Terrestrial and marine cenozoic palynology: high latitude biostratigraphy, ecostratigraphy and stable isotope stratigraphy

孢子和花粉以微小的化石形式大量存在于沉积物中，可以被孢粉学家识别出来，与现代植被中的类似物种进行比较。 它们可用于重建新生代（过去6500万年）气候变暖和变冷时发生的古代植被变化。 加拿大北方特别容易受到与气候波动有关的植被变化的影响，因为在过去的几千万年里，它占据了靠近北极的高纬度位置，在那里，小的变化可能导致大的影响。 该研究计划的重点是在麦肯齐三角洲和邻近的博福特海下发育的北极沉积盆地，这对石油生产很重要，也因为它包含了深部气候变化的记录。 这项研究的结果将阐明加拿大长期以来的气候变化，特别是将阐明5000万至6000万年前发生的极端温暖气候，以及非常凉爽的条件的开始和最终的冻结导致加拿大大部分地区在地质学上最近的过去，可能开始于1500万年前。 微小的单细胞藻类（腰鞭毛虫）也存在于海底沉积物中，它们的快速进化可以用来准确地校准气候变化的时间，也可以确定早期北冰洋的性质，当它形成时，它的盐度变化。 这项研究具有实际应用，可以立即用于石油和天然气工业，因为它为勘探地质学家提供了关于深层石油和天然气威尔斯井中岩石何时以及如何沉积的信息。

Spores and pollen occur abundantly as tiny fossils in sediments and can be identified by palynologists to make comparisons with similar species in the modern vegetation.  They can be used to reconstruct changes in ancient vegetation that occurred as the climate warmed and cooled through the Cenozoic (the last 65 million years).  Northern Canada is particularly susceptible to vegetational changes linked to climatic fluctuations because for the last several tens of millions of years it has occupied a high latitude position close to the North Pole where small changes can lead to large effects.  This research program focuses on an Arctic sedimentary basin developed under the Mackenzie Delta and adjacent Beaufort Sea which is important for petroleum production and also because it contains a record of climate change in deep time.  The results of this research will clarify how climates have changed in Canada over long periods of time, and particularly will shed light on extreme warm climates which occurred 50-60 million years ago on the one hand, and the onset of very cool conditions and the eventual freeze-up leading to the glaciation of much of Canada in the geologically recent past, starting perhaps 15 million years ago.  Tiny single celled algae (dinoflagellates) also occur in sediments deposited on the sea floor, and their rapid evolution can be used to accurately calibrate times of climate change and also determine the nature of the early Arctic Ocean, when it was formed, and its changing salinity.  This research has practical applications which can be immediately used in the oil and gas industry because it provides information for the exploration geologist on when and how rocks from deep oil and gas wells were deposited.