Dr Claudia Sosa Montes de Oca
BA, University of Granada (Spain), MSci, University of Granada (Spain), PhD, University of Granada (Spain)
Expertise
Current positions
Honorary Research Associate
School of Earth Sciences
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
The mass extinction marking the Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundary (KPgB) »66.04 million years ago. It was one of the most devastating events in the history of life, as well as the most recent and best studied of the ‘big five’ mass extinctions that occurred during the Phanerozoic. After decades of research, one of the most critical lines of inquiry is understanding the short- to long-term effects of this impact on the global environmental system, including the re-establishment of pre-impact environmental conditions and marine biological productivity. After characterizing, during my PhD period, how the recovery of palaeoenvironmental conditions were (productivity and seafloor oxygenation), before, during, and after the KPgB impact, by the analysis of inorganic geochemical proxies, currently in this postdoctoral at the School of Earth Sciences, I am studying the KPgB distal sections (the Agost and Caravaca sections) using molecular fossils (or biomarkers). The approach will broadly encompass several methods, all of which will be carried out in the OGU (Organic Geochemistry Unit) at Bristol University. These will include the determination of total organic carbon (TOC) contents; the extract and analysis of the biomarkers from ground samples; the determination of key biomarker abundances and distributions by GC and GC-MS in order to ascertain changes in organic matter (OM) source, algal assemblages, terrestrial biomarkers (n-alkanes, triterpenes), redox state (pristane/phytane ratio; homohopane index) and microbial inputs (hopanes); and also, to explore changes in ‘apparent thermal maturity.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Environmental changes and global recovery of primary producers after the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (KPgB): A molecular fossil approach
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Earth SciencesDates
01/01/2022 to 31/01/2023
Ecological and environmental change across the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary: A molecular fossil approach
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Earth SciencesDates
01/01/2020 to 31/12/2021
Publications
Recent publications
09/08/2024Intense Changes in the Main Source of Organic Carbon to the Gulf Coastal Plain Following the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
Variation in organic matter across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in New Zealand supports the “Living Ocean” model of biotic recovery
Global and Planetary Change
Minor changes in biomarker assemblages in the aftermath of the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event at the Agost distal section (Spain)
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Microscale trace-element distribution across the Cretaceous/Palaeogene ejecta layer at the Agost section: Constraining the recovery of pre-impact conditions
Chemical Geology
Application of laser ablation-ICP-MS to determine high-resolution elemental profiles across the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary at Agost (Spain)
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology