2023: Richard Bensen, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)

Revealing paleoenvironmental changes in bottom water conditions during the Campanian–Maastrichtian Cooling Event in central Europe, eastern Poland – insights from agglutinated foraminifera.

During the Campanian–Maastrichtian period, a significant global cooling event occurred within the Cretaceous Greenhouse. This event has been identified through macrofossils, calcareous nannoplankton, and geochemical proxies in regions including western Europe, North America, the Atlantic, and southern high latitudes. Recent research indicated cooling in central Europe (eastern Poland) based on phytoplankton analysis. However, such environmental changes were not detected in studies focused on benthic organisms. Agglutinated foraminifera have proven to be effective proxies for reconstructing paleoenvironmental changes in mid-Cretaceous carbonate-dominated hemipelagic environments. Using a formic acid-based acetolysis method, well-preserved agglutinated foraminiferal assemblages, including Deep Water Agglutinated Foraminifera (DWAF), can be retrieved from calcareous rocks, offering more diverse assemblages than standard methods reveal. The research aims to assess the agglutinated foraminiferal content of opoka and marls from the Campanian–Maastrichtian Middle Vistula sections. It will evaluate the impact of environmental changes, such as cooling, on benthic organisms in central Europe and compare these findings with studies on planktic organisms.

2022: Sonia Clara Camina, San Luis University (Argentina)

Exceptionally well-preserved chitinozoans from the lower Silurian Measley Ridge roadcut (Ohio, USA), and their application in high-resolution biostratigraphy

Chitinozoans, an extinct group of organic-walled microfossil, are a valuable group for Palaeozoic biostratigraphy. The Measley Ridge section (southern Ohio, USA) provides a spectacular example of Silurian strata straddling the Llandovery-Wenlock boundary. Previous studies have provided some age constraint and the initial processing of test samples has proven a good yield of diverse and well-preserved chitinozoans. The aims of this project are to produce a detailed chitinozoan biostratigraphy for the Measley Ridge section, confirm the position of the Llandovery-Wenlock boundary in the section, and to identify any evidence of step-wise extinction related to the Ireviken carbon isotope event.

2021: Stephanie Stainbank, Oceanographic Research Institute (South Africa)

Assessing the biomonitoring value of foraminifera for South Africa’s coral reefs

Foraminifera are invaluable modern and palaeo-biomonitoring tools as their short life spans mean their assemblage compositions respond rapidly to environmental changes. In addition, the application of their numerous biotic indices provides an easily quantifiable measure/scale of environmental quality. While the use of foraminifera within global coral reef biomonitoring initiatives is well established, limited studies have been conducted in South Africa. The study of collections at the Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI) of South Africa will allow the assessment of the biomonitoring potential of foraminifera for South Africa’s coral reefs, one of the most southerly distributions of these communities in the world.

2021: Connor O’Keeffe, University of Leeds (UK)

Palynology of short-duration redox shifts in the early Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire

The recent rise in the occurrence of anthropogenic reduced oxygen conditions (dysoxia) in coastal environments and resulting killing of marine animals is of great concern. The duration of these events, and their long-term consequences to marine communities, are poorly understood. However, the geological record contains many episodes of marine dysoxia and anoxia (a complete lack of oxygen) across a wide range time scales and geographical extent. This project will focus on the Whitby Mudstone Formation (WMF), which outcrops along the North Yorkshire coast, to assess the redox state of the water column using dinoflagellate and prasinophyte abundance, and the degree of terrestrial input of organic matter (which is suspected to have occurred, based on Rock-Eval Pyrolysis) using alginite and plant spores, which will be a proxy for fresh-water run-off.

2019: Martyn Golding, Geological Survey of Canada & University of British Columbia (Canada)

Conodont Biostratigraphy and Definition of the Lower–Middle Triassic Boundary in Romania

The boundary between Lower and Middle Triassic represents the final stages of recovery of marine organisms in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction. Despite the importance of this time interval, the correlation of sections spanning this boundary is controversial, hampering efforts to understand rates and mechanisms operating during extinction recovery. Conodonts are especially abundant and diverse at the Deşli Caira section in Romania. Study of collections at the University of Bucharest will enable comparison with faunas from other important sections in China, Albania, and North America, allowing the evolutionary events of this time interval to be more accurately dated.

Conodonts from the Deşli Caira section in Romania (such as Neogondolella n. sp. A, pictured) allow for high-resolution correlation of the Lower-Middle Triassic Boundary (scale bar = 300μm).

2019: Sophie Westacott, Yale University (USA)

Macroevolutionary Trends in Silica use by Paleozoic Radiolarians

As radiolarians rose to prominence in the early Paleozoic, they are believed to have radically altered ocean geochemistry, locking up enough dissolved silicate (dSi) that near-surface water concentrations declined by an order of magnitude between the Precambrian and the Silurian. When diatoms came to dominate in the Cenozoic and drew down dSi concentrations still further, radiolarians responded to the increasing silica limitation by constructing thinner, more porous tests. Did radiolarian morphology shift during the Paleozoic as well to reflect the reduction in available silica created by their own expansion? Qualitative observations suggest early Ordovician radiolarians were considerably heftier than later radiolarians, but there has been no quantitative analysis to back this up. Measuring the test size, wall thickness, and porosity of well-preserved Paleozoic radiolarians will test the hypothesis that there was a directional trend toward reduced silicification across the Paleozoic and improve understanding of the role of biology in the early evolution of the silica cycle.

Lower Silurian radiolarian exhibiting relatively large body size, thick test outer wall, and minor siliceous overgrowths.

2017: Peter Stassen

Eocene larger benthic foraminifera, mainly Nummulites, occur in multiple levels in Belgium and are well-represented in museum collections. These occurrences in the North Sea Basin are probably controlled by pulses of northward migration during warmer climate conditions. Recently, a new paleotemperature proxy has been proposed for their use in climate reconstructions, as variations in the shell chemistry can reveal both annual and seasonal changes of seawater temperature. The integration of geochemical and biotic data will define the downfall of one species and the rise of another on a NW European scale, thus linking their distribution and evolution to Eocene climate development.

A well-preserved specimen of Nummulites aquitanicus from the Egem sands in the Ampe Quarry near Egem (Belgium), deposited during the early Eocene climate optimum (EECO).

Until recently, there were no degree-level training courses in Applied Micropalaeontology in the U.K. or continental Europe. Apart from one or two PhD students, Biostratigraphy was no longer being trained. The Micropalaeontology Society recognised this alarming situation and established an Educational Trust Fund as a Registered Charity in 2011.

This Trust, with eight industry-based trustees, is raising the funds required to finance studentships at those academic locations where micropalaeontologists can still be trained within Europe. For example, TMS support was instrumental in helping the University of Birmingham establish their MSc course “Applied Micropalaeontology”, where we have covered the tuition fees of fourteen students over the 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20 academic years. Unfortunately, this course will cease at the end of the 2019-20 academic year.

Due to a major income reduction, we can no longer provide MSc-level scholarships.

Our aim is, funds permitting, to provide support for TMS student members who wish to attend one of the following short courses:

• Urbino Foram Summer School
• Terrestrially-Derived Fossil Palynoflora: Subsurface Application to Petroleum Geology. Master Class
• Polar Marine Diatom Workshop
• INA; Nannofossil short course — these run every two years
• European School on Ostracoda (University of Jena, Germany)

Scholarships for these courses are highly competitive. We hope, funds permitting, to provide a sponsored place on each course when they run. The application deadline of 31st March of each year.

Please get in touch with the TMS Industrial Liaison Officer if you would like information on whether your taught course would be considered for support by TMS Education Fund, whether a proposal by you would be suitable or would like more information on the scheme. Any award is totally at the discretion of the Board of Trustees for the TMS Educational Trust Fund.

To apply for funding, please use the application form and send it to the Industrial Liaison Officer. 

Dr. Matt Wakefield (Lealt Stratigraphic Consultants Limited); Chair

Dr. Haydon Bailey (Network Stratigraphic Ltd; former chair)

Dr. Robert Campbell (Shell International)

Dr. Jim Fenton (CGG-Robertson)

Dr. Dan Finucane (BP)

David Hulks (Equinor)

Dr. Emma Sheldon (GEUS)

Dr. Manuel Viera (Shell International; Treasurer)

Former Trustees (now retired from board);

Dr. Shirley van Heck (Shell International)

Dr. Bob Wyn Jones (BG Group)

Matt Hampton (Network Stratigraphic Ltd; former treasurer)

Dr. Nick Holmes (RPS-Ichron Ltd)

Dr. Simon Payne (BP)

Dr. Bruce Tocher (Equinor)

Dr. Jeremy Young (UCL; former treasurer)