About me

I am Sam, a first year PhD research student in Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. My studies are into 'High resolution geochemical analysis of carbonate fossils and sediments', supervised by Prof Julian Andrews and Dr Jenni Turner. My research is currently based around using the fossil coral Cladocora caespitosa as a potential high resolution palaeoclimatic indicator for the Mediterranean. 

Cladocora caespitosa, Holocene (10kyr), Mavra Litharia, Greece 

To do this I am attempting to use various trace element and  carbon and oxygen stable isotope concentrations, measured by ICP-MS and mass spectrometry respectively, as proxies for paleotemperature and other environmental parameters.

So far I have collected material from Greece, where we have well-preserved and dated Cladocora caespitosa  ranging back to about 130, 000 years.  We can already see some rather promising seasonal scale signals in our preliminary analyses. 

Gulf of Corinth, Greece

Previous to coming to Norwich  I did an integrated undergraduate and masters degree in geology at the University of Liverpool. It was the research I carried out as part of my Masters project into the formation of Jurassic marine carbonate concretions that got me interested in the geochemical and analytical side of geology. I was using organic and inorganic chemistry and carbon and oxygen stable isotopes to work out how these lumps of carbonate were formed by various microbially mediated processes. Which was much more interesting than that sounds.

When not doing science I am a avid motorcyclist and mountain biker, basically I just love messing about on anything with two wheels. I'm also a keen hiker, fisherman and fan of heavy metal music -  which may seem like an odd mix, but that's just me.

Me