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Centre for Palynology Newsletter 2

December 2012

Editorial

There was a very positive response to the first Centre for Palynology newsletter that was distributed

at the end of 2011. Consequently we will continue with this venture and a second edition has been

prepared for 2012. We hope you find it informative and an enjoyable read. Several alumni suggested

we initiate a ‘where are they now?’ feature. So if you would like to let colleagues know where you

now are and what you are doing, please send me a short paragraph that I can incorporate into the

next edition. Furthermore, we still need to track down various alumni. So if you know of someone

who is not on the distribution list please ask them to e-mail Charles Wellman with their details

(c.wellman@sheffield.ac.uk). In this issue we also have details of the upcoming Sheffield Geology

reunion that will take place in September (details on p.8). It is hoped that there will be a strong

contingent of palynologists at this event.

Current Sheffield palynologists. From left to right: Sam Slater, Simon Wallace, Steph Wood, Steve Ellin and Charles

Wellman (Faisal Abuhmida, Jenny Morris and Bernard Owens were not available for the photo shoot)

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Graduating Ph.D.s

Doreen Mkuu was awarded a M.Phil. following her viva voce exam in October. Doreen’s thesis was

entitled “The palynology of Paleogene sediments from southern coastal Tanzania”. Doreen’s

research was funded by the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation and she was supervised

by Charles Wellman. Bernard Owens was internal examiner and Guy Harringtom (University of

Birmingham) the external examiner. Doreen has returned to Tanzania and continues her work with

the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation.

Brian Pedder was awarded a Ph.D. following his viva voce exam in December. Brian’s thesis was entitled “The Palynology of the Cambrian Nolichucky Shale at Thorn Hill, Tennessee, USA”. Brian’s research was funded by a NERC Open CASE award with the Natural History Museum, London. He was jointly supervised by Charles Wellman and Suzanne Feist-Burkhardt and Tim Potter at the NHM, London. Bernard Owens was internal examiner and Stewart Molyneux (British Geological Survey) the external examiner. Brian is now at Cambridge University working with Nick Butterfield and Thomas Harvey.

Janine Pendleton was awarded a Ph.D. following her viva voce exam in October. Janine’s thesis was

entitled “Palynological and palaeobotanical investigation of the Carboniferous deposits of the Bristol

Coalfield, UK: biostratigraphy, systematics and palaeoecology”. Janine’s research was funded by a

NERC CASE award with the National Museum Wales, Cardiff. She was jointly supervised by Charles

Wellman and Chris Cleal of the National Museum Wales. Bernard Owens was internal examiner and

Geoff Clayton (Trinity College Dublin) the external examiner. Janine is now working with Petrostrat.

Brian cutting his graduation cake

…a cake with a giant chocolate trilobite on top!

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Current Ph.D.s

Ph.D. students in palynology as of 2012. From left to right: Steph Wood, Sam Slater, Simon Wallace (Faisal Abuhmida

was not available for the photo shoot)

Faisal Abuhmida is in the fourth and final year of his Ph.D. working on the palynology of the

Ordovician-Silurian of the Murzuk Basin, Libya. Faisal’s research is funded by the Libyan Petroleum

Institute and is supervised by Charles Wellman.

Simon Wallace is in the fourth and final year of his Ph.D. research working on the molecular genetics

of spore wall formation in the extant model plant (moss) Physcomitrella. He is jointly supervised by

Andy Fleming, Charles Wellman and David Beerling (all of the Dept. of Animal & Plant Sciences of the

University of Sheffield). Simon’s research forms an exciting collaboration between the palynological

and molecular research in the department.

Sam Slater is in the second year of his Ph.D. research project. Sam is working on Middle Jurassic

terrestrial palynology based on a mixture of classic UK sites, offshore North Sea Basin material and

comparative material from the Southern Hemisphere. Sam’s Ph.D. is a NERC CASE award with Shell

and is jointly supervised by Charles Wellman and Iain Prince and Kat Burgess of Shell.

Steph Wood commenced her Ph.D. research in October. She is working on Jurassic-Cretaceous

palynology of the Gulf of Mexico. Steph’s Ph.D. is a NERC Open CASE award with Shell and is jointly

supervised by Charles Wellman and Iain Prince and Kat Burgess of Shell.

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Undergraduate teaching

This year six undergraduate students selected palaeontology for their Level 3 project topic. They

were given four extremely rare examples of tiny dispersed seeds recovered from coals from the

Forest of Dean coalfield. Ted Spinner discovered the seeds during his many hours of megaspore

picking from the Forest of Dean coals. The students examined them using light and scanning electron

microscopy before sectioning them for light microscope analysis of their gross structure and

transmission electron microscope analysis of their wall ultrastructure. This detailed analysis

confirmed the seed status of the fossils but the biological affinities of these tiny seeds remain

elusive.

There is a single Level 4 masters student studying palaeontology this year. Georgia Mills is

investigating the palynology of the fish ‘scales’ that occasionally turn up in palynological

preparations. She has taken complete thelodont fish, from the Silurian inliers of the Midland Valley

of Scotland, and gently dissolved them. Sure enough the organic lining of the denticles survive the

process intact and she is in the process of picking these and examining them using light, scanning

and transmission electron microscopy. The denticles are of variable morphology within the fish and

can be mapped onto denticle patterns documented by fish workers. Interestingly different fish taxa

can be identified based on their denticles and consequently they make a useful palaeobiological

tool. Furthermore, denticles are used in biostratigraphy, and thus their palynology may be of some

biostratigraphical value (although they tend to be fairly rare in standard palynological preparations).

The 2012 Palaeontological Association undergraduate prize was awarded to Kimberley Mullins.

Kimberley performed well in all of her undergraduate palaeontology modules. She performed

particularly well in her Level 3 project which involved a study of dispersed plant cuticles from

Permian deposits from Nottingham.

Kimberley Mullins, winner of the 2012 Palaeontological Association undergraduate prize, photographed next to the

Titanites giganteus specimen collected by P. C. Sylvester Bradley in 1947

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New Arrivals

Welcome to Dr Jenny Morris who has joined us on a three-year post. doc. Jenny is working on a

NERC standard grant “Evolutionary rise of deep-rooting forests and enhanced chemical weathering:

quantitative investigations into the current paradigm”. Jenny joins us from Cardiff University where

she undertook a Ph.D. and post. doc. working on Lower Devonian Lower Old Red Sandstone

palynology, palaeobotany and sedimentology. Jenny was supervised by Dianne Edwards and John

Richardson.

Jenny Morris getting to know the microscopes in the new collections room

Laboratory News

There have been no major changes on the lab front with Steve Ellin continuing to run the lab and

train the incoming Ph.D. students.

Collections News

Following the clearance of Dainton Building the collections have been relocated to the Alfred Denny

Building. We are fortunate to have been given the large laboratory directly opposite Charles

Wellman’s office on C-floor. The room now houses all of the slide collections, the microscopes and

all of the theses. It is ideal for students and visitors who can peruse the theses in comfort and

examine and photograph relevant slides. We continue with the time consuming task of assembling

an electronic catalogue of all the stored materials.

Library news

The library has also been relocated to the Alfred Denny Building. It continues to grow and this year

saw a significant donation of reprints, books and theses from Rex Harland.

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Congratulations to:-

Professor Charles Wellman who was promoted to a personal chair in January. Charles was also

elected as the new president of the International Federation of Palynological Societies (IFPS) and

commenced this 4-year role at the International Palynological Congress in Tokyo, Japan in August.

Publications 2012

Falcon-Lang, H. J., Cleal, C. J., Pendleton, J. L. & Wellman, C. H. 2012. Pennsylvanian (mid/late Bolsovian-Asturian ) permineralised plant assemblages of the Pennant Sandstone Formation of southern Britain: Systematics and palaeoecology. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 173, 23-45.

Kenrick, P., Wellman, C. H., Schneider, H. & Edgecombe, G. D. 2012. A timeline for Terrestrialization: consequences for the Carbon Cycle in the Palaeozoic. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 367, 519-536.

Pendleton, J. L., Cleal, C. J., Falcon-Lang, H. J., Wagner, R. H. & Wellman, C. H. 2012. Palaeobotany of the Pennsylvanian (mid-Bolsovian – Cantabrian; Moscovian) Warwickshire Group of the Bristol Coalfield, UK: Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 179, 17-43.

Potter, T. L., Pedder, B. E. & Feist-Burkhardt, S. 2012. Cambrian Furongian Series acritarchs from the Comley area, Shropshire, England. Journal of Micropalaeontology 31, 1-28.

Wellman, C. H., Zhu, H., Marshall, J. E. A., Wang, Y., Berry, C. M. & Xu, H. 2012. Spore assemblages from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation from Qujing, Yunnan, China. Palaeontology 55, 583-611.

Xu, H.-H., Marshall, J. E. A., Berry, C. M., Wang, Y., Zhu, H.-C. & Wellman, C. H. 2012. Mid Devonian megaspores from Yunnan and North Xinjiang, China: Their palaeogeographical and palaeoenvironmental significances. Palaeoworld 21, 11-19.

Meetings attended 2012

Members of the Centre for Palynology have attended a number of meetings this year and presented

a variety of talks and posters (many of you will have witnessed these). These are listed below:-

AASP-The Palynological Society 45th

Annual Meeting (Kentucky, USA) [Wellman]

International Palynological Congress/International Organization of Palaeobotany Congress (Tokyo, Japan)

[Abuhmida, Pendleton, Slater, Wellman]

Linnean Society Palaeobotany Specialist Group Annual Meeting (London, UK) [Slater, Wellman]

Linnean Society Palynology Specialist Group Annual Meeting (London, UK) [Slater, Wellman]

Palaeontology Association 56th

Annual Meeting (Dublin, Ireland) [Slater, Wellman, Wood]

The Micropalaeontological Society Palynology Specialist Group meeting (Sheffield, UK) [Abuhmida, Mkuu,

Pedder, Pendleton, Slater, Wellman]

TMS Palynology Group Sheffield

The Centre for Palynology hosted The Micropalaeontological Society (TMS) Palynology Specialist

Group Meeting 2012 on 1st June. The event was attended by 25 participants, including a strong

contingent who travelled up from Southampton. The afternoon meeting, following lunch in the

University Arms, consisted of 9 talks. After the meeting discussion continued in the University Arms

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before we headed off into town to cap the evening off with a curry. It was a very successful and

enjoyable meeting and it was great to catch up with some old friends.

Fieldwork 2012

This year has seen a number of collecting trips. Sam Slater undertook a number of field trips to the

Middle Jurassic of the Yorkshire coast. As usual Charles Wellman spent a part of May in Scotland

collecting among the Old Red Sandstone, but including a brief meet with Paul Strother (Boston) to

continue their collaboration on the Torridonian. Later in May he visited the deserts of southwestern

USA with Willy Taylor (Wisconsin), Linda Graham (Wisconsin) and Louise Lewis (Storres) in a

continuation of their NERC-funded project examining terrestrial algae. Jenny Morris visited New York

State in September where she oversaw the drilling of a number of boreholes through Devonian

paleosol horizons.

Jenny with her cored palaeosol from the Devonian of New York State

Visitors

This year we had numerous visitors. Dave Shaw and Guy Harrington kindly spent time with Doreen

Mkuu providing some excellent advice on her Paleogene palynomorphs. We also had visits from

Dave Bodman, Awad Ibrahim, Hartmut Jaeger, Duncan McLean and Hendrik Nowak (a new Ph.D.

student with Thomas Servais in Lille) who made use of the library and collections. Bob Wagner,

former lecturer in the Geology Department, visited Sheffield and a lunch was held in his honour.

Many of Bob’s former Ph.D. students attended including Ted Spinner. Of course we also had

numerous visitors during the TMS Palynology Group meeting in Sheffield.

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Geology Centenary Reunion

Alison Hunter, a former student in the geology department, is making preparations to celebrate the

centenary of geology at Sheffield University. Alison has established a website

[http://www.geologyatsheffield.co.uk] and is writing a book. The website is well worth a visit with

wonderful images of Sheffield geology fieldtrips past. Alison is also organizing a centenary reunion

and book launch to be held on 21st September 2013. Details of the reunion are to be found on the

website noted above. It is anticipated that lots of former palynology students will attend and it will

be a great opportunity to get together.

Outreach

Outreach is becoming an increasingly important element of university activities. The Centre

for Palynology was involved in two such events this year.

Janine Pendleton was instrumental in establishing the ‘Bolsover Dragonfly’ exhibition at

Cresswell Crags Museum. The exhibit centres on the famous giant dragonfly fossil

Erasipteron bolsoveri that was discovered at the colliery adjacent to the present day

museum site in the 1970s. Janine composed much of the text and helped the artist with the

panels for the exhibit. Several of us were invited to the VIP launch of the exhibition where

we met the miner who, remarkably, discovered the fossil as it passed by on an underground

conveyor belt removing spoil.

Janine at the opening of the Bolsover Dragonfly exhibition

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In 2011 the Department of Animal & Plant Sciences initiated an annual Christmas lecture for

Sheffield schools. Last year it was “Birds are amazing” by Tim Birkhead and this year Charles

Wellman was persuaded to present “Dinosaurs are dynamite”. The interactive talk had an

audience of over 1200 including 900+ school children. It featured a full scale reconstruction

of a Tyranosaurus head as well as live lizards and birds. Numerous palaeontological activities

were laid on by student helpers for the children to participate in after the talk. Guides

included Steph Wood dressed in a dinosaur suit:-

Steph—dinocysts NOT dinosaurs!

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Christmas party

The 2012 Christmas party was held on 12th December. As usual the festivities centred around the

Red Deer with a curry at Aagrahs in between. Fourteen palynologists attended including the MB

Stratigraphy crew, Ken Dorning, Rex Harland, Barry Lomax, Tony Loy and Meyrick Quincey.

The Christmas party 2012

A plea for information and to keep in touch…

Please keep in touch (e-mail c.wellman@sheffield.ac.uk) and keep us updated with respect to your

contact details. And most importantly--please send in your alumni news for the next newsletter.