Dr. Claudia Schröder-Adams

My research focuses on micropaleontology with special emphasis on foraminifera as paleoenvironmental proxies in basin analysis. My career started with research on modern deep water marine environments and then gradually moved back into deep time. My expertise lies in Mesozoic basins of Western Canada and the Canadian West Coast. Modern analogue work has taken me to the eastern margin of Australia where I study estuaries and offshore regions as analogues for ancient incised valleys and sea-level history. In connection with the University of Newcastle (NSW) I have had the opportunity to work with multibeam seismic data, which led to a fascinating study of sediment transport processes offshore Fraser Island. I am also interested in Oceanic Anoxic Events and how paleoenvironmental conditions influence benthic communities. Carbon isotope studies are performed in collaboration with the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Germany.

As part of the Canadian GEM (Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals) program, I am presently conducting a multi-year geological investigation assessing a number of sedimentary basins in both the Eastern and Western Arctic regions to produce a pan-Arctic, multi-fossil, biostratigraphic framework to improve our understanding of large-scale paleogeographic reconstructions. My work is field and laboratory based and my field areas take my team to spectacular and remote areas.

I have just completed a three year term on the National Science and Engineering Research Council Discovery Grant Selection Committee. I served as Chair of Carleton’s Earth Sciences Department from 2003 to 2006. I have a passion for teaching field-based courses and I am active in several science outreach programs. My strong collaboration with researchers at the Canadian Museum of Nature has fostered our Program in Vertebrate Palaeontology, which attracts undergraduate and graduate students alike.