WHAT'S GOING ON?

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.