PhD. Topics
Earth Science Institute of the SAS
Topic
Biotic changes of the Peri-Tethyan and Paratethyan basinal environments based on the study of planktonic foraminifera from the Paleogene formations of the Western Carpathians.
PhD. program
Paleontology
Year of admission
2025
Name of the supervisor
doc. RNDr. Ján Soták, DrSc.
Contact:
Receiving school
Prírodovedecká fakulta UK
Annotation
Planktonic foraminifera are an important component of marine zooplankton, which sensitively responds of changes in temperature, amount of nutrients, stratification of the water column, oxygen deficit, and other environmental factors. The Paleogene evolution of the planktonic foraminifers was influenced by stressfull conditions following the late Cretaceous extinction, recovery and radiation of the a new taxa, climatic extremes, syngenetic volcanism, water-column stratification, activity of upwelling currents, expansion of the Oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), hydrography and circulation of the basins, etc. The instability of climatic systems was manifested by hyperthermal events in the Upper Danian (LDE - 62.16 million years), at the uppermost Paleocene (PETM - 55.5 million years), the climatic optimum in the Lutetian (MECO - 41.2 million years), climatic cooling at the end Eocene (TEE - 33.3 million years) and the improvement of climatic conditions from the base of the Chattian to the warming in the early Miocene (22.0 million years). These changes of paleoenvironments are recorded in microfauna of the planktonic foraminifera by changes in the functional morphology and wall structure of tests, morphogenesis of new species, the presence of abnormal and malformed species, the development of new life strategies like photosymbiotic or heterotophic species, warm-water or cool-water species, their trophic modes, etc. The purpose of the dissertation will be to analyze the microfauna from the Paleogene formations of the Western Carpathians in terms of biochronology, taxonomy, systematics, diversity, structure and calcification of the tests, isotopic composition and further characteristics of planktonic foraminifera. These data will be used to interpret the conditions of bioproductivity, paleotemperature, humidity, oxygen concentration, acidification, circulation and hydrological regime of the Paleogene basins of the Western Carpathians. The thesis will tend to provide a reconstruction of paleoenvironments in the oceanic basins of the Peri-Tethys and their changes with progressing isolation of euxinic basins of the Paratethys.