Staff and Postgraduate Students

Dr Darren Grocke, BSc (Hons), DPhil (Oxon)

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Biography

2008–: Reader, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, UK.
2007–2008: Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, UK.
2006–2007: Associate Professor, School of Geography & Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Canada.
2003–2006: Assistant Professor, School of Geography & Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Canada.
2000–2003: Lecturer, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London, UK.

Career Research Highlights

Darren Grocke has diverse research interests ranging from palaeoceanography, palaeoclimatology to biogeochemistry. Darren was a pioneer in the development of carbon isotopes in fossil plants as a proxy for changes in the gobal carbon reservoir. This work has been influential in understanding the Cretaceous period and ocean-atmosphere interactions. His research is not only on palaeo-records, but recently has focused on modern environmental and ecological systems in order to better understand and refine our knowledge of ancient climates. He has edited two international journal issues on understanding ancient climates. Darren has been attracted to any biological material that can be analyzed for stable isotopes, which has included bivalves, kangaroos, sloth faeces, plant cellulose, mammoths, beetles, belemnites, plant leaves and megafauna.

Committee and Society Service

2007: GSA Committee on Research Grants
2007: European Geophysical Union, Secretary, Stratigraphy Subdivision

Conferences and workshops

Conference sessions convened and organised

2006: Session PP33C, "Greenhouse/Icehouse Climates: Organic Proxies and Mechanisms Leading to Organic-Rich Marine Sediments", AGU Fall Meeting.
2006:Special Session SS-22, "Reconstructing ancient climates,environmnets and biology using stable isotopes" GAC-MAC Annual Meeting.
2004: Topical Session T54, "The Evolution and Expansion of C4 Plants" GSA Annual Meeting.
2003: Topical Session T81, "Multi-Proxy Terrestrial Records and the Ocean-Climate System: Links and Perturbations in the Cretaceous", GSA Annual Meeting.
2001: Session PP31, "Transient Climates Events in the Geological Record", AGU Fall Meeting. American Geophysical Union

Editorial Roles

2009–: Solid Earth (Chief-Executive Editor).
2009–: Geological Journal (Senior Editor – Invited Reviews).
2007–: Geological Journal (Editorial Board).

Invited Keynotes

April 2007: "Using terrestrial carbon-isotope startigraphy in understanding climates and environments" EGU Annual Meeting (SSP14/CL44), Vienna.
October 2006: "Using terrestrial carbon-isotope stratigraphy in understanding climates and environments", GSA Annual Meeting (T27), Pennsylvania.
December 2004: "A Cenozoic terrestrial isotope record and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis", AGU Annual Meeting (PP53), San Francisco.
December 2003: "The global significance of a deep-sea isotopic event during the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event recorded in Japan", AGU Annual Meeting (PP41), San Francisco.
December 2002: "Terrestrial carbon-isotope stratigraphy of fossil plants as a correlation and environmental tool", BSRG, Norwich.

Prizes & Awards

2007: Early Research Award, Ontario Provincial Government.
2004: McMaster University VP Research Award.
2004: McMaster University VP Research Award.

Research Groups

• Geochemistry Group
• Palaeoclimate Research Group
• Petrology Group
• Sedimentology Research Group

Selected Publications

Books: sections

• Gröcke, D.R., van Hardenbroek, M., Sauer, P. & Elias, S. (2011). Hydrogen isotope studies in beetle chitin. In Chitin: formation and diagenesis. Gupta, N. S. New York: Springer. 105-116.
• Gröcke, D.R. (2009). “Greenhouse” (Warm) Climates. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. Gornitz, V. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. 397-405.

Edited works: contributions

• Gröcke, D.R. (2002). The carbon isotope composition of ancient CO2 based on higher plant organic matter. In Understanding climate change: proxies, chronology, and ocean-atmosphere interactions. Gröcke, D.R. & Kucera, M. London: Royal Society. 360: 633-658.

Edited works: journals

• Gröcke, D.R. & Gillikin, D.P. (2008). Advances in mollusc sclerochronology and sclerochemistry: tools for understanding climate and environment. Geo-Marine Letters, 28 (5-6): Springer.
• Gröcke, D.R. & Wortmann, U. (2008). Investigating climates, environments and biology using stable isotopes. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 266 (1-2): Elsevier.
• Gröcke, D.R. & Kucera, M. (2002). Understanding climate change: proxies, chronology and ocean-atmosphere interactions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series, 360 Royal Society Publishing.

Journal papers: academic

• Gröcke, D.R., Hori, R.S., Trabucho-Alexandre, J., Kemp, D.B. & Schwark, L. (2011). An open ocean record of the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event. Solid Earth 2(2): 245-257.
• Jarvis, I., Lignum, J.S., Gröcke, D.R., Jenkyns, H.C. & Pearce, M.A. (2011). Black shale deposition, atmospheric CO2 drawdown, and cooling during the Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event. Paleoceanography 26: PA3201.
• Sargent, C., Hobbs, R.W. & Gröcke, D.R. (2011). Improving the interpretability of air-gun seismic reflection data using deterministic filters: A case history from offshore Cape Leeuwin, south-west Australia. Geophysics 76(3): B113–B125.
• Huber, B.T., MacLeod, K.G., Gröcke, D.R. & Kucera, M. (2011). Paleotemperature and paleosalinity inferences and chemostratigraphy across the Aptian/Albian boundary in the subtropical North Atlantic. Paleoceanography 26: PA4221.
• van Hengstum, P.J., Scott, D.B., Gröcke, D.R. & Charette, M.A. (2011). Sea level controls sedimentation and environments in coastal caves and sinkholes. Marine Geology 286(1-4): 35-50.
• Caruthers, A.H., Gröcke, D.R. & Smith, P.L. (2011). The significance of an Early Jurassic (Toarcian) carbon-isotope excursion in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia, Canada. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 307(1-2): 19-26.
• Kuroda, J., Hori, R.S., Suzuki, K., Gröcke, D.R. & Ohkouchi, N. (2010). Marine osmium isotope record across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary from a Pacific pelagic site. Geology 38(12): 1095-1098.
• Szpak, P., Gröcke, D.R., Debruyne, R., MacPhee, R.D.E., Guthrie, R.D., Froese, D., Zazula, G.D., Patterson, W.P. & Poinar, H.N. (2010). Regional differences in bone collagen δ13C and δ15N of Pleistocene mammoths: Implications for paleoecology of the mammoth steppe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 286(1-2): 88-96.
• Nunn, E.V., Price, G.D., Gröcke, D.R., Baraboshkin, E.Y., Leng, M.J. & Hart, M.B. (2010). The Valanginian positive carbon isotope event in Arctic Russia: Evidence from terrestrial and marine isotope records and implications for global carbon cycling. Cretaceous Research 31(6): 577-592.
• Findlay, A.J., Selby, D. & Gröcke, D.R. (2010). Tracking the Hirnantian glaciation using Os isotopes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 293(3-4): 339-348.
• Szpak, P., Orchard, T.J. & Gröcke, D.R. (2009). A Late Holocene vertebrate food web from southern Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia). Journal of Archaeological Science 36(12): 2734-2741.
• Diester-Haass, L., Billups, K., Gröcke, D.R., François, L., Lefebvre, V. & Emeis, K.C. (2009). Mid-Miocene paleoproductivity in the Atlantic Ocean and implications for the global carbon cycle. Paleoceanography 24: PA1209.
• Gröcke, D.R., Rimmer, S.M., Yoksoulian, L.E., Cairncross, B., Tsikos, H. & van Hunen, J. (2009). No evidence for thermogenic methane release in coal from the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous province. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 277(1-2): 204-212.
• Armstrong, H.A., Baldini, J., Challands, T.J., Gröcke, D.R. & Owen, A.W. (2009). Response of the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone to Southern Hemisphere cooling during Upper Ordovician glaciation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 284(3-4): 227-236.
• Kingston, A.W., Gröcke, D.R. & Burchell, M. (2008). A multiaxial growth analysis of stable isotopes in the modern shell of Saxidomus gigantea: Implications for sclerochronology studies. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 9: Q01007.
• Ufnar, D.F., Gröcke, D.R. & Beddows, P.A. (2008). Assessing pedogenic calcite stable-isotope values: Can positive linear covariant trends be used to quantify palaeo-evaporation rates? Chemical Geology 256: 46-51.
• Debruyne, R., Chu, G., King, C., Bos, K., Kuch, M., Schwarz, C., Szpak, P., Gröcke, D.R., Matheus, P., Zazula, G., Guthrie, D., Froese, D., Buigues, B., de Marliave, C., Flemming, C., Poinar, D., Fisher, D., Southon, J., Tikhonov, A.N., MacPhee, R.D.E. & Poinar, H. (2008). Out of America: Ancient DNA evidence for a New World origin of Late Quaternary Woolly Mammoths. Current Biology 18(17): 1320-1326.
• Ufnar, D.F., Ludvigson, G.A., González, L. & Gröcke, D.R. (2008). Precipitation rates and atmospheric heat transport during the Cenomanian greenhouse warming in North America: Estimates from a stable isotope mass-balance model. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 266(1-2): 28-38.
• van Hengstum, P. & Gröcke, D.R. (2008). Stable-isotope record of the Eifelian–Givetian boundary Kačák–otomari Event (Middle Devonian) from Hungry Hollow, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 45(3): 353-366.
• Palmqvist, P., Pérez-Claros, J.A., Janis, C.M. & Gröcke, D.R. (2008). Tracing the ecophysiology of ungulates and predator–prey relationships in an early Pleistocene large mammal community. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 266(1-2): 95-111.
• Kuch, M., Gröcke, D.R., Knyf, M., Thomas, M., Gilbert, P., Younghusband, B., Young, T., Marshal, I., Willerslev, E., Stoneking, M. & Poinar, H. (2007). A preliminary analysis of the DNA and diet of the extinct Beothuk: A systematic approach to ancient human DNA. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132(4): 594-604.
• Gröcke, D.R., Hesselbo, S.P. & Findlay, D.J. (2007). Atypical diagenetic effects on strontium-isotope composition of Early Jurassic belemnites, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 44(2): 181-197.
• van Hengstum, P.J., Reinhardt, E.G., Medioli, F.S. & Gröcke, D.R. (2007). Exceptionally preserved Late Albian (Cretaceous) Arcellaceans (Thecamoebians) from the Dakota Formation near Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 37(4): 300-308.
• Gröcke, D.R. & Waltham, D. (2007). Reply to the comment on “Non-uniqueness and interpretation of the seawater 87Sr/86Sr curve” by John M. McArthur and Paul B. Wignall. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71(13): 3387.
• Waltham, D.A. & Gröcke, D.R. (2006). Non-uniqueness and interpretation of the seawater 87Sr/86Sr curve. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70(2): 384-394.
• Gröcke, D.R., Ludvigson, G.A., Witzke, B.L., Robinson, S.L., Joeckel, R.M., Ufnar, D.F. & Ravn, R.L. (2006). Recognizing the Albian-Cenomanian (OAE1d) sequence boundary using plant carbon isotopes: Dakota Formation, Western Interior Basin, USA. Geology 34(3): 193-196.
• Gröcke, D.R., Schimmelmann, A., Elias, S. & Miller, R.F. (2006). Stable hydrogen-isotope ratios in beetle chitin: preliminary European data and re-interpretation of North American data. Quaternary Science Reviews 25(15-16): 1850-1864.
• Bádenas, B., Aurell, M. & Gröcke, D.R. (2005). Facies analysis and correlation of high-order sequences in middle-outer ramp successions: variations in exported carbonate on basin-wide δ13Ccarb (Kimmeridgian, NE Spain). Sedimentology 52(6): 1253-1275.
• Orberger, B., Gallien, J-P., Pinti, D.L., Fialin, M., Daudin, L., Gröcke, D.R. & Pasava, J. (2005). Nitrogen and carbon partitioning in diagenetic and hydrothermal minerals from Paleozoic Black Shales, (Selwyn Basin, Yukon Territories, Canada). Chemical Geology 218(3-4): 249-264.
• Gröcke, D.R., Price, G.D., Robinson, S.A., Baraboshkin, E., Mutterlose, J. & Ruffell, A.H. (2005). The Upper Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) positive carbon-isotope event recorded in terrestrial plants. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 240(2): 495-509.

Journal papers: professional

• Gröcke, D.R. & Joeckel, R.M. (2008). A stratigraphic test of the terrestrial carbon-isotope record of the latest Albian OAE from the Dakota Formation, Nebraska. Kansas Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2008(2): 24-30.

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Supervises

• Miss Alice Du-vivier