The research activities of the palynologists are diverse and cover the whole of the Phanerozoic Era. David Batten's main interests are in Mesozoic palynology and palaeoenvironments, floral provinces and climate, palynofacies, organic maturation and petroleum source rocks. Warren Kovach studies the palaeoecology and systematics of Mesozoic plant megaspores as well as the application of numerical methods in palaeoenvironmental and biostratigraphic research and the use of computers in palaeontology. Henry Lamb works on Quaternary vegetation and climatic history, with recent studies focusing on lacustrine palaeoenvironments and the environmental history of the Arctic and North Africa. Bruce Tocher is investigating Mesozoic and Cainozoic dinoflagellate biostratigraphy and ecology, and is also concerned with palaeoenvironmental interpretations and palaeoceanographic modelling. In addition, Dr. Catherine Duigan, a post-doctoral researcher, is working on the palaeolimnology of lakes in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, as well as on the taxonomy and palaeoecology of diatoms and Cladocera.
A new M.Sc. course in palynology was also initiated last year. This aims to give students a broad training in palynology, covering all ages and a range of topics from petroleum exploration-related biostratigraphy through Quaternary climatic studies and numerical methods to forensic applications. There are currently five students on the course, including two who will shortly begin working towards Ph.D. degrees. There are also two other students within the Institute who are incorporating palynological studies into their Ph.D. work on Quaternary sediments, and three external Ph.D. students (one from Copenhagen, Denmark, and two from Plymouth, England) who are working closely with members of the PRC staff.
The PRC is housed in a purpose-built suite of offices and laboratories. This includes two large palynological preparation lab, supervised by Mrs. Lorraine Morrison. There are a number of IBM-PC compatible computers in the centre, linked by Ethernet to the University's DEC 5820 and VAX computers. We have recently installed hardware and software to turn some of these computers into stratigraphic workstations, where palynological data can be entered into a database through a 256 key touch pad, with the resulting diagrams being automatically drawn on a large format plotter.
We may be contacted at the:
Palynological Research Centre
Institute of Earth Studies
University College of Wales
Aberystwyth, Dyfed, Wales SY23 3DB U.K.
Fax: +44 (970) 622659
E-Mail & phone:
D.J. Batten - DJB@ABER.AC.UK; (970) 622573 W.L. Kovach - WLK@ABER.AC.UK; (970) 622626 H.F. Lamb - HFL@ABER.AC.UK; (970) 622597 B.A. Tocher - BAT@ABER.AC.UK; (970) 622611 C. Duigan - CTD@ABER.AC.UK; (970) 622626