Rachel Surprenant - Exchange Student, Macalester College, USA
B.A. Geology and Biology, Macalester College, Expected 2018
Project: Description and comparison of the taphonomy of two microfossil bonebeds, Montana, United States.
I am currently studying abroad for a semester at James Cook University, but I am a full-time student at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I do not have a project that I will be working on here at JCU, I’m just along for the ride! In the past I have done projects focusing on geochronology of detrital and igneous zircons within a volcanic arc using U-Pb and hafnium dating. However, my current interests lean more toward sedimentology and paleobiology, two topics I am hoping to get more experience with during my time at JCU.
While I do not have a current project to work on here in Australia, I have an ongoing research project waiting for me when I get back to Macalester, which will eventually grow into my thesis. My goal for this project is to collect, identify, and describe a substantial sample of microfossils from a fluvial deposit in Montana and compare this assemblage to a previously described microsite from the Judith River Formation, Montana. As an end result of this project I am hoping to gain insight into microsite deposition, regional paleoecology, and the extent of time averaging within the assemblage.