Michael Montenari

Biography

I was appointed lecturer in Palaeontology in 2005. I studied Geology and Palaeontology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg (Germany), the Université-Louis-Pasteur in Strasbourg (France), the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Erlangen/Nürnberg (Germany) and the University of California, Los Angeles (USA). I obtained a degree as Diplom-Geologe (MSc) with a study on the Micropalaeontology and Sedimentology of Lower Carboniferous calciclastic turbidites of the Vosges Mountains (France) in 1996, and a PhD degree (Dr. rer. nat.) in Earth Sciences with a study on the Palynology, Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of the   metasedimentary units of the Black Forest Massif (Germany) in 1999. After a brief but very intensive life in the oil industry, I held PostDoc positions at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, Centre for Palaeozoic Palaeontology and Palaeogeography, Université de Lille) and the University of Tübingen (Germany) where I was awarded the  Higher Doctorate (DSc, Dr. habil., Habilitation) in 2005.

Research and scholarship

My main research interests include the Palaeoecology and Biogeography of selected fossil groups, the ultrastructural analysis of microfossils, fossil extremophiles and their relation to rock formation and deformation, the recent, sub-recent and fossil genesis of stromatolithic structures, Phanerozoic biogeochemical and isotope-biogeochemical signals, the geodynamic evolution of the Variscan Belt, the fragmentation of the Late Precambrian supercontinent Rodinia and associated processes as well as the Sedimentology of extensional basins.

Teaching

Science Foundation Year:

• ESC-00001 Earth Story

Year 1:

• ESC-10002 Introductory Palaeontology and Stratigraphy (Module Leader)
• ESC-10020 This is Planet Earth
• ESC-10024 Earth System & Environmental Concepts
• ESC-10030 Geology Fieldwork and Transferable Skills

Year 2:

• ESC-20031 Advanced Structural Geology & Solid Earth Geophysics
• ESC-20036 Plaeoclimatology and Quarternary Studies

Year 3:

• ESC-30005 Geology Special Project (Supervisor)
• ESC-30025 Micropalaeontology: Principles and Applications (Module Leader)
• ESC-30026 Independent Field Project (Supervisor)
• CHE-30013 Forensic Geoscience

Year 4 (MGeoscience):

• ESC-40004 Geoscience Research Project
• ESC-40005 Research in Context
• ESC-40006 Research Report
• MGeo-40023 Micropalaeontology: Principles and Applications
• MGeo-40039 Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems (Module Leader)

Fieldwork/Excursions:

• ESC-10002 Natural History Museum (Leader)
• ESC-10030 Llangollen field course (Leader)
• ESC-10030 Pembrokeshire field course
• ESC-10030 Wenlock-Ludlow field course (Leader)
• ESC-30025 Wirral fieldtrip (Leader)
• ESC-30026 Cantabria field course
• ESC-40023 Wirral fieldtrip (Leader)
• ESC-40039 Fossil-Lagerstaetten of Central Europe (Leader)

PGR/PGT Students

Past PhD Students

• Steve Rogers. 2015. Pennsylvanian carbonate mud mounds from the sub-aerial to sub-marine transition along a tilted foreland basin, Cantabrian Mountains, Spain.  Unpublished PhD Thesis, Keele University.
  Resulting paper: Iberian Geol.
• Tim Ferriday. 2014. Chemostratigraphical characterisation of lower Silurian black shales from the Formigoso Formation (southern Cantabrian Mountains, Spain).  Unpublished PhD Thesis, Keele University.