President: Cinzia Bottini
(Emailssp@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Marc De Batist
(Email)
ECS Representative: Shradha Menon
(Emailecs-ssp@egu.eu)
The Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology Division (SSP) focuses its activities on all aspects of the sedimentary record. About 70% of the Earth surface is covered by sedimentary deposits, which are eroded and deposited right at the contact between the solid lithosphere and the atmosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. Sedimentary rocks record the history of our planet since almost 4 billion of years and play a pivotal role for our understanding of the evolution of life. This deep-time archive of Earth history is studied with a wide range of analytical techniques providing ever stunning details on the evolution of our planet. Sedimentary basins host important natural resources like coal, gas, oil, ore deposits and groundwater and therefore a better understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes controlling the formation and distribution of sediments and sedimentary rocks is of utmost importance for our society.
Latest posts from the SSP blog
Mass Transport Deposits – The smoking gun of submarine landslides
When we think about landslides, we usually picture mountain slopes collapsing after heavy rain or earthquakes. Similar phenomena, often much larger, also occur beneath the sea along continental margins and across the deep ocean floor. Geologists refer to the deposits left behind by these collapses as Mass Transport Deposits, commonly abbreviated as MTDs. When several of these deposits form part of a larger unit, they are sometimes grouped under the term Mass Transport Complexes, or MTCs. MTDs are not rare …
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CSI: Sedimentology
INTRODUCTION Shows involving homicides and associated crime scene investigation (CSI) are among the most popular on television. The public is fascinated by the work that goes into collecting and analysing data from crime scenes in the field (Figure 1), whether it be DNA, wounds and bloodstains, footprints, tire tracks, or even evidence of arson. Skeletal analysis can provide a detailed profile, and even a life history, of the victim, and there is almost always a method to estimate time of …
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SEDIMENTARY BASINS OF ALGERIA: THEIR ROLE IN EUROPE’S ENERGY SECURITY AND EMERGING GREEN HYDROGEN FUTURE
Algeria is often described as one of the great energy engines of Africa and the Mediterranean, and with good reason. Its proven oil and gas reserves are impressive, but what truly sets the country apart is the extraordinary complexity of its geological history. Over more than two billion years, tectonics, climate shifts and sedimentation created a series of basins that today host some of North Africa’s most prolific petroleum systems. These basins supply large volumes of natural gas to Europe, …
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Recent awardees
- 2026
- Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal
The 2026 Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal is awarded to
Benjamin Bomfleur for excellence in palaeobotany, specifically on the evolution, taxonomy and palaeobiology of plants.
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- 2026
- Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award
The 2026 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to
Matthias Sinnesael for advancing open and reproducible cyclostratigraphy through innovative research, community-building, and fostering the next generation of stratigraphers.
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- 2025
- Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal
The 2025 Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal is awarded to
Donald Ross Prothero in recognition of a strong research profile in terrestrial stratigraphy, and unwavering support and education of the next generation.
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- 2025
- Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award
The 2025 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to
Zsanett Szilagyi Subsurface dissection of Holocene inter-reef Halimeda bioherms: morphology, facies and latitudinal variations in the northern Great Barrier Reef
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Current issue of the EGU newsletter
In our February issue, we are following pioneering scientists into extreme places in the name of discovery, from a day-in-the-life of an Antarctic researcher working on the sea ice to how the Viking spaceships took space plasma from theory to observation. Marie Cavitte shares her experience of the Blue Book traineeship in science for policy and Elsa Abs talks about their work with soil microbes. EGU's President thanks our 12,000 volunteers from 2025 and we share the 24 training schools and member-organised meetings we have funded in 2026. Deadlines approach for the EGU26 photo competition and Early-bird registration fees, and there is a job vacancy in the EGU Executive office in Munich, Germany!
All this and much more, in this month's Loupe!
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