbo, SP, Al-Suwaidi, A, Baker, SJ, Ballabio, G, Belcher, CM, Bond, A, Boomer, I, Bos, R, Bjerrum, CJ, Bogus, K, Boyle, R, Browning, JV, Butcher, AR, Condon, DJ, Copestake, P, Daines, S, Dalby, C, Damaschke, M, Damborenea, SE, Deconinck, JF, Dickson, AJ, Fendley, IM, Fox, CP, Fraguas, A, Frieling, J, Gibson, TA, He, T, Hickey, K, Hinnov, LA, Hollaar, TP, Huang, C, Hudson, AJL, Jenkyns, HC, Idiz, E, Jiang, M, Krijgsman, W, Korte, C, Leng, MJ, Lenton, TM, Leu, K, Little, CTS, MacNiocaill, C, Manceñido, MO, Mather, TA, Mattioli, E, Miller, KG, Newton, RJ, Page, KN, Pálfy, J, Pieńkowski, G, Porter, RJ, Poulton, SW, Riccardi, AC, Riding, JB, Roper, A, Ruhl, M, Silva, RL, Storm, MS, Suan, G, Szűcs, D, Thibault, N, Uchman, A, Stanley, JN, Ullmann, CV, van de Schootbrugge, B, Vickers, ML, Wadas, S, Whiteside, JH, Wignall, PB, Wonik, T, Xu, W, Zeeden, C & Zhao, K 2023, 'Initial results of coring at Prees, Cheshire Basin, UK (ICDP JET project): towards an integrated stratigraphy, timescale, and Earth system understanding for the Early Jurassic', Scientific Drilling, vol. 32, pp. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-32-1-2023

Fairchild, IJ, Bao, H, Windmill, RJ & Boomer, I 2023, 'The Marinoan cap carbonate of Svalbard: Syngenetic marine dolomite with 17O-anomalous carbonate-associated sulphate', Depositional Record, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 482-507. https://doi.org/10.1002/dep2.201

Edgar, K, MacLeod, KG, Hasegawa, T, Hanson, E, Boomer, I & Kirby, N 2022, 'Data Report: Cenozoic and Upper Cretaceous bulk carbonate stable carbon and oxygen isotopes from IODP Expedition 369 Sites U1513, U1514 and U1516, in the southeast Indian Ocean', Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, vol. 369. https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.369.206.2022

Asrat, A, Baker, A, Duan, W, Leng, MJ, Boomer, I, Akter, R, Mariethoz, G, Adler, L, Jex, CN, Yadeta, M & Wang, L 2022, 'Stalagmite evidence for Early Holocene multidecadal hydroclimate variability in Ethiopia', Quaternary Research (United States), vol. 110, pp. 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2022.29

Boomer, I, Copestake, P, Page, K, Huxtable, J, Loy, T, Bown, P, Dunkley Jones, T, O'Callaghan, M, Hawkes, S, Halfacree, D, Reay, H & Caughtry, N 2021, 'Biotic and stable-isotope characterization of the Toarcian Ocean Anoxic Event through a carbonate–clastic sequence from Somerset, UK', Geological Society Special Publication, vol. 514, no. 1, pp. 239-268. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP514-2020-263

Domínguez-Villar, D, Krklec, K, Boomer, I & Fairchild, IJ 2021, 'ISODRIP, a model to transfer the δ18O signal of precipitation to drip water — implementation of the model for Eagle Cave (central Spain)', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 797, 149188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149188

Boomer, I, Binti Azmi, A, Copestake, P & Raine, R 2021, 'Lower Jurassic (Hettangian–Pliensbachian) microfossil biostratigraphy of the Ballinlea-1 well, Rathlin Basin, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 132, no. 6, pp. 657-666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.06.002

Raine, R, Copestake, P, Simms, M & Boomer, I 2021, 'Uppermost Triassic to Lower Jurassic sediments of the island of Ireland and its surrounding basins', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 132, no. 6, pp. 627-640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.04.001

Raine, RJ, Fenton, J, Boomer, I, Azmi, A & Copestake, P 2021, 'Uppermost Triassic to Lower Jurassic stratigraphy in the Lough Foyle Basin of County Londonderry, Northern Ireland', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 132, no. 6, pp. 641-656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2021.09.007

Maddy, D, Veldkamp, A, Demir, T, Aytaç, AS, Schoorl, JM, Scaife, R, Boomer, I, Stemerdink, C, Van Der Schriek, T, Aksay, S & Lievens, C 2020, 'Early Pleistocene river terraces of the Gediz River, Turkey: the role of faulting, fracturing, volcanism and travertines in their genesis', Geomorphology, vol. 358, 107102, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107102

Mauquoy, D, Payne, RJ, Babeshko, KV, Bartlett, R, Boomer, I, Bowey, H, Evans, CD, Ring-Hrubesh, F, Muirhead, D, O'Callaghan, M, Piotrowska, N, Rush, G, Sloan, T, Smeaton, C, Tsyganov, AN & Mazei, YA 2020, 'Falkland Island peatland development processes and the pervasive presence of fire', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 240, 106391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106391

Sekeryapan, C, Streurman, HJ, van der Plicht, J, Woldring, H, van der Veen, Y & Boomer, I 2020, 'Late Glacial to mid Holocene lacustrine ostracods from southern Anatolia, Turkey: a palaeoenvironmental study with pollen and stable isotopes', Catena, vol. 188, 104437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104437

Comment/debate

Boomer, I, Raine, R & Simms, M 2021, 'The Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic of Ireland', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 132, no. 6, pp. 625-626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2021.10.002

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