James Witts
Graduate Assistant / PhD student
Telephone number:
+44(0) 113 34
37262.
Email address: J.Witts@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 7.130
Biography
I joined the School of Earth and Environment in October 2009 as a Graduate/Teaching Assistant, and also study a part-time PhD as part of the Palaeo@Leeds research group.
Before coming to Leeds I spent four years studying at the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Science at the University of Manchester, graduating in July 2009 with a first class MEarthSci (Earth Sciences) degree.
Memberships/Fellowships
Association of Polar Early Career Scientists
Teaching Interests
My main role is to support teaching on the undergraduate programme within SOEE; particularly Level 1 Geological Sciences, Geography/Geology, and Geophysics. As such I demonstrate in most practical classes for core first year modules, and teach on field courses such as the Pembroke, Lake District, and NW Scotland excursions.
I run the weekly 'Surgery Class' on a Wednesday afternoon, where undergraduate students can bring along work they are struggling with for help from postgraduate demonstrators and staff.
I also have responsibility for two lectures on the 'Environmental Science for Environmental Management' module (SOEE 1460) which introduce Environmental Management students to Earth Sciences and Geology, and what studying the various aspects of these subjects tells us about the Earth.
I do small amounts of ad-hoc teaching at Level 2 and 3 (mostly on modules related to palaeontology/palaeoclimate).
Project details
Project title
Marine biodiversity during the latest Cretaceous in Antarctica and the nature of the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction
Supervisors
Professor Paul Wignall, Professor Jane Francis, Dr Rob Newton
Dr Alistair Crame (British Antarctic Survey)
Start date
October 2009
Project outline
Ongoing research in Antarctica has identified the excellent exposures on Seymour Island to be the best high-latitude site in the world for studying the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg or K/T) mass extinction of ~65Ma. Previous studies have hinted at an apparently protracted extinction event (compared to the more abrupt record seen in some low latitude sections) in sediments that show little lithological change, although a small iridium spike has been reported. Detailed palynological studies completed between BAS and the University of Leeds have helped to resolve the position of the boundary and thus allow comparison with events elsewhere.
The aim of my project is to assess how the marine macrofauna responded both to changing climatic conditions in the Maastrichtian, and the K/Pg crisis, by a thorough evaluation of the pre-extinction Maastrichtian communities, the fauna of the boundary interval and the post-extinction, earliest Paleocene fauna. Large fossil collections from Seymour Island held at the University of Leeds and British Antarctic Survey will be examined in detail with the aim of producing range charts of the abundant invertebrate fauna, as well as details of changing palaeoecology of the section through the Maastrichtian and K/Pg interval. It is hoped comparison can be made with available data from contemporaneous lower latitude sections and allow evaluation of latitudinal and taxonomic selectivity of the mass extinction.
The excellent preservation of the Seymour Island fossils, with aragonite and calcite shell material present, together with the presence of abundant fossil wood throughout the sequence, also provides the opportunity for geochemical assessment of the section. This will include generation of carbon isotope curves, as well as a study of the ocean sulphur cycle through an analysis of the carbonate-associated-sulphate (CAS). This data will allow examination of changes in the controls on S cycle fluxes, namely ocean redox, and global weathering rate variations at the time of the K/Pg crisis.