Lecture: A Bug's Life
Speaker:
Date and Time
19:00 -
Location
Virtual Talk via Zoom
Lecture Description
Despite entering university with an interest in volcanic activity (following an expedition to Iceland), the undergraduate training at Imperial College provided an opportunity to develop an abiding interest in microfossils. Since that change in the 1960s, the following 50+ years has developed this interest in the role of ‘problem solving’ using microfossils. While some of these ‘problems’ have been the usual biostratigraphical work, some of them have involved multi-million pound projects trying to build structures like the Channel Tunnel, the Thames Barrier, some motorways and other engineering challenges. Oilfield work, including directional drilling in chalk-based fields in the North Sea Basin and giant fields in the Middle East, have also proved challenging. In recent times, microfossils have been used to determine the volcanic history of Montserrat, as well as changes in ocean acidification.