Michael R. Talbot
Professor of Sedimentology
Department of Earth
Sciences
University of Bergen
Allégt. 41
5007
Bergen
Norway
Phone: +47-55583390 / 3520
Fax: +47-55583660
email:
michael.talbot@geo.uib.no
Curriculum Vitae
Main fields of research:
Much
of my recent research effort has been concentrated on the large lakes
of East Africa, with field work and coring on Lakes Victoria, Edward,
George, Malawi, Bogoria and Baringo. The work is a contribution to
the International Decade for the EastAfricanLakes
(IDEAL)
project and involves collaboration with, among others, the
Limnological Research Center,
UMN, Minneapolis, the Large Lakes
Observatory, UMN, Duluth, the University
of Syracuse, NY, and the University
of Western Brittany, Brest. IDEAL is affiliated to the PAGES
and START initiatives.
Our own contribution to IDEAL has largely been related to
stable isotopic and elemental studies of organic matter, particularly
for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. We are also been working on
the neotectonics of the Edward-George basin, Pleistocene-Holocene
organic-rich sediments as analogues for ancient nonmarine oil source
rocks, and strontium isotopes as palaeohydrological tracers.
NSF and the International
Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) have recently
awarded funding to carry out deep drilling in Lake
Malawi. Drilling will start in January-February 2005 and it
is
anticipated that the cores we obtain will provide high-resolution
records of tropical African palaeoclimate stretching back over
several glacial-interglacial cycles. In addition, we expect a flood
of new insights into continental rift sedimentation and tectonics.
R.V. Usipa anchored in Senga Bay, Lake Malawi Unloading a core from the M.V. Topi, Kazinga Channel, Lake Edward
The end of a succesful cruise on Lake Victoria Lake Baringo, Kenya, with microbialite-encrusted highstand beach cobbles.
Euro-Ideal
is an EU-funded consortium of 13 geoscientists from 7 European
countries associated with the IDEAL project. The consortium has
a strong emphasis on proxy palaeoclimate indicators in African lake
sediments, but also includes expertise from a number of other fields
of relevance to the interpretation of lacustrine palaeoclimatic
records and the origins of the African rift lakes' exceptional
biodiversity. Euro-Ideal is coordinated from the University of
Bergen.
NORPEC
(Norwegian Palaeoenvironments
and Climates as Reconstructed from Lake Sediments)
This multidisciplinary project, coordinated by Professor John Birks (Botanical Institute, University of Bergen), is using high-resolution cores from a transect of lakes in Norway to reconstruct a range of important environmental parameters over the last 14,000 years. We are working on the stable isotopic composition of sedimentary carbonates and organic matter, and have recently taken the first-ever core from a carbonate-precipitating lake (Ulltvedttjern, Ringerike) in southern Norway. The Holocene section is carbonate-bearing throughout and should provide an excellent high-resolution record of environmental change in the Hadeland region. In March 2002 a 5.74 m-long core was raised from Nattmålsvatn in Troms, northern Norway. In summer the lake precipitates carbonate but to our surprise the core is carbonate-poor, presumably because of unfavourable preservational conditions. In compensation, however, the sediments are rich in well-preserved aquatic organic matter, ideal for stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis. We thus anticipate that the core will yield a unique, high-resolution record of environmental change in northern Norway. The anlysis and interpretation of these cores forms the basis of Aina Dahlo's Ph.D. studies.
CARBONATE ROCKS
Having started
my professional career as a carbonate sedimentologist, it is
difficult to completely abandon these fascinating deposits. We have
recently enjoyed fruitful collaboration with Norsk Hydro, working on
collapse breccias associated with Late Palaeozoic carbonates and
evaporites in central Spitsbergen. In the Billefjord area the
breccias locally exceed 100 m in thickness, testimony to the removal
of large volumes of evaporites (mainly gypsum) from the host strata.
Dissolution probably occurred at shallow burial depths when the
overlying limestones were exposed and subject to karst-related
processes.
Nordenskiold glacier with U. Palaeozoic red-beds,
evaporites and carbonates
beyond.
Funnel-shaped breccia body cross-cutting host strata
(Photos by Arild
Eliassen)
Eliassen, A. 2002. Extent, origin and significance of brecciated units in the Minkinfjell Formation and Black Crag Beds, Upper Carboniferous, central Spitsbergen. Unpublished Dr. scient. thesis, University of Bergen.
Papers on the breccias and associated deposits are published or in press (see publication list below).
Other carbonate-related research, supported by Norsk Hydro and Statoil, is focused on Miocene deposits of southeastern Spain. In the Vera basin we have been working on a unit of coarse, mixed siliciclastic-bioclastic deposits which at some localities display spectacular, large-scale trough cross-bedding. These deposits are thought to have accumulated in a tidally influenced strait that connected the Vera basin with the Sorbas basin to the west.
Large-scale
troughs in the Azagador Member, Rio Aguas gorge, Turre, Spain. Height
of section ca. 20 m. (photo by Henning Nøttveit)
In the Lorca basin we have also been examining mixed carbonate-siliclastic deposits. This particular succession accumulated on a fault-controlled ramp along the southern margin of the basin. Here the relationships between bioclastic and reefal carbonates, and a continental red-bed succession is beautifully exposed in strike-parallel and strike-normal valleys. The succession is marked by a complex interplay between carbonate sediment production, siliclastic sediment supply, eustatic sea-level changes and local tectonics.
Lorca
basin. Section approximately normal to basin margin showing carbonate
ramp deposits interfingering with continental red beds
Work in these two basins forms part of Camilla Thrana's Ph.D. study.
Some
Recent Publications
Filippi, M.L and
Talbot, M.R., in press. Lake Malawi: The palaeolimnology of the North
Basin over the last 25 ka based upon the elemental and stable
isotopic composition of sedimentary organic matter. Quaternary
Science Reviews.
Eliassen, A. and Talbot, M.R. in press. Solution collapse breccias of the Minkinfjellet and Wordiekammen Formations, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard: A large gypsum paleokarst system. Sedimentology.
Talbot, M.R. 2004. Sedimentary Environments: Lake Processes and
Deposits. in: Encyclopedia of Geology v. 4, pp.
550-562.
Barker, P., Talbot, M.R., Street-Perrott, A., Marret,
F., Scourse, J., Odada, E., 2004. Late Quaternary climatic
variability in intertropical Africa, in Battarbee, R.W., Gasse, F.,
and Stickley, C.E., eds., Past climate variability through Europe and
Africa. in Battarbee, R.W., Gasse, F., and Stickley, C.E., eds., Past
climate variability through Europe and Africa, 117-138.
Tiercelin, J.-J., Potdevin, J.-L., Morley, C.K., Talbot, M.R., Le Gall, B., Bellon, H., Rio, A. and Vétel, W. 2004. Hydrocarbon potential of the Meso-Cenozoic Turkana Depression, northern Kenya. Part I - Reservoirs: depositional environments, diagenetic characters, and source rock-reservoir relationships. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 21: 41-62.
Talbot, M.R., Morley, C., Tiercelin, J.-J., Le Hérisse A.,
Potdevin, J.-L., Le Gall, B. 2004. Hydrocarbon potential of the
Meso-Cenozoic Turkana Depression, northern Kenya. Part II - Source
rocks: quality, maturation, depositional environments and structural
control. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 21: 63-78.
Beuning,
K.R.M., Talbot, M.R., Livingstone, D.A. and Schmukler, G., 2003. The
sensitivity of carbon isotopic proxies to paleoclimatic forcing: A
case study from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, over the last 32,000 years.
Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 17: 32-1 - 32-11.
Eliassen, A.
and Talbot, M.R., 2003. Sedimentary facies and depositional history
of the mid-Carboniferous Minkinfjellet Formation, central
Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Norwegian Journal of Geology, 83:
299-318.
Eliassen, A. and Talbot, M.R., 2003. Diagenesis of
the mid-Carboniferous Minkinfjellet Formation, central Spitsbergen,
Svalbard. Norwegian Journal of Geology, 83: 319-331.
Russell,
J.M., Johnson, T.C., Kelts, K.R., Lærdal, T., Talbot, M.R.,
2003. An 11000-year lithostratigraphic and paleohydrologic record
from Equatorial Africa: Lake Edward, Uganda-Congo. Palaeogeography
Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 193: 25-49.
Russell, J.R.,
Johnson, T.C., Talbot, M.R. 2003. A 725 yr cycle in the climate of
central Africa during the late Holocene. Geology, 31:
677-680.
Russell, J.R., Talbot, M.R., Haskell, B.J. 2003,
Mid-Holocene climate change at Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Quaternary
Research, 60: 133-141.
Lærdal, T. and Talbot, M.R. 2002.
Basin neotectonics of Lakes Edward and George, East African Rift.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 187:
213-232
Lærdal, T., Talbot, M.R. and Russell, J.M.,
2002. Late Quaternary sedimentation and climate in the Lakes Edward
and George area, Uganda-Congo.in Odada, E.O., and Olago, D.O., eds.,
The East African Great Lakes: Limnology, Palaeoclimatology and
Biodiversity: Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
429-470.
Barry, S. Filippi, M.L., Talbot, M.R. and Johnson,
T.C. 2002. Sedimentology and chronology of Late Pleistocene and
Holocene sediments from northern Lake Malawi. in Odada, E.O., and
Olago, D.O., eds., The East African Great Lakes: Limnology,
Palaeoclimatology and Biodiversity: Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic
Publishers, 369-391.
Odden, W. Barth, T., Talbot, M.R. 2002.
Compound-specific carbon isotope analysis of natural and artificially
generated hydrocarbons in source rocks and petroleum fluids from
offshore mid-Norway. Organic Geochemistry, 33: 47-65.
Verschuren, D., T.C. Johnson, H.J. Kling, D.N. Edgington, P.R. Leavitt, E.T. Brown, M.R. Talbot and R.E. Hecky, 2002. The chronology of human impact on Lake Victoria, East Africa. Proc. R. Soc. Lond B, 269: 289-294.
Talbot, M. R. 2001. Nitrogen isotopes in palaeolimnology. In: Last, W. M. & J. P. Smol (eds.), Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Volume 2: Physical and Geochemical Techniques. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 401-439.
Talbot, M.R. 2001. 30 entries in: Matthews, J.A. (ed.) The Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Environmental Change. Arnold.
Talbot, M.R. and T. Lærdal, 2000. The late Pleistocene-Holocene palaeolimnology of Lake Victoria, East Africa, based upon elemental and isotopic analyses of sedimentary organic matter. Journal of Paleolimnology, 23: 141-164.
Talbot, M.R., M.A.J. Williams and D. Adamson, 2000. Strontium isotope evidence for Late Pleistocene re-establishment of an integrated Nile drainage system. Geology, 28: 343-346.
Sælen, G., Tyson, R.V., Telnæs, N. and Talbot, M.R. 2000. Contrasting watermass conditions during deposition of the Whitby Mudstone (Lower Jurassic) and Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic) formations, UK. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 163: 163-196.
South, D.L. and M.R. Talbot, 2000. The sequence stratigraphic framework of carbonate diagenesis within transgressive fan-delta deposits: Sant Llorenç del Munt fan-delta complex, SE Ebro Basin, NE Spain, Sedimentary Geology, 138 (1-4): 179-198.
Poyato-Ariza, F.J., Talbot, M.R., Fregenal-Martínez, M.A., Meléndez, N., and Wenz, S., 1998. First isotopic and multidisciplinary evidence for nonmarine coelacanth and pycnodontiform fishes. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 144: 65-84.
Sælen, G., Tyson, R.V., Talbot, M.R.., and Telnæs, N., 1998. Evidence of recycling of isotopically light CO2(aq) in stratified black shale basins: contrasts between the Whitby Mudstone and Kimmeridge Clay Formations, United Kingdom. Geology, 26: 747-750.
Cohen, A.S., Talbot, M.R., Awramik, S.M., Dettman, D.L. and Abell, P. 1997. Lake level and paleoenvironmental history of Lake Tanganyika, Africa, as inferred from late Holocene and modern stromatolites. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109: 444-460.
Beuning, K. , Talbot, M.R., and Kelts, K. 1997. A revised 30,000 year paleoclimatic and paleohydrologic history of Lake Albert, East Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 136: 259-279.
Sælen, G., Doyle, P., and Talbot, M.R. 1996. Stable-isotope analyses of belemnite rostra from the Whitby Mudstone Formation, England: Surface water conditions during depositon of a marine black shale. Palaios, 11: 97-117.
Johnson, T.C., Scholz,C.A., Talbot, M.R., Kelts, K.,Ricketts, R.D., Ngobi,G., Beuning, K., Ssemmanda, I., and McGill, J. 1996. Late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and rapid evolution of cichlid fishes. Science, 273: 1091-1093.
Talbot, M.R. and Allen, P.A., 1996. Lakes. Chapter 4 in Reading, H.G. (ed.), Sedimentary Environments: Processes, Facies and Stratigraphy. 3rd. Edtn., Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 83-124.
Talbot, M.R., Meléndez, N., and Fregenal-Martínez, M. 1995. The waters of the Las Hoyas lake: sources and limnological characteristics. In Meléndez, N. (Ed.), Las Hoyas: A Lacustrine Konservatt-Lagerstätte, Cuenca, Spain. Ed. Univ. Complutense, Madrid, 11-16.
Sælen, G., Telnæs, N., and Talbot, M.R. 1995. A stable-isotope and biomarker study of parts of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, UK. In: Grimalt, J. O. and Dorronsoro, C. (Eds.), Organic Geochemistry: Developments and Applications to Energy, Climate, Environment and Human History, 17th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, San Sebastian, 202-204.
Johannesen, J., Patience R.L., and Talbot, M.R. 1995. Source rock characterization of the Spekk Formation, Haltenbanken (offshore mid-Norway). In: Grimalt, J. O. and Dorronsoro, C. (Eds.), Organic Geochemistry: Developments and Applications to Energy, Climate, Environment and Human History, 17th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, San Sebastian, 431-433.
Talbot, M.R., Williams, M.A.J., and Holm, K. 1994. Sedimentation in low-gradient desert margin systems: the Late Quaternary of western New South Wales, Australia, and the Late Triassic of Somerset, England. In: Rosen, M.R. (ed.), Paleoclimate and Basin Evolution of Playa Systems. Geological Society of America Special Paper 289: 97-117.
Talbot, M.R. 1994. Paleohydrology of the Late Miocene Ridge basin lake, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106: 1121-1129.
Johnson, T.C., Cohen, A.C., Kelts, K., Lehman, J.T., Livingstone, D.A., Talbot, M.R., Weiss, R.F. 1993. An International Decade for East African Lakes. Science and Implementation Plan. PAGES Workshop Report Series, 93-2: 43pp.
Sælen, G., Raiswell, R., Talbot, M.R., Skei, J.M. and Bottrell, S.H. 1993. Heavy sedimentary sulfur isotopes as indicators of super-anoxic bottom-water conditions. Geology, 21: 1091-1094.
Anadón, P., Rosell, L., and Talbot, M.R., 1992. Carbonate replacement of lacustrine gypsum in two Neogene continental basins, eastern Spain. Sedimentary Geology, 78: 201-216.
Talbot, M.R. and Johannessen, T., 1992. A high resolution palaeoclimatic record for the last 27 500 years in tropical West Africa from the carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of lacustrine organic matter. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 110: 23-37.
Williams, M.A.J., De Deckker, P., Adamson, D.A., and Talbot, M.R., 1991. Episodic fluviatile, lacustrine and aeolian sedimentation in a late Quaternary desert margin system, central western New South Wales. In: M.A.J.Williams, P.DeDeckker and A.P.Kershaw (Eds.), The Cainozoic of Australia: A Re-Appraisal of the Evidence. Geological Society of Australia Special Publication No.18, 258-287.
Kelts, K. and Talbot, M.R., 1990. Lacustrine carbonates as geochemical archives of environmental change and biotic-abiotic interactions. In: M.M.Tilzer and C.Serruya (Eds.), Large Lakes: Ecological Structure and Function, Springer-Verlag, p.288-315.
Talbot, M.R., 1990. A review of the palaeohydrological interpretation of carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios in primary lacustrine carbonates. Isotope Geoscience, 80: 261-279.
Talbot, M.R. and Kelts, K., 1990. Palaeolimnological signatures from carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios in carbonates from organic-rich lacustrine sediments. In: B.J.Katz (Ed.), Lacustrine Exploration: Case Studies and Modern Analogues. AAPG Memoir 50: 99-112.
Johnson, T.C., Talbot, M.R., Kelts, K., Cohen, A.S., Lehman, J.T., Livingstone, D.A., Odada, E.O., .Tambala, A.F., J.McGill, Arquit, A., and Tiercelin, J.-J., 1990. IDEAL: An International Decade for East African Lakes. Workshop Report #1, The Paleoclimatology of the African Rift Lakes. Duke University Marine Lab. Tech. Report., Beaufort, NC, 39pp.
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