Research Interests:

My research interests focus on the development of a biochronological framework for Cretaceous and Cenozoic strata based on fossil marine diatom and silicoflagellate biostratigraphy of southern and northern high latitude regions. Records of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate changes are interpreted from marine microfossils, the study of which provide essential biostratigraphic age control and records of paleoenvironmental changes. These geological perspectives guide our understanding of modern and past Earth processes and allow refinement and calibration of numerical models that help predict future Earth scenarios. Fossil phytoplankton remain important areas for research as their growth and distribution reflect large-scale changes in the Antarctic ice sheet, sea-ice, and paleoceanographic conditions in the Southern Ocean. Their stratigraphic and biogeographic record reflects how life and Antarctic paleocommunities adapted to progressive cooling during repeated advance and retreat of ice sheets. The composite stratigraphy of subglacial Antarctic basins is being reconstructed through the recovery and documentation of recycled and in situ microfossils. Another focus of my research centers on the origin and early evolutionary history of Cretaceous marine diatoms and silicoflagellates. The fossil record of diatoms spanning the last 120 million years is still developing, with many taxa remaining to be described and added to the collective biostratigtraphic ‘tool-kit’.

Specialization: 

Biostratigraphy, Micropaleontology, Marine Paleoecology, Antarctic Paleoenvironments

Recent Publications:

Patterson, M.O., et al., 2026. Spatially variable response of Antarctica's ice sheets to orbital forcing during the Pliocene. Nature Geoscience. https://DOI:10.1038/s41561-025-01840-y 

Campbell, T.D., et al., 2025. Dynamic Subglacial Meltwater History Archived in Antarctic Subglacial Lake Sediments. Geological Society of America, Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1130/B37731.1.

Abe, K., Harwood, D.M., and Jordan, R.W., 2022. Observations on Late Cretaceous Micrampulla (Corethrales, Bacillariophyceae) from the Campbell Plateau (Zealandia), southwest Pacific Ocean. Diatom Research  2118835 

https://doi:10.1080/0269249X.2022.2118835 

Witkowski, J., Harwood, D.M., Wade, B.S., and Brylka, K., 2020. Rethinking the chronology of early Paleogene sediments in the western North Atlantic using diatom biostratigraphy. Marine Geology, v. 424: 106-168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2020.106168 

News:

Husker expertise featured in new Antarctic study