Department of Geology

The Department of Geology of Naturalis was was established on September 1, 2005 as a merger between the former departments of Palaeontology and Mineralogy/Petrology. It has six full-time palaeontologists, two full-time mineralogists and two part-time staff members. In addition, the department houses two SYNTHESYS and EDIT project staff, one in-house post-doc, one in-house PhD researcher, and over 20 research associates engaged in a wide variety of scientific research and collection projects. Mineralogical research mostly concentrated on the latter two regions and selected, dominantly Precambrian, basement areas of former Gondwana. A key element of mineralogy is the Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory, the only major gemmological facility in the Netherlands and one of the few major labs in the world independent of industry.

Palaeontological research at Naturalis traditionally has a focus on the Netherlands, Southeast Asia, Northwestern Europe, and the Mediterranean. Taxonomic expertise of staff members includes (fossil) foraminifers, molluscs, echinoids, vertebrates, and plants, and covers the entire Phanerozoic. The palaeontology section contributes significantly to modelling the dynamics of biodiversity in space and time, using paleo-GIS applications (geographical information systems on coordinates that can move freely with continents or parts thereof); and web-based taxonomy (producing and publishing species revisions at international level through web-based tools). Formal agreements with universities are now in the process of being established with several universities (Leiden, Utrecht and VU Amsterdam), including scientific collaboration, lecture courses and student supervision in palaeontology.

We have close ties with the Nationaal Herbarium of the University of Leiden, the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and Utrecht University. We also have long-standing and productive cooperations with amateur geologists and -paleontologists, including the WPZ (Dutch Society of Pleistocene Mammals) and the WTKG (Working Group Tertiary and Quaternary Geology). On an international level, we collaborate with the Indonesian Geological Survey and Museum at Bandung (Indonesia), the University of Turku (Finland), the University of Queensland in Brisbane (Australia) and Museo Nacional in Madrid (Spain).

The Annual Report 2008 of the Department can be found here.

Research

Research at the Geology department is arranged within three main themes:

Biodiversity & Environmental Change

This theme comprises research into the evolution within closed systems (island faunas) as well as within open systems. The biodiversity and palaeo-biogeography of fossil island faunas focuses on islands in South East Asia, the Mediterranean region, Mauritius as well as long-lived lakes in the Amazon region. Evolution and palaeo-ecology of open systems is studied in the Neogene of Europe, marine biota in southeast Asia and the Caribbean, and Permian fossil plants from Sumatra. Research activities pertinent to the Geology of the Netherlands also fall under this theme.

General Systematics

This theme covers projects fossil species discovery & revisions, often in relation to palaeobiogeography; projects with a stratigraphic focus are also included here.

Physical Earth

The third theme comprises the research lines Geomaterials & Geodynamics (Deep Crustal Processes) and Near Surface Processes. The former comprises long-standing projects on melting in the continental crust (“under the volcano”: southern Spain and Finland) and on the origin of gems (a.o. Brazil, East Africa). It also has strong links with the most important consultancy component of Naturalis, namely the Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory (NEL), sharing equipment and expertise.

More about research at the Department of Geology ...

Click here for publications of 2008 of the Department of Geology.

Research staff

	Steve Donovan Echinodermata, trace fossils, crustaceans, Carribean geology		Isabel van Waveren Carboniferous and Permian plants of Sumatra and the North Sea Basin
	Lars van den Hoek Ostende Neogene and Quaternary insectivores in Eurasia		John de Vos Cainozoic larger mammals, North Sea Basin and South East Asia
	Han van Konijnenburg van Cittert Fossil plants		Frank Wesselingh Cainozoic molluscs
	Leo Kriegsman Metamorphic rocks		Hanco Zwaan Minerals and gems
	Willem Renema Micropalaeontology and reefal organisms