Speaker: Steven J. Rosscoe, Ph.D, Associate Professor Kimbell School of Geosciences, Midwestern State University
Subject: RESOLVING STRATIGRAPHIC CHALLENGES WITH CONODONT BIOSTRATIGRAPHY
Abstract: Conodonts, an extinct clade of eel-like organisms, recognized in the fossil record from their oral apparatus have been used effectively for high-resolution biostratigraphy and correlation throughout the Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic. A high-resolution biostratigraphic framework for the Middle to Late Pennsylvanian was developed in the Midcontinent Basin of North America and has been used to effectively correlate strata in New Mexico and Texas to the well-known Midcontinent cyclothems of the Pennsylvanian. This biostratigraphic framework has also been key in identifying potential biomarkers for the boundary between the global Moscovian and Kasimovian Stages of the Pennsylvanian. While much work remains in building a more effective understanding of the Pennsylvanian in Texas, Permian stratigraphic relationships also need to have a more effective biostratigraphic framework to help clarify the challenging correlations within central Texas and from central Texas to northern Texas. This talk will show how these biostratigraphic frameworks from the Pennsylvanian were constructed and how we hope to develop similar frameworks in the challenging Permian strata in north-central Texas.
Bio: Steven Rosscoe was born and raised in upstate New York, in the small town of Carlisle. He attended the State University of New York College at Geneseo, where he got his BA in Geological Sciences in 2003. He then earned his MS in Geosciences from Texas Tech University in 2005, followed by his Ph.D in Geosciences from Texas Tech University in 2008. From 2008 to 2022, he worked as a professor at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX. In the fall of 2022, he took a Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology position at Midwestern State University and was hired to be Associate Professor of Geology starting in the fall of 2023. He is setting up his lab and research program for undergraduate and graduate students at MSU and looking forward to spending the rest of his career at MSU and in Wichita Falls.