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Silicofossil Group Report Summer 2004
The accidental and untimely death of
our friend and colleague Jean-Jacques Pichon, on 9 November
2003 was a shock to us all. Jean-Jacques was a CNRS
Research Scientist at the Department of Geology and
Oceanography, University Bordeaux I, he was 49. We find
the words of his former research students, Leanne Armand
and Xavier Crosta, very fitting; they wrote to the DIATOM-L
listserv, "As a diatom paleoceanographer for more
than 20 years, he was a pioneer on quantitative Southern
Ocean paleoceanography. Jean Jacques has always been
very actively involved into the preparation and active
running of research cruises in the Southern Ocean on
the French RV Marion Dufresne I and follow-up RV Marion
Dufresne II since their inception in the 80's. Those
who had the chance to share ship-time with him remembered
his constant good mood, availability, and working efficiency.
Jean Jacques Pichon is survived by his beloved wife
and two children to whom we address our sincere condolences".
The Micropalaeontological Society would also like to
express condolences to his family, friends, and all
those he inspired and influenced in diatom world, he
will be sorely missed.
June saw the first joint meeting of
the Silicofossil and Palynology groups, held over 2
days (9-10th) in the School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary
Sciences, Cardiff University. Judging by the turn-out
and enthusiasm, it seemed such a gathering had been
long awaited. You can read the meeting report and full
abstracts of all the presentations here
and we'd like to say a big thank you to all those who
took part. It was a fun and informative meeting, a first-step
towards spreading the word on the integration of both
fossil groups and certainly worth the effort of organising.
On the back of this initial success, we're motivated
to continue holding joint meetings of this nature, say,
on a regular basis (in addition to our regular group
meetings). Watching this space for future announcements
is a good idea, although for more frequent updates in-between
newsletter editions, we recommend getting yourself on
our email list since this is the way we can more effectively
communicate with you. Contact Cathy or Ivo - we will
be happy to add you to our list.
We're delighted to announce that Simon
Nielsen successfully defended his Ph.D thesis in March
this year. His research on "Southern Ocean Climate
Variability", was supervised by Nalan Koc (Norwegian
Polar Institute, Tromsø) and Xavier Crosta (Department
of Geology and Oceanography, University Bordeaux I).
He was connected to the University of Tromsø
through Morten Hald. Simon has recently taken up a 3-year
postdoctoral position at the University of Florida to
work with David Hodell (University of Florida) for the
first two years and Lloyd Burckle and Bob Anderson (both
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University,
NY) for the last year. The first 2 years will involve
the study of ice-rafted sediments (petrological composition,
geochemical analysis), stable oxygen isotope analysis
and analysis of radiolarians, sponge spicules and bryozoans.
The last year is dedicated to diatom work at LDEO. The
aim of the project is to trace ice-rafted layers within
South Atlantic sediment cores to determine their provenance,
while the microfossil work will be used to establish
the boundary conditions during these 'South Atlantic
IRD' events. We wish him the best of luck in the States.
It must be something in the air as
we are also delighted to announce that our very own
secretary Ivo Grigorov (Southampton Oceanography Centre)
passed his Ph.D. entitled Southern Ocean Palaeoceanography
of Laminated Sediments, in July. Ivo was supervised
by Alan Kemp (SOC) and worked on Ocean Drilling Program
Leg 177 from the South Atlantic as well as USJGOFS-AESOPS
moored sediment trap array in the Southwest Pacific
with the aim to test whether deep-sea diatom mats can
be used as a temperature-independent proxy for the location
of the Antarctic Polar Front, on geological timescales.
A few thoughts about our future plans
within the Silicofossil Group. We generally attract
fewer participants to our meetings than do, say, the
calcareous groups to theirs. This reflects, in part,
a fewer number of silicofossil workers in general. However,
it is also a reflection of our relative infancy as a
group (founded in 1998) within the Society. It occurred
to us that a good many European silicofossil workers
probably are unaware that the group exists, judging
by the list of names - and relative lack thereof of
European silicofossil specialists, in the Society's
directory. Without overlapping with other organisations,
e.g., The International Society for Diatom Research,
we feel we have a very worthy and necessary role to
play in bringing together diatomists and radiolarian
workers throughout the UK and Europe, via the web, email
and workshops. Since the Society dropped the "British"
part of its name a couple of years ago, there is no
time like the present to push forward with promoting
ourselves (and along with it, the Society in general)
within Europe and elsewhere. This is our job (Cathy's
and Ivo's) as the silicofossil group representatives.
However, you could assist us greatly by providing us
with some information regarding any recent silicofossil
projects (that means anything from diatoms, radiolarians,
silicoflagellates, Ebridians, phytoliths, etc.) you
or your students have undertaken. You may have noticed
in the past that our 'project news' has revolved around
what's been happening within the UK - we're not biased,
its purely that we're unaware what interesting things
the rest of you have been doing! Tell us, and we'll
post it on this website.
Catherine Stickley
Ivo Grigorov
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