Accurate and detailed sedimentary facies models are crucial for reconstructing Earth's past climates, ocean chemistry, and ecosystem changes, including major events like mass extinctions. Sedimentary rocks – the archives of Earth history – record multiple influences that must be carefully disentangled. For example, sedimentary geochemical data may reflect original changes in geochemical conditions through time, or changes in depth, sediment supply, or diagenesis. In ancient climate science, sedimentary data may reflect changes in climate over time, or local changes in environment. Ambiguities can only be resolved with a detailed understanding of the depositional record. 

 

Sedimentary processes during the Precambrian and early Paleozoic were different to modern because of the absence of land plants, the strange chemical composition of the oceans, and the absence of (or very minimal) bioturbation.​ My research focuses on refining knowledge of sedimentary processes in nearshore environments though time. By doing so, I aim to provide a strong foundation for interpreting key ecosystem, climate, and ocean chemistry changes that are recorded in the sedimentary rock record.

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