Hilary Corlett is an Associate Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John’s Campus. She joined the Earth Science Department in 2022 after four years as an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. Dr. Corlett’s Paleoenvironment and Diagenesis Research Group focuses on topics ranging from understanding the effects of terrestrial nutrient on modern and ancient carbonate platforms to basin-scale dolomitization in rift and post-rift settings. She is currently working on three large research programs investigating the storage of carbon in modern sediments, and injection of carbon into ancient carbonate and mixed carbonate-clastic successions. Additionally, she is investigating the effect of nutrients associated with the Earth’s first expansion of forests on Devonian reef systems. All of Dr. Corlett’s studies integrate field or core work with detailed petrographic analysis, stable and trace element geochemistry and identification of fossils that may be used as indicators of environmental change.
Abstract:
The principle of uniformitarianism states that the present is the key to the past, but can we also learn more to help predict our future? The modern sedimentary record holds clues for where we are headed in our ever-changing coastlines and shallow to deep marine environments. In this talk, I will discuss approaches to modern sedimentary studies in varied climates. From the hot, restricted inland Persian Gulf sabkha to the fjords of Canada’s northeastern coast, we will examine modern sedimentary processes, changes to these processes through time, and how burrowing organisms affect fluid flow and the preservation of inorganic and organic carbon in carbonate and in mixed clastic-carbonate environments. Studying our recent sedimentary record has always taught us more about how to understand our geological history, but it can also help us to predict where we are headed in the future.