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Dr Lorna Kearns

Dr Lorna Kearns

  • Position: Carbonate Research Fellow
  • Areas of expertise: micropalaeontology; planktic foraminifera; geochemistry; palaeobiology; palaeoecology; mass extinctions; climate change; ocean chemistry; stable isotopes; trace elements
  • Email: L.E.Kearns@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 9.160 School of Earth and Environment
  • Website: | Googlescholar | ORCID

Profile

I am a Carbonate Research Fellow on NERC funded project ForSea with Prof. Rob Newton. We use the shells of tiny marine fossils (planktic foraminifera) to develop novel geochemical proxies in order to unlock past ocean chemistry . My role in this project is to devleop proxies (S/Ca and Ba/Ca) on core top material before generating records across key intervals of the Cenozoic period. These proxies will enhance our understanding of ocean chemistry in the past 66 million years and unravel the link between ocean chemistry and climate change. 

Prior to joing the Univeristy of Leeds I was a postoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin where I investigated the recovery of marine ecosystems and productivity following the end Cretaceous mass extinction event (K/Pg). Before moving to the USA I undertook my PhD at the University of Southampton where I applied geochemical and morphological techniques to understand the ecology of planktic foraminifera in both modern and ancient oceans. 

Research interests

I am primarily interested in planktic foraminifera and how they can be used to reveal various aspects of marine ecosystems through geological history. My current research focuses on applying novel geochmical techniques to foraminiferal calcite; untangling biogical, ecological and oceanographic drivers of foraminiferal geochemistry to develop new proxies. Alongside geochemistry I am also interested in understanding how marine ecosystems recover from environmental perurbations ranging from global events like the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event to more regional events like the Messinian salinity crisis. Through this work I have conducted fieldwork in Texas and participated in research expeditions to the Falklands Plataeu and more recently the Tyrrhenian Sea as part of IODP Expedition 402.

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Southampton
  • MRes Marine Geology and Geophysics, University of Southampton (Distinction)
  • BSc Geological Sciences with year in industry, University of Leeds