Samantha Gibbs

My research uses the geological record of microscopic plankton (calcareous nannofossils) to document Cenozoic climate change, develop and integrate palaeoenvironmental proxies, and reconstruct plankton evolutionary histories. I am particularly interested in understanding the factors that control plankton production and burial during intervals of critical climate change versus background climate variability and deciphering potential ocean acidification responses in the fossil record.

My current research focuses on the calcareous phytoplankton response to 1) the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (~55 Ma), one of the most abrupt warming intervals in Earth history, 2) other transient warming episodes in the Palaeogene, and, most recently, 3) the middle Eocene (~40-42 Ma), in particular, the middle Eocene climatic optimum (MECO).