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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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