Image: Precambrian pinnacle reef 300 meters (1000 feet) high surrounded by bouldery talus. From the Little Dal Group (ca. 850 million years old) in the Mackenzie Mtns., Northwest Territories, Canada. Northern Canada contains some of the best preserved examples of Proterozoic reefs and other carbonates anywhere in the world, and Dr. Noel James and I collaborate in studies of these structures. Our studies show that, although these stromatolite reefs lack skeletons of any sort, they were remarkably similar to modern reefs in their growth style and in their response to changes in sea-level. Our microscopic analyses have extended the range of reef-building calcimicrobes, the major microbial constructors of Paleozoic reefs, back nearly 250 million years into the Proterozoic. These features imply that the origins of Phanerozoic reef ecosystem were in the Precambrian. Graduate.theses on an 850 million year old reef complex in the western N.W.T. and on a 1200 million year old barrier reef on the north coast of Baffin Island were recently completed and opportunities are available for studies of other Proterozoic reefs in northern Canada. We are also interested in non-actualistic sedimentation - how have carbonate sediments responded to the evolution of the Earth and life throughout the Precambrian and Phanerozoic? Recent papers have discussed molar-tooth carbonates (a strange rock-type that characterized a billion years of the Proterozoic but that is no longer forming anywhere on Earth) and the sedimentary/biological/chemical response to the global glaciations that characterized the middle part of the Neoproterozoic (commonly referred to as the "Snowball Earth"). Several projects are in progress and other opportunities are available.

GRADUATE PROJECTS AND RESEARCH PAPERS related to PROTEROZOIC-CAMBRIAN CARBONATES AND REEFS

Graduate Theses and Post-doctoral Fellowships: Kelly Batten, M.Sc., 2002, Early Neoproterozoic carbonates and reefs, NW Canada (co-supervised by N.P. James). Currently in the Ph.D. program at Carleton University, Ottawa. Edith Day, M.Sc., 2002, Neoproterozoic interglacial carbonates, NW Canada (co- supervised by N.P. James). Currently Exploration Geologist, Talisman Resources, Calgary. Dr. Anne-Catharine Pierson-Wickham, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Geochemistry of Neoproterozoic cap and interglacial carbonates, NW Canada (co-supervised by N.P. James and T.K. Kyser), Currently Assistant Professor at the University of Rennes, France. Dr. Leanne Pyle, 2002-2004 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Late Neoproterozoic carbonates and Ediacaran fossils, Yukon (co-supervised by N.P. James). Currently a project geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada in Vancouver, B.C. Anne Sherman, Ph.D. 2000, Mesoproterozoic carbonates and reefs, northern Baffin Island (co- supervised by N.P. James). Currently Carbonate Specialist, Shell Canada, Calgary. Elizabeth Turner, Ph.D. 1999, Giant Neoproterozoic calcimicrobial reefs, NW Canada (co- supervised by N.P. James). Currently an Assistant Professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Recent Publications: James, N.P., Narbonne, G.M., Kyser, T.K., and Dalrymple, R.W., 2005, Glendonites in Neoproterozoic low latitude, interglacial sedimentary rocks, NW Canada: Insights into the Cryogenian ocean and Precambrian cold-water carbonates. Geology 33: 9-12. (PDF) Pyle, L.J., Narbonne, G.M., James, N.P., Dalrymple, R.W., and Kaufman, A.J., 2004, Integrated Ediacaran chronostratigraphy, Wernecke Mountains, Northwestern Canada. Precambrian Research 132: 1-27. (PDF) Day, E.S., James, N.P., Narbonne, G.M., and Dalrymple, R.W., 2004, A sedimentary prelude to Marinoan glaciation: the Cryogenian (Middle Neoproterozoic) Keele Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, Northwestern Canada. Precambrian Research 133: 223-247. (PDF) Batten, K., Narbonne, G.M., and James, N.P., 2004, Early Neoproterozoic (Tonian) ramp carbonates and microbial buildups, Little Dal Group, Northwest Territories, Canada. Precambrian Research 133: 249-269 (PDF) (also published in Virtual Journal of Geobiology, v. 3, issue 9). Sherman, A. G. James, N.P., and Narbonne, G.M, 2002, Tectonic inversion and carbonate sedimentation: Mesoproterozoic Borden Basin, northern Baffin Island. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 38: 519-538. (PDF) James, N.P., Narbonne, G.M. and Kyser, T.K., 2001 Late Neoproterozoic cap carbonates, Mackenzie Mountains, NW Canada: precipitation and global glacial meltdown. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 38: 1229-1262. (PDF) Sherman, A.G., Narbonne, G.M., and James, N.P., 2001, Anatomy of a cyclically packaged Mesoproterozoic carbonate ramp in northern Canada. Sedimentary Geology, 139: 171- 203. (PDF) Turner, E.C., James, N.P. and Narbonne, G.M., 2000, Taphonomic controls on microstructure in Early Neoproterozoic reefal stromatolites and thrombolites. Palaios, 15: 87-111. "Honourable Mention" for Best Paper Award. Narbonne, G.M. , James, N.P., Rainbird, R.H. and Morin, J., 2000, Early Neoproterozoic (Tonian) patch reef complexes, Victoria Island, Arctic Canada., in Grotzinger, J.P. and James, N.P., eds., Carbonate Sedimentation and Diagenesis in the Evolving Precambrian World, SEPM Spec. Publ. 67, 163-178. Turner, E.C, Narbonne, G.M. and James, N.P., 2000, Framework composition of Early Neoproterozoic calcimicrobial reefs and associated microbiolites, Mackenzie Mountains, N.W.T, in Grotzinger, J.P. and James, N.P., eds., Carbonate Sedimentation and Diagenesis in the Evolving Precambrian World, SEPM Spec. Publ. 67: 221-254.  "Honourable Mention" for Best Paper Award" Sherman, A.G., James, N.P. and Narbonne, G.M., 2000, Sedimentology of a Late Mesoproterozoic muddy carbonate ramp, northern Baffin Island, Arctic Canada , in Grotzinger, J.P. and James, N.P., eds., Carbonate Sedimentation and Diagenesis in the Evolving Precambrian World, SEPM Spec. Publ. 67: 275-294. Please contact me at narbonne@geol. queensu.ca to discuss potential thesis topics.

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