Research interests

My recent and current research has primarily concentrated on the application of palaeontological, geochemical and field data to detailed stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental studies. This has focussed on several main areas:

Evolution and palaeoecology of sharks and rays

• Stratigraphic and environmental significance of hiatal and transported bone-beds
• Taxonomy and evolution of Mesozoic sharks and rays and the evolution of selachian-dominated ecosystems
• Development of 'modern type' shark and ray ecosystems in the Cretaceous and Palaeogene
• Shark and ray ecology associated with whale carcasses
• Documentation of the diverse shark and ray assemblages of the Wadi Al-Hitan World Heritage Site, Egypt
• Use of Mesozoic sharks in the analysis of palaeosalinity changes and as indicators of marine nutrient flow and temporal evolution of watermasses

'Mid'- Cretaceous stratigraphy

• Micro- and macrofossil biostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy of the Cretaceous of NE England
• Composite sequence- and biostratigraphical analysis of 'mid' Cretaceous onlap patterns

Palaeoecology of graptolitic assemblages

• Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of Ordovician and Silurian planktic assemblages
• Environmental changes and their chemostratigraphic and ecostratigraphic signatures within the Ordovician and Silurian