Post-doc-Cambrian stratigraphy

Post-doc-Project (Leverhulme Project, PI Martin Smith)

“A fizzle or a bang: How fast was the Cambrian ‘explosion’?”

Supervisors:

- dr. Martin Smith, Durham University (UK)

- dr. Andrew Millard, Durham University (UK)

To reconstruct past interactions between life and the planet, it is necessary to construct a detailed timeline that links evolutionary events with environmental change. This requires the correlation of geochemical and sedimentary observations with an incomplete fossil record.

This project will construct Bayesian models of stratigraphy and morphological evolution, which will allow diverse sources of geological data to be integrated into a single timeline, allowing tests of causality and correlation.

These models will be applied to the Cambrian Explosion, establishing the character, causes and consequences of this profound evolutionary diversification—thus illuminating the origins of diverse animal-dominated ecosystems and their impact on Earth processes.

Also have a look at the introduction to the project at page 13 at the Leverhulme September 2019 Newsletter