Profile
Dr Sev Kender
Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences
Telephone: 01326 370756
Research Group Website
Research Overview
I am interested in the changes to Earth's climate and oceanography through the Phanerozoic, how these changes have been influenced by orbital, tectonic and volcanic variations, and how these impacted marine and terrestrial life. My research has largely focussed on microfossil, isotopic, and sedimentological evidence preserved in marine sediment cores to understand environmental and climatic changes across major climate transitions. These include carbon isotope excursions from the Jurassic and Palaeogene, ice sheet expansions during the Eocene-Oligocene transition, the middle Miocene climate transition, the mid-Pleistocene transition, and Antarctic environmental changes since the de-glacial. I carry out my research using established and novel environmental proxies which include: foraminiferal stable isotopes and trace metals; sediment major elements and mercury; radiogenic neodymium isotopes of marine sediment and fish teeth; organic biomarkers.
My research can be divided into the following themes:
- Investigating geological examples of rapid global warming (hyperthermals) due to changes in the carbon cycle, including the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and Oceanic Anoxic Events.
- Deciphering the causal mechanisms of Earth’s major climate transitions, including the middle Miocene climate transition, the mid-Pleistocene transition and Quaternary glacial cycles.
- Using micropalaeontological, ancient sedimentary DNA and geochemical techniques to decipher Quaternary changes in marine biota in the Antarctic, and their causal mechanisms.
Biography
2018–to date Senior Lecturer in Geology, Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter
2017–2018 Lecturer in Geology, Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter
2014–2017 Senior Research Fellow, University of Nottingham, Department of Geography
2013–2014 Teaching and Research Fellow, University of Leicester, Department of Geology
2014 Shipboard Scientist (Foraminifera), JOIDES Resolution, IODP Exp. 351
2009 Shipboard Scientist (Foraminifera), JOIDES Resolution, IODP Exp. 323
2008–2013 Palaeoceanographer/Team Leader, British Geological Survey
2004–2007 PhD Micropalaeontology and Palaeoceanography, University College London
2002–2003 MSc Micropalaeontology, University College London
1998–2001 BSc Geology, University of Leicester
Professional Memberships
NERC Peer Review College
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Honorary Research Associate of the British Geological Survey
Editor of the Journal of Micropalaeontology
Teaching
(CSM1044) Earth History and Palaeontology
(CSM2183) Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
(CSM3048) Applied Field Geology
(CSM3061) Energy Resource Geology
(CSM3071) Geological History of Life on Earth
(CSM3072) Climate Change: Past and Future
(CSM3379) Summer Vacation Project
(CSMM440) Research Frontiers in Earth Science
Opportunities
I am offering to supervise self-funded PhD students in the following areas. Information about fees and funding can be found here: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/pg-research/money/
- Palaeoproxy reconstruction of the Southern Ocean, focussing on Holocene and Anthropocene changes to understand the sensitivity of the Antarctic to future warming
- Model-palaeoproxy investigation of volcanism, ocean circulation, CO2 and ocean productivity during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition, a time period with atmospheric CO2 concentrations close to near-future