Research Project
The Use of Microvertebrates in Biostratigraphic Zonation on a Global Scale the History of Geoscience, in Particular the Contribution of Women and the Contribution of Australian Geoscientists in Big Science, the International Geological Correlation Program (UNESCO)
Dr Sue Turner works on the earliest vertebrates, especially the jawless fishes known as thelodonts and the world's oldest sharks in Ordovician to Devonian rocks worldwide. She studies vertebrate microfossils (also known as fish microvertebrates or ichthyoliths), which include scales, teeth, spines, bones of the seven major groups of fishes. Her work utilises these remains for biostratigraphy and palaeogeographic analysis. Recent projects include a review of all Cambrian and Ordovician records relating to the evolution of early vertebrates, and with colleagues Alain Blieck (Lille, France) and Godfrey Nowlan (Canada), she has considered high-resolution time constraints and palaeobiogeographic patterns for the known Ordovican fish. Based on her studies of Australian and Canadian Devonian sharks, she is currently considering ideas about evolution and phylogeny of early vertebrates, especially ‘basal’ gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) and the origins and early evolution of teeth and tooth whorls. Next year she is organising a meeting ‘Jaws! False Teeth and Gums - what makes a Vertebrate a Vertebrate?’ at the North American Palaeontological Convention in Canada. (http://www.dal.ca/~es/napc/napc.htm)
In year 2004 she holds an ARC grant with Prof Vickers-Rich which looks at Australians role in international Geoscience in the post-war period of boom-time mineral discovery and massive changes in geological thinking that occurred with the acceptance of continental drift and plate tectonics hypotheses. They are documenting the lives and work of several important Australian palaeontologists especially women, and those involved in palaeontology which hit the headlines, such as the discovery and analysis of the Precambrian Ediacara fauna. Sue has also delved into the early time of the formation of the UNESCO-International Union of Geological Sciences International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP), now officially 32 years old, initiated by an Australian in 1964. She is writing the history of highly successful IGCP projects, such as IGCP 156 Phosphates of the World and IGCP 328 Palaeozoic Microvertebrates. This work involves seeking original documentation in libraries, archives and private collections as well as recording oral history
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