Current Cast
The following people say they are currently involved with the Marine Sediments Lab
in research, graduate studies, undergraduate studies or something that gets them a
check!

Manuel Bringué
Manuel is a postdoctoral fellow with a foot in the MSRL and the other at the U. of
Victoria (BC, Canada) where he obtained his PhD in 2015. Trained as a micropaleontologist,
Manuel currently focusses on dinoflagellates and their cysts in the Cariaco Basin,
using one of the longest sediment trap time series in the world! The general idea
is to better understand the ecology of dinoflagellates in the coastal ocean, in terms
of environmental preferences and interactions with other major planktonic groups.
In turn, this will allow for more detailed dinoflagellate cyst-based paleoenvironmental
reconstructions from sedimentary records.

Kate Davis
Kate joined the MSRL as a postdoc after receiving her PhD from the University of California,
Davis. She is broadly interested in the use of biogenic carbonates to reconstruct
high-frequency events and abrupt climate change in the ocean. For her project in the
MSRL, Kate will be looking at how the geochemistry of individual foraminifera records
seasonal oceanography in the Cariaco Basin.

Jorge Ontiveros
Jorge joined the MSRL as a postdoctoral fellow in the spring of 2016. Currently, his
research centers in the used of redox-sensitive trace elements (e.g. Mo, U) and nitrogen
isotopes to reconstruct shifts in the position and intensity of the oxygen minimum
zone (OMZ) in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) from the last glacial period
to the Holocene by using sedimentary records.

Eric Tappa
Eric has been attempting to keep things in order for the past 34 (yes, really) years.

Bob Thunell
It is with immeasurable sadness that we inform you, wherever you may be, of the passing
of Bob Thunell from cancer on Monday, July 30th.
Bob touched the lives of countless people inside and outside the walls of this university
and will be greatly missed. He was surrounded by his loved ones at the time of his
passing.
Please direct any work/lab related questions or comments to Eric Tappa (tappa@geol.sc.edu
803.394.8226). Personal tributes or rememberances can be sent directly to his email
(thunell@geol.sc.edu) where his family will receive them. You may also post a comment
on this guest book: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestate/obituary.aspx?n=robert-thunell&pid=189760608