James B. Riding

James B. Riding
British Geological Survey · Climate Change

DSc

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347
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Publications

Publications (347)
Article
Abstract The acritarch genus Cyclopsiella is extant and ranges back to the Middle Jurassic. This genus cannot be assigned to any of the established acritarch subgroups and has a relatively simple morphology, and species are often referred to using open nomenclature. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of Cyclopsiella and its different morp...
Article
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Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are associated with global warming and carbon cycle perturbations during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2, ~94 Ma) and the Mid-Cenomanian Event (MCE, ~96.5 Ma). However, there is still no consensus on the role volcanism played as a trigger, or its source – previously ascribed to the Caribbean LIP or High Arctic LIP. Here,...
Conference Paper
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In this study, we present dinoflagellate cyst data from the uppermost lower Bathonian to lowermost Callovian strata from the Cabo Mondego section, in the northern part of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal. This Middle Jurassic succession comprises the type section of the Cabo Mondego Formation. We document significant dinoflagellate cyst occurrences a...
Article
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The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a global hyperthermal event ∼56 Ma characterized by massive input of carbon into the ocean–atmosphere system and global warming. A leading hypothesis for its trigger is the emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP), with extensive extrusion/intrusion of igneous material into nearby sed...
Article
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Franz et al. (2023) report a diverse and three-dimensionally preserved suite of mid-Proterozoic microfossils from miarolitic cavities within the granitic Volyn pegmatite field, a major granitic plutonic complex in NW Ukraine. The biota is dated at between ∼ 1.76 and ∼ 1.5 Ga and includes fungus-like objects. This biota is reported as evidence of or...
Preprint
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Franz et. al. (Biogeosciences 20, 1901–1924, 2023) report a diverse and three-dimensionally preserved suite of mid-Proterozoic microfossils from miarolotic cavities within the granitic Volyn pegmatite field, a major granitic plutonic complex in NW Ukraine. The biota is dated at between ~1.76 Ga and ~1.5 Ga and includes fungus-like objects. This bio...
Article
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Drilling for the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Early Jurassic Earth System and Timescale project (JET) was undertaken between October 2020 and January 2021. The drill site is situated in a small-scale synformal basin of the latest Triassic to Early Jurassic age that formed above the major Permian-Triassic half-graben...
Article
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An almost complete ichthyosaur skeleton 10 m long was discovered in January 2021 at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve in the county of Rutland, UK. This was excavated by a small team of palaeontologists in the summer of the same year. Nicknamed 'The Rutland Sea Dragon', this almost fully articulated skeleton is an example of the large-bodied Early J...
Article
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Molecular clock and biogeochemical evidence indicate that the dinoflagellate lineage diverged at around 650 Ma. Unequivocal dinoflagellate cysts/zygotes appeared during the Triassic. These biotas were badly affected by the end-Triassic extinction and recovery from this was relatively slow. During the early Middle Jurassic, the family Gonyaulacaceae...
Article
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The Derbyshire Platform is a Mississippian aged flat‐topped, steep sided platform that forms the westernmost expression of the Derbyshire‐ East Midlands Platform. On the south‐east platform margin, 60 km2 of Visean limestone has been dolomitised, forming two distinct bodies. One of these bodies forms along a major NW – SE trending basement fault an...
Article
When an early career researcher (ECR) submits their first manuscripts for consideration by learned journals, they are normally greatly surprised by the robustness of the scrutiny that their work is subjected to by editors and referees during the procedure of peer review. This is the system whereby manuscripts submitted to academic journals, book pr...
Article
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Past large igneous province (LIP) emplacement is commonly associated with mantle plume upwelling and led to major carbon emissions. One of Earth’s largest past environmental perturbations, the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (T-OAE; ~183 Ma), has been linked to Karoo-Ferrar LIP emplacement. However, the role of mantle plumes in controlling the onset...
Article
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Fossil fungi from periods warmer than modern climates provide unique insights into the future impacts of anthropogenic climate change. Here we report the fossil fungal assemblage from the late Middle Miocene Kenslow Member of central England, associated with climatic conditions warmer than the present-day. The identification of 110 morphotypes, whi...
Article
In this paper, we describe palynological assemblages in the Middle Miocene (Serravallian) Kenslow Member of the Brassington Formation at Bees Nest Pit, near Brassington, Derbyshire, U.K., and infer vegetation types and their palaeoclimate implications. The limited lateral extent of the 1.33 m-thick succession of clay and lignite, and its position s...
Preprint
The Middle Miocene was a warmer and wetter interval than present-day (Steinthorsdottir et al., 2021). In the UK, the most extensive Middle Miocene deposit is the Serravallian Kenslow Member of the Brassington Formation as exposed at Bees Nest Pit, near Brassington, Derbyshire, UK. While known to contain a diverse palynological and palaeobotanical r...
Article
In a recently-published paper, Galasso et al. (2022) interpreted relatively high levels of unseparated spore tetrads and some darkened miospores which occur immediately below the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (~ 183 Ma) in southwest Germany as resulting from enhanced levels of UV-B radiation due to high levels of volcanism at this time. The present...
Conference Paper
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The timing of the origins of angiosperms is a long-standing topic of debate in plant evolution. Different disciplines and approaches provide highly variable age estimates. It is generally accepted, that early macro- and mesofossils showing unequivocal angiosperm features occur in lower Aptian deposits. The oldest widely accepted fossilized flowers...
Article
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Successions of Jurassic strata located in the Arctic region normally yield rich assemblages of terrestriallyderived and marine palynomorphs, reflecting relatively warm air and sea-surface temperatures. The land plant floras were prone to the development of local communities and regional provincialism, whereas the marine biotas thrived across extens...
Conference Paper
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The Lusitanian Basin is located in central western Portugal and is mainly composed of Jurassic sediments. The macro and microfossil biostratigraphy of this depocentre is well studied, but palynological works are scarce. We address this with a high-resolution palynostratigraphic study of a Lower and Middle Jurassic succession of the Lusitanian Basin...
Article
The Middle–Late Jurassic gonyaulacacean dinoflagellate cyst genus Gonyaulacysta is characterised by an epicyst which is around twice the length of the hypocyst. The sulcus is L-type and may be slightly sigmoidal in shape, but is never S-type sensu stricto. The forms with slightly sigmoidal L-type sulcuses may have developed into species with S-type...
Article
Palynomorphs from the Toarcian and Aalenian Djigiat Formation of Karachay-Cherkessia in the Kuban River Basin (North Caucasus, southwest Russian Federation) are reported for the first time. Five samples carefully selected for their biostratigraphical content were studied to document the palynological assemblages. Four samples (1, 2, 3, 4) were coll...
Article
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The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a period of geologically-rapid carbon release and global warming ~56 million years ago. Although modelling, outcrop and proxy records suggest volcanic carbon release occurred, it has not yet been possible to identify the PETM trigger, or if multiple reservoirs of carbon were involved. Here we report e...
Article
There are many published items on guidance in scientific writing, and potential authors should not try to read too many of these to prevent information overload. This article aims to advise aspiring authors on producing scientific manuscripts for publication. It is particularly aimed at early career researchers in palynology and related topics who...
Poster
Full-text available
A mainly Middle Jurassic composite succession with 129 samples was examined palynologically. This spans the Toarcian–Aalenian transition to the lowermost Bathonian, exposed at Cabo Mondego (includes the GSSP and the ASSP for the Bajocian and Bathonian stages respectively) and São Gião in the northern Lusitanian Basin, western Portugal. The main goa...
Article
Geological materials such as rock fragments, microfossils and mineral grains are continuously being entrained (i.e. reworked) into soil during natural weathering processes. Distinctive reworked rock types in soil, and specific components of them such as palynomorphs (organic microfossils), can prove extremely useful in forensic investigations, i.e....
Article
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Clay mineral and stable isotope (C, O) data are reported from the upper Sinemurian (Lower Jurassic) of the Cardigan Bay Basin (Llanbedr–Mochras Farm borehole, northwestern Wales) and the Paris Basin (Montcornet borehole, northern France) to highlight the prevailing environmental and climatic conditions. In both basins, located at similar palaeolati...
Article
The organic-rich upper Lower Jurassic Da'anzhai Member (Ziliujing Formation) of the Sichuan Basin, China is the first stratigraphically well-constrained lacustrine succession associated with the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE; ∼183 Ma). The formation and/or expansion of the Sichuan mega-lake, likely one of the most extensive fresh-water syste...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The depositional environments in the Early Jurassic are relatively poorly understood West of Shetland. Key lithostratigraphical units in this area include the lowermost Stack Skerry and overlying Sule Skerry formations of the Skerry Group (Lower Jurassic). Previous work loosely defined a 'shallow marine, inner shelf setting' for the Stack Skerry Fo...
Article
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This paper provides a record and analysis of a site in east‐midland England, at which organic and soil material are found between two Middle Pleistocene tills. This is the first discovery of its kind in the area, and demonstrates unequivocally that the region was glaciated on two separate occasions, something that has long been inferred and articul...
Article
Effective communication of taxonomic concepts is crucial to meaningful application in all biological sciences, and thus the development and following of best practices in taxonomy and the formulation of clear and practical rules of nomenclature underpin a wide range of scientific studies. The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and...
Article
Since the publication of six literature compilations issued between 2012 and 2020, 38 further published contributions on Triassic, Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) dinoflagellate cysts were issued, or have been discovered, during the past 12 months (i.e. between April 2020 and March 2021). Considerable research has been published on th...
Article
This contribution is an overview of the Early Jurassic dinoflagellate cysts of the Lusitanian Basin in Portugal, with particular emphasis on the effects of the Jenkyns Event (Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event – T-OAE) on the evolution of this planktonic group. We review and discuss data from 214 samples from six Lower Jurassic successions (upper Sinemu...
Article
A comprehensive, illustrated guide to to the preparation (i.e. extraction, concentration and microscope slide production) of palynomorphs from samples of sediments, sedimentary rocks and other materials is presented. The traditional technique, based upon mineral acid digestion of the sample matrix, is subdivided into four phases. These are: samplin...
Preprint
Full-text available
High resolution clay mineral and stable isotope (C, O) data are reported from the upper Sinemurian (Lower Jurassic) of the Cardigan Bay Basin (Llanbedr [Mochras Farm] borehole, northwest Wales) and the Paris Basin (Montcornet borehole, northern France) to highlight the prevailing environmental and climatic conditions. In both basins, located at sim...
Article
Full-text available
Carbon and oxygen isotopes (δ13C and δ18O) in tree rings are widely used to reconstruct palaeoclimate variables such as temperature during the Holocene (12 thousand years ago - present), and are used increasingly in deeper time. However, their use is largely restricted to arboreal trees, which excludes potentially important data from prostrate tree...
Article
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Fault-controlled dolomitization has been documented in Lower Carboniferous (Viséan) platform carbonates at various localities in the Pennine Basin and North Wales. The largest of these dolomite bodies (approx. 60 km2) occurs on the Derbyshire Platform, on the southern margin of the Pennine Basin. This study tests the hypothesis that dolomitization...
Article
Since the publication of five literature compilations issued between 2012 and 2020, 63 further published contributions on Triassic, Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) dinoflagellate cysts have been discovered, or were issued in the last 14 months (i.e. between February 2019 and March 2020). These studies are on North Africa, Southern Afr...
Article
The Late Triassic radiation of cyst-forming dinoflagellates in the Southern Hemisphere is investigated in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. This major depocenter, situated on the southern margin of the Tethys Ocean, accumulated extensive deltaic and shallow marine successions at this time, that frequently host early dinoflagellate cy...
Article
Supplementary material: a chronologically-arranged list of 301 publications authored or co-authored by Trevor Ford is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4931547
Article
Obituary for Professor Bernard Owens.
Article
Fossil wood is well known from the uppermost part of the Brassington Formation of Miocene age from two localities in Derbyshire, central England, UK, but its preservation has not been previously studied. Likewise, lignite is also present but has not been studied hitherto. This study examines preservation of selected wood samples using a combination...
Article
Full-text available
Significance Cyclic variations in Earth’s orbit drive periodic changes in the ocean–atmosphere system at a time scale of tens to hundreds of thousands of years. The Mochras δ ¹³ C TOC record illustrates the continued impact of long-eccentricity (405-ky) orbital forcing on the carbon cycle over at least ∼18 My of Early Jurassic time and emphasizes o...
Preprint
Full-text available
Dinoflagellates, together with diatoms and coccolithophores, form a major element of the marine eukaryotic phytoplankton, and are significant primary producers. Based on the fossil record, dinoflagellates appeared in Middle Triassic and during the Early Jurassic (late Pliensbachian) and underwent an important evolutionary radiation episode, with th...
Preprint
Dinoflagellates, together with diatoms and coccolithophores, form a major element of the marine eukaryotic phytoplankton, and are significant primary producers. Based on the fossil record, dinoflagellates appeared in Middle Triassic and during the Early Jurassic (late Pliensbachian) and underwent an important evolutionary radiation episode, with th...
Preprint
Full-text available
The Early Toarcian was characterised by the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous province (LIP), rapid global warming, significant perturbations in the global carbon cycle, the development of widespread anoxia known as the Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) and a biotic crisis in the marine realm known as the Early Toarcian Mass Exti...
Preprint
The Early Toarcian was characterised by the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous province (LIP), rapid global warming, significant perturbations in the global carbon cycle, the development of widespread anoxia known as the Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) and a biotic crisis in the marine realm known as the Early Toarcian Mass Exti...
Article
Full-text available
p>The Western Irish Sea preserves an exceptionally thick (ca. 40 m) Holocene succession that is ideally suited to understanding the pattern of palaeostratification and water mass productivity changes in the region, and their relationship with sea level, sedimentation, and biota. Additionally, the presence of shallow-buried methane provides an oppor...
Article
Since the publication of four compilations issued between 2012 and 2019, 93 further published contributions on Triassic, Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) dinoflagellate cysts from Africa, North America, South America, the Arctic, Australasia, East Europe, West Europe, the Middle East and Russia have been discovered in the literature, o...
Article
A group of mainly Cretaceous areoligeracean dinoflagellate cyst genera, which we call the “Cyclonephelium group”, has proved difficult to classify. The group comprises Aptea, Canningia, Canninginopsis, Cassidium, Cauveridinium, Cerbia, Circulodinium, Cyclonephelium, Doidyx, Senoniasphaera and Tenua. As a group, they also converge morphologically wi...
Article
William G. (‘Bill’) Chaloner FRS (1928–2016) was one of the world’s leading palaeobotanists and palynologists. He developed a love of natural science at school which led to a penchant for palaeobotany at university. Bill graduated in 1950 from the University of Reading, and remained there for his PhD, supervised by Tom Harris, on the spores of Carb...
Article
The Middle to Late Miocene Brassington Formation from the Peak District in Derbyshire, central UK, has yielded a diverse vegetation assemblage, but until now there have been no reports of fungal remains. Here, we describe three new species of fossil fungal palynomorphs from the Kenslow Member of the Brassington Formation. The taxa have been assigne...
Article
The records of fossil dinoflagellate cysts from the Late Triassic, the time during which they first appear abundantly in the geological record, are reviewed. Most of the Triassic palynological literature pertains to terrestrial palynomorphs, thus it is challenging to establish a global picture of the temporal and spatial distribution of Late Triass...
Article
Peter Andreas Hochuli, a dedicated, eminent and highly talented palaeobotanist and palynologist with comprehensive expertise in palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology and stratigraphy, sadly died of cancer on 27 March 2018. He was only 71 years old. Peter Hochuli was born on 25 October 1946 in the small village of Unterentfelden in the Canton of Aargau,...
Preprint
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Cretaceous ichthyosaurs have typically been considered a small, homo- geneous assemblage sharing a common Late Jurassic ancestor. Their low diversity and disparity have been interpreted as indicative of a decline lead- ing to their Cenomanian extinction. We describe the first post-Triassic ichthyosaur from the Middle East, Malawania anachronus gen....
Conference Paper
The Lusitanian Basin is located in central western Portugal and is filled mainly with marine Jurassic sediments. Here, the Lower Jurassic is particularly well developed and characterized by marl-limestone alternations. Dinoflagellate cysts are reliable palaeoecological indicators and the goal of this work is to describe the pre and post T-OAE dinof...
Article
A composite largely Middle Jurassic succession spanning the Toarcian–Aalenian transition to the lowermost Bathonian exposed at Cabo Mondego and São Gião in the northern Lusitanian Basin, western Portugal, was examined palynologically. The 129 samples are correlated to ammonite biozones spanning Pleydellia aalensis to Zigzagiceras zigzag. The Cabo M...
Article
Full-text available
The Lower Jurassic Toarcian Stage ( c. 183–174 Ma) is marked by one of the largest global exogenic carbon-cycle perturbations of the Phanerozoic, which is associated with the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE; c. 183 Ma). Climatic and environmental change at the T-OAE is reasonably well constrained in the marine realm, with marine anoxic o...
Article
Full-text available
Since the production of three literature compilations in 2012, 2013 and 2014, 266 further published contributions on Triassic, Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) dinoflagellate cysts were issued between April 2014 and January 2018, or have been discovered. These 266 items are listed alphabetically herein with full details, including digi...
Article
In the Burythorpe area of the Howardian Hills, located on the northern margin of the Market Weighton High, the Callovian succession is represented only by Lower Callovian sediments. These belong to the Kellaways Sand Member (Kellaways Formation), up to 12 m thick, but thinning southwards to 5 m. This contrasts with the more complete Callovian succe...
Article
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Dinoflagellates and coccolithophores are two of the most important groups of phytoplankton in the modern oceans. These groups originated in the Triassic and radiated through the early Mesozoic, rising to ecological prominence. Within this long-term radiation, important shortterm intervals of evolutionary and ecological change can be recognised. The...
Article
A comprehensive investigation of the Early Jurassic stratigraphical palynology of the Lusitanian Basin in western Portugal was undertaken, with most emphasis placed on dinoflagellate cysts. A total of 214 samples from an upper Sinemurian to upper Toarcian composite section based on six successions were examined. The Sinemurian material examined was...
Article
Dinoflagellates and coccolithophores are two of the most important groups of phytoplankton in the modern oceans. These groups originated in the Triassic and radiated through the early Mesozoic, rising to ecological prominence. Within this long-term radiation, important short-term intervals of evolutionary and ecological change can be recognised. Th...
Article
Full-text available
The late Early Jurassic Toarcian Stage represents the warmest interval of the Jurassic Period, with an abrupt rise in global temperatures of up to ∼7 °C in mid-latitudes at the onset of the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE; ∼183 Ma). The T-OAE, which has been extensively studied in marine and continental successions from both hemispheres,...
Article
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The Brassington Formation of the Pennines is the most extensive onshore Miocene succession in the UK. It is preserved as outliers in Lower Carboniferous Limestone. During the Cenozoic, central England underwent uplift, with erosion of post-Mississippian strata from the Pennine axis in the Peak District. The Brassington Formation is hence significan...