Annaka Clement (graduating 2023): Late Triassic-Early Jurassic facies, fossils, and modelling their interactions

Annaka's work has included iron ooids of the Early Jurassic, biogenic sediment assemblages from the Late Triassic (submitted), paleoecological transitions from New Zealand (in progress), and facies interpretations from Nevada and New Zealand! 

Gretchen O'Neil (graduated 2020): Ediacaran worm interactions and the transition to Phanerozoic substrates!

Gretchen studies the worm communities of the terminal Ediacaran, establishing how their interactions influenced their adaptive morphologies and combining ichnology, sedimentology, taphonomy, and paleobiology. Her work has included the discovery of mat-mining burrows below the Precambrian--Cambrian boundary in the western U.S. using petrography, and documenting the influence of surface-traces on the establishment of subsurface bioturbation. 

Here, Gretchen is coating the surface of a rock in a fine white powder in order to increase the visibility of the very subtle worm fossils...

Emily Jackson - Foraminiferal assemblages from Triassic deposits in Nevada

Catherine Bunker - Foraminifera from New Zealand Triassic deposits

Deron Zierer - Modeling distribution of marine vertebrates during the Late Triassic --> co-authored manuscript on Luning Formation ichthyoliths

Haley Marston - Biogenic sediment assemblages from Triassic marine deposits in Nevada

Sara Gibbs-Schucker - Early Mesozoic bivalve taxonomy, including Monotis

Annalie Peterson - Biogenic sediments from Triassic marine deposits of Nevada

Nick Hugo (graduated Dec 2016): Taphonomy of Late Triassic flat clam assemblages from New Zealand  (photo courtesy of Hamish Campbell)

Nick has developed a manuscript (now in review) that quantifies the error associated with reconstructing the original size of Monotis clams in order to further analyze the population structure of these enigmatic shell beds! 

AND: Cretaceous nautiloids of the Western Interior Seaway

...also, Nick is investigating the cephalopods of the Western Interior Seaway, and is currently working on a baculite-rich concretion from Montana. He recently ran the concretion through a CT-scanner at Sanford Hospital, and is documenting the occurrence of these fossils to better understand how these concretions formed. 

Sam Marolt: Late Triassic marine microfossils and volcanic sediments

Sam has been investigating the occurrence of various marine microfossils (including ostracods, echinoderm stereom, and sponge spicules) during an interval of increased volcanic weathering in the Late Triassic. He is currently developing a manuscript about these microfossil populations on an eastern Panthalassa shoreline along a depth transect. 

Joel Schock: Iron ooid formation during the Early Jurassic in eastern Panthalassa

Joel is making thin sections to analyze the occurrence of these weird grains from Nevada, in order to better understand the depositional environment in which they form! 

Kayleigh Alme - Shallow marine fossils from the K/Pg Boundary