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Explosion (Credit: Fulvia Favaro, distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

SSP Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology Division on Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

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European Geosciences Union

Division on Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology
ssp.egu.eu

Division on Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

President: Cinzia Bottini (Emailssp@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Mónica Sánchez-Román (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 …


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 …


Insight into paleo-environmental and -climatic conditions during the Pleistocene period in Kashmir – An understudied and poorly understood puzzle-piece in the interaction-sphere of the Indian Monsoon and Westerly climate-systems

The Indian subcontinent is situated in Southern Asia, where it projects southwards from the Himalayas into the Indian Ocean. Along the northern border of this subcontinent, the Himalayas – home to the earth’s highest mountains on land – stretch with a length of ~2500 km and a width of 300 km. The stunning mountain ranges of the Himalayas provide a considerable physical barrier for air masses from/to the Indian subcontinent and consequently, the Himalayas play a critical role in Eurasian …

Recent awardees

Benjamin Bomfleur

Benjamin Bomfleur

  • 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.


Matthias Sinnesael

Matthias Sinnesael

  • 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.


Donald Ross Prothero

Donald Ross Prothero

  • 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.


Zsanett Szilagyi

Zsanett Szilagyi

  • 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

Current issue of the EGU newsletter

In our May issue, we look back on another amazing General Assembly in Vienna and online, the EGU awards and medals are now open for nominations, funding is now open for public engagement grants, distinguished lecture speakers, science journalism fellowships, an Early Career Scientist career development workshop and more - and there is a vacancy for an Editorial Manager at the EGU Executive Office in Munich!

All this and much more, in this month's Loupe!

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