Professor Hugh Jenkyns honoured in Sedimentology
Last month saw a special edition of Sedimentology, the journal of the International Association of Sedimentologists, honouring the lifetime of research of Professor Hugh Jenkyns and his long-term friend and colleague, Professor Helmi Weissert (ETH Zürich).
Hugh investigating black shale deposited during the Bonarelli OAE
In the 1970s, Hugh’s research was instrumental in developing our understanding of past greenhouse climates. Using data from the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and outcrops, Hugh defined the now-famous ‘Oceanic Anoxic Events’ (OAEs) of the Jurassic and Cretaceous. OAEs were geologically brief intervals of time characterised by increased organic carbon burial rates in the oceans and were first recognised on the basis of globally widespread black shales of the same age. During his career, Hugh and his collaborators have demonstrated that OAEs were likely triggered by increased global temperatures, driven by high atmospheric CO2, and widespread de-oxygenation of seawater.
Many of Hugh’s former students & current colleagues contributed to this special edition, which was guest edited by Oxford Associate Professor Stuart Robinson, and former lecturer Steve Hesselbo, as well as Ulrich Heimhofer of Hannover (a former post-doc), and Marie Rose Petrizzo of Milan.
Papers include contributions from Oxford researchers Micha Ruhl, Alex Dickson, Olga Gorbanenko, postgraduate Weimu Xu, students Mathew Saker-Clark* and David Astley*, Visiting Professor Erdem Idiz and former postdoc Charlotte O’Brien.
*Indicates work contributed during undergraduate 4th year projects
Sedimentology: Volume 64, Issue 1: Mesozoic Climates and Oceans is available from Wiley: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sed.2017.64.issue-1/issuetoc