Daniel Peppe

Graduate student in

paleobotany and paleomagnetism
 

Yale University
Department of Geology and Geophysics
P.O. Box 208109
New Haven, CT  06511
ph: (203) 623-9542

fax: (203) 432-3134
daniel.peppe@yale.edu

Current Research: My dissertation research is focused on the megafloral record in the Paleocene of the Williston Basin in North Dakota.  I am interested in understanding  the temporal extent of floral radiation after the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary and to assess patterns of floral diversity and composition in response to numerous climate changes, such as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

My project is using a multifaceted approach of magnetostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy to examine the Paleocene megafloral record.  Using these techniques, coupled with megafloral census collections, I am working to relate the megafloral record to the magnetostratigraphic global polarity time scale to calibrate floral change through the Paleocene.

As a paleobotanist, I use fossil plants to answer questions about past global changes, paleoecology, biodiversity, the response of plants and the terrestrial system to major climate change and mass extinction, and the relationship between the terrestrial and marine record.  I am also interested in using information discovered from fossil plants and ancient plant communities to understand the modern world, such as the dynamics of the terrestrial ecosystem's response to global warming. 

As a geologist, I am interested in the basic tenants of stratigraphy and sedimentology and use them as tools for understanding the environment and the events recorded in the sedimentary rock record.  Further, I integrate magnetostratigraphy in my geologic and paleontological studies to help determine the time scales, polarity stratigraphy, and sedimentation rates of sedimentary sequences.

My dissertation research is focused in North America, and  I am also working on other geology, paleontology, and paleomagnetism projects in the Mio-Pliocene and Pleistocene/Holocene of Eastern Africa.  I am interested in developing projects other areas such as the Early Cenozoic in South America and the Arctic.