WHAT'S GOING ON?

Field trip in Bolivia

We’ve just wrapped up an incredible field trip to Bolivia, where we explored Devonian geology alongside Geoff Gilleaudeau (George Mason University) and Jeff Over (SUNY Geneseo). Immense thanks to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for generously funding this work, and to the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (University of Copenhagen) for their continued support. Our team also included our talented Master's student Bastian (University of Copenhagen), and SUNY Geneseo undergraduates Ryan, Jamie, and Ethan—an amazing crew all around! A special thanks to Hugo Hymen, Mario Suarez Riglós, Alejandra Dalenz Farjat, and the wonderful team at the Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado (Santa Cruz de la Sierra) for their invaluable scientific and logistical support. We’re excited about the work ahead and the insights this trip will bring to the Devonian world!

Samples collection at Lund University

In the Fall of 2024, Julie Fredborg and I visited Lund University in Sweden to describe cores and collect samples for our research projects on plant evolution during the Late Ordovician. Julie will focus on CO2 atmospheric concentrations during that time whereas I will work on global ocean oxygenation. There are promising results coming soon! Thanks, Mikael for having us.

Invited keynote talk

In September 2023, I had the honor of delivering my first invited keynote talk during the lacustrine session, discussing the development of salinity proxies and their applications in the sedimentological record. It was an extraordinary experience, and I'm excited about potential future collaborations with interested colleagues. Grateful to Eduardo Piovano, Cecilia Benavente, and Daniel Ariztegui for the invitation!

Sedimentology of black shales

In September 2023, along with Marcos Comerio and Germán Otharán, we organized the session entitled 'Sedimentology of black shales' in the Latin American and Argentine Meeting of Sedimentology in La Plata, Argentina. The session consisted of 8 talks, 3 posters, and a lot of participants discussing the physical sedimentological process and geochemistry of this fascinating type of rock.

New samples in the lab

We have received over 220 samples from cores drilled at different depth in the North Pacific Ocean by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) to investigate the warm Pliocene period. By dissolving these samples, we aim to reconstruct the ocean circulation at that time and better understand the dynamics of a warming world and its implications. Stay tuned for exciting updates!

Special session in the 36th IAS Meeting

In the summer of 2023, joint with Miquel Poyatos-Moré, Ernesto Schwarz, Chelsea Pederson, and Orsolya Sztanó we organized the session entitled 'The stratigraphic record of paleoenvironmental variation in epeiric basins'. The session consisted of 8 talks, 6 posters, and a lot of participants willing to discuss and debate this exciting topic, making the session a great success! We had a great time in Dubrovnik!

State Geological Surveys Visits

In the Summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Javier Fernández from the University of Granada, Spain. Together, we embarked on a journey to visit the Geological Surveys of Kentucky, Illinois, and Kansas. Our main focus during the visits was to describe cores and collect samples for Javi's PhD dissertation as well as for our research projects related to the Late Devonian. We had a great time in the Midwest!

New York Field Trip

During the Spring of 2022, I had the wonderful opportunity to join Linda Hinnov (GMU), Jeff Over (SUNY-Geneseo), and Nina Wichern (WWU) on a visit to Upstate New York. Over the course of several days, we explored the Late Devonian black shales, focusing on the expression of the Kellwasser event at one of the region's most renowned localities where it is exposed.

Kentucky Field Trip

After attending the GSA Regional Meeting in Cincinnati in the Spring of 2022, Geoff Gilleaudeau, the students, and I explored several classic exposures of the Upper Devonian Illinois and Appalachian Basins in central Kentucky.

Visit to China

I am really happy to have spent some time in China for the International Workshop on Mesozoic–Palaeogene Hyperthermal Events & the Fifth IGCP 739 Workshop, which wrapped up the IUGS–UNESCO IGCP 739 project that I am very glad to be part of. Special thanks to Xiumian Hu and Zhong Han for the kind invitation. It was a fantastic opportunity not only to discuss exciting science, but also to catch up with colleagues and finally meet in person some collaborators I’ve been working with for years. I’m also very grateful for the warm hospitality of our Chinese colleagues. Beyond the workshop, I had the chance to visit some iconic sites, including the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing and the Great Wall in Beijing—truly unforgettable experiences!

New project funded!

Thrilled to announce that we’ve been awarded an NSF grant to dive deeper into the history of ocean oxygen levels along with Geoff Gilleaudeau! We’re set to explore the dynamics of Devonian marine oxygenation, aiming to unlock new insights into how early ocean ecosystems adapted to big shifts in climate. Excited to get started on this journey that will bring us to Bolivia and Australia!

Appointment as IAS ECSC member

I am truly happy and honored to be appointed as a new member of the IAS Early Career Scientists Committee. This role comes with significant challenges, but I am eager to contribute my skills and previous experience to address them. I look forward to collaborating with the future generation of sedimentologists 💪💪💪

New paper in Chemical Geology II

In our latest research, with input from colleagues across different institutions and countries, we explored the use of elemental salinity proxies (B/Ga, Sr/Ba, S/TOC) in various modern and Holocene environments, ranging from freshwater lakes to marine settings. Our findings show that these proxies are generally reliable (with a few exceptions!). We also found that factors like clay mineralogy have less of an impact than we expected. Overall, our work reinforces the value of these proxies for studying past salinity, while emphasizing the importance of context.

New paper in Chemical Geology!

In this paper, we reconstruct the history of connection and disconnection of an epeiric sea from the open ocean using redox and, primarily, salinity proxies. Analyzing the Cretaceous Agrio Formation (Argentina), we show that initial isolation of the Neuquén Basin led to hypersalinity and anoxia, followed by freshening, with later reconnection marked by a sharp salinity rise before marine fossils and transgressive surfaces appeared. Our findings reveal that salinity proxies are powerful tools for detecting marine-lacustrine transitions in fine-grained successions, even in the absence of fossils.

New collaboration paper in Sedimentology

As part of our efforts to reconstruct ancient epeiric seas, we have combined a comprehensive set of sedimentological and geochemical tools to trace the littoral drift of a Cretaceous shoreline. Using the well-studied deltaic and shoreface sandstones from the Pilmatué Member (Agrio Formation, Neuquén Basin, Argentina), we reconstruct the sand pathways along the shoreline and define this as a Sediment Routing Tract—a segment of the larger Sediment Routing System. Have a look into this multidisciplinary work that truly uses the present as the key to the past!

Conference season

This summer, I had the pleasure of attending two inspiring conferences: the International Meeting of Sedimentology in Huelva, Spain, and the Goldschmidt Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. Both events were fantastic opportunities to share science, reconnect with friends and colleagues, and engage in meaningful discussions. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to serve our community through roles in the IAS Early Career Researcher Committee and on the Board of the Geochemical Society. These meetings were not only important scientific events—they also offered space for vital discussions about the future of our disciplines, collaboration, and how we support each other as researchers.

Research visit to Royal Holloway

Wrapping up a fantastic research visit to the Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London where I had the opportunity to work alongside Alex Dickson to collect uranium isotope data for my current project on past ocean global redox dynamics. Special thanks to Alex for being such a generous host including a wonderful trip to Lyme Regis, where we walked the same cliffs where Mary Anning discovered the first complete ichthyosaur almost 200 years ago.

New collaboration paper in Chemical Geology III

In this paper, we test the reliability of B/Ga ratios as a paleosalinity proxy across diverse sedimentary settings, from modern environments to Devonian shales. While boron uptake varies with clay content, normalization to Ga effectively removes this influence. We find no consistent relationship between B/Ga and specific clay minerals, suggesting that mineralogy generally does not bias B/Ga-based salinity reconstructions. These results support the broad applicability of B/Ga as a salinity proxy, with clay mineral analysis recommended as a complementary tool in select cases.

Appointment as Early Career Director on the Geochemical Society Board

I am honored to be elected as an Early Career Director on the Geochemical Society Board, the governing body of the Society. I sincerely thank all the members for their participation in the election. I am eager to contribute new perspectives to the board and help support our community.

New paper in Global and Planetary Change!

In this paper, we investigate the environmental and climatic drivers of the Frasnian–Famennian (F–F) mass extinction—one of the largest in Earth’s history. Using elemental, isotopic, and organic geochemical data from the Appalachian Basin, we identify a transient glacio-eustatic sea-level fall indicating a short-lived glaciation at the F–F boundary. Orbital-scale (∼18 kyr) sedimentary cycles reveal rapid climate oscillations between humid, highstand, and reducing conditions and drier, lowstand, and more oxic intervals. These findings suggest that the F–F crisis was triggered by brief but significant global cooling, foreshadowing the major Devonian–Carboniferous glaciation that followed ∼12 million years later. It was fantastic to work with such a talented group of colleagues on this study.

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