Chris Consoli

PhD candidate

Project title
The Lithostratigraphy and Palaeontology of the Cretaceous successions of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Supervisor/s:
Dr. Jeff Stilwell & Prof. Pat Vickers-Rich

Research

The Chatham Islands lay just over 800 km to the east of New Zealand – emergent remnants of the once greater landmass of Gondwana. Recent discoveries by Stilwell, Consoli and crew of laterally extensive horizons include theropod dinosaurs, birds, marine reptiles (plesiosaurs and elasmosaurs), chimaerids, sharks, as well as, molluscs (ammonites, nautiloids, gastropods, bivalves). Abundant plant material indicates that a forested landmass existed in the Latest Cretaceous dominated by conifers and primitive angiosperms, this peninsula connected with mainland New Zealand, but along three margins interfaces with the open ocean, itself rich in life. In essence, the Chatham Islands region provided a dinosaur and bird refuge for many taxa, including dinosaurs, after its complete separation from the Gondwana margin ca.80 Ma. The fossils and sediments are preserved within the Takatika Grit, a hard but brittle glauconitic sandstone, with abundant pebble to boulder sized phosphorite nodules. This unit records a unique time-slice at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (Approximately 65 million years ago) preserved nowhere else in the Southern Hemisphere as well as the most diverse Mesozoic vertebrate succession in New Zealand. It is for this reason that the Takatika Grit marine deposit has become the focus of my PhD project.

Research Interests

1. Evolution of the biota of the Chatham Islands-New Zealand region from the Mesozoic until present.
2. Mesozoic vertebrate record of New Zealand focusing on the evolution of dinosaur and marine reptile faunas and ecological changes through the Mesozoic.
3. Vertebrate fauna of the Paleocene following the K-T extinction in Southern Hemisphere- a study in survivorship.
4. Tectonic evolution of the Eastern Province of New Zealand, focusing on Mesozoic terranes
5. Marine sediments with a focus on the origin of authigenic minerals such as phosphorite nodules, chert, and glauconite

Professional Affiliations

• Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
• Royal Society of New Zealand

Computer skills

• Scientific Illustration using Adobe Illustrator and other software.
• MS Office etc.

Technical skills

• Field Mapping/ Stratigraphy
• Mechanical preparation and conservation of fossil vertebrates
• Thin-section preparation
• SEM

Personal interests

• Mountain Biking
• Snowboarding