Dr Lesley Cherns
Senior Lecturer
- cherns@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 4338
- Fax:
- +44 (0)29 2087 74326
- 1.10, Main Building
Trosolwg
Interests
- Early Palaeozoic stratigraphy
- Facies and faunas of Baltoscandia
- Avalonia
- Taphonomy
- Palaeozoic chitons
Bywgraffiad
- BSc Geology Course Director
Academia
- BSc (Keele) PhD (Glasgow) "Silurian facies and faunas of the Welsh Basin"
Cyhoeddiadau
2022
- de Paz-Álvarez, M. I., Blenkinsop, T. G., Buchs, D. M., Gibbons, G. E. and Cherns, L. 2022. Virtual field trip to the Esla Nappe (Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain): delivering traditional geological mapping skills remotely using real data. Solid Earth 13(1), pp. 1-14. (10.5194/se-13-1-2022)
- Buttler, C. J., Cherns, L. and McCobb, L. M. E. 2022. Trepostome bryozoans encrusting Silurian gastropods: a taphonomic window and its implications for biodiversity. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 67(3), pp. 569-577. (10.4202/app.00964.2021)
2020
- Ghobadi Pour, M., Popov, L. and Cherns, L. 2020. Climatic changes and astrochronology: an Ordovician perspective. Journal of Climate Change Research (مجله پژوهشهای تغییرات آب و هوایی) 1(4), pp. 89-109. (10.30488/CCR.2020.255527.1030)
2019
- Van Tuyl, J., Alves, T., Cherns, L., Antonatos, G., Burgess, P. and Masiero, I. 2019. Geomorphological evidence of carbonate build-up demise on equatorial margins: A case study from offshore northwest Australia. Marine and Petroleum Geology 104, pp. 125-149. (10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2019.03.006)
2018
- Van Tuyl, J., Alves, T. and Cherns, L. 2018. Geometric and depositional responses of carbonate build-ups to Miocene sea level and regional tectonics offshore northwest Australia. Marine and Petroleum Geology 94, pp. 144-165. (10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.02.034)
- Van Tuyl, J., Alves, T. M. and Cherns, L. 2018. Pinnacle features at the base of isolated carbonate buildups marking point sources of fluid offshore Northwest Australia. Geological Society of America Bulletin 130(9-10), pp. 1596-1614. (10.1130/B31838.1)
- Wright, V. P., Cherns, L., Azaredo, A. C. and Cabral, M. C. 2018. Testing whether early diagenesis of skeletal carbonate is different in non-marine settings: contrasting styles of molluscan preservation in the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 492, pp. 1-9. (10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.014)
2017
- Cherns, L. and Schwabe, E. 2017. Eocene and Oligocene chitons (Polyplacophora) from the Paris and Hampshire basins. Historical Biology 31(6), pp. 684-695. (10.1080/08912963.2017.1387545)
2016
- Wright, V. P. and Cherns, L. 2016. How far did feedback between biodiversity and early diagenesis affect the nature of early Palaeozoic sea floors?. Palaeontology 59(6), pp. 753-765. (10.1111/pala.12258)
- Wright, V. P. and Cherns, L. 2016. Leaving no stone unturned: the feedback between increased biotic diversity and early diagenesis during the Ordovician. Journal of the Geological Society 173(2), pp. 241-244. (10.1144/jgs2015-043)
2015
- Edwards, D., Cherns, L. and Raven, A. J. 2015. Could land-based early photosynthesizing ecosystems have bioengineered the planet in mid- Palaeozoic times?. Palaeontology 58(5), pp. 803-837. (10.1111/pala.12187)
- Butler, S., Bailey, T., Lear, C. H., Curry, G., Cherns, L. and McDonald, I. 2015. The Mg/Ca–temperature relationship in brachiopod shells: Calibrating a potential palaeoseasonality proxy. Chemical Geology 397, pp. 106-117. (10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.01.009)
2014
- Candela, Y., Cherns, L. and Troalen, L. 2014. First record of a polyplacophoran from the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology 50(1), pp. 87-91. (10.1144/sjg2013-020)
2013
- Cherns, L., Wheeley, J. R., Popov, L. E., Ghobadi Pour, M., Owens, R. M. and Hemsley, A. R. 2013. Long-period orbital climate forcing in the early Palaeozoic?. Journal of the Geological Society 170(5), pp. 707-710. (10.1144/jgs2012-122)
2011
- Cherns, L., Wheeley, J. R. and Wright, V. P. 2011. Taphonomic bias in shelly faunas through time: early aragonitic dissolution and its implications for the fossil record. In: Allison, P. A. and Bottjer, D. J. eds. Taphonomy: Process and Bias Through Time. Topics in geobiology book series Vol. 32. Taphonomy: Springer, pp. 79-105., (10.1007/978-90-481-8643-3_3)
- Cherns, L. and Wright, V. P. 2011. Skeletal mineralogy and biodiversity of marine invertebrates: size matters more than seawater chemistry. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 358(1), pp. 9-17. (10.1144/SP358.2)
2009
- Cherns, L. and Wright, V. P. 2009. Quantifying the impacts of early diagenetic aragonite dissolution on the fossil record. Palaios 24(11), pp. 756-771. (10.2110/palo.2008.p08-134r)
- Cherns, L. and Wheeley, J. R. 2009. Early Palaeozoic cooling events: peri-Gondwana and beyond. Geological Society Special Publication 325(1), pp. 257-278. (10.1144/SP325.13)
2008
- Cherns, L., Wheeley, J. R. and Wright, V. P. 2008. Taphonomic windows and molluscan preservation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 270(3-4), pp. 220-229. (10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.07.012)
- Wheeley, J. R., Cherns, L. and Wright, V. P. 2008. Provenance of microcrystalline carbonate cement in limestone-marl alternations (LMA): aragonite mud or molluscs?. Journal of the Geological Society 165(1), pp. 395-403. (10.1144/0016-76492006-160)
- Wright, V. and Cherns, L. 2008. The subtle thief: selective dissolution of aragonite during shallow burial and the implications for carbonate sedimentology. In: Lukasik, J. and Simo, J. A. eds. Controls on Carbonate Platform and Reef Development. SEPM Special Publication Series Vol. 89. Tulsa, OK: SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology, pp. 47-54.
2007
- Cherns, L. and Wheeley, J. R. 2007. A pre-Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) interval of global cooling - the Boda Event re-assessed. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 251(3-4), pp. 449-460. (10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.04.010)
- Buttler, C. J., Cherns, L. and Massa, D. 2007. Bryozoan mud-mounds from the Upper Ordovician Jifarah (Djeffara) Formation of Tripolitania, North-West Libya. Palaeontology 50(2), pp. 479-494. (10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00636.x)
2006
- Cherns, L., Wheeley, J. R. and Karis, L. 2006. Tunneling trilobites: habitual infaunalism in an Ordovician carbonate seafloor. Geology -Boulder- 34(8), pp. 657-660. (10.1130/G22560.1)
2004
- Cherns, L. 2004. Early Palaeozoic diversification of chitons (Polyplacophora, Mollusca) based on new data from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden. Lethaia 37(4), pp. 445-456. (10.1080/00241160410002180)
- Wright, V. P. and Cherns, L. 2004. Are there “black holes” in carbonate deposystems?. Geologica Acta 4(2), pp. 285-290. (10.1344/105.000001420)
2003
- Wright, V. P., Cherns, L. and Hodges, P. 2003. Missing molluscs: Field testing taphonomic loss in the Mesozoic through early large-scale aragonite dissolution. Geology 31(3), pp. 211-214. (10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0211:MMFTTL>2.0.CO;2)
2001
- Sutton, M. D., Holmer, L. E. and Cherns, L. 2001. Small problematic phosphatic sclerites from the Ordovician of Iapetus. Journal of Paleontology 75(1), pp. 1-8. (10.1666/0022-3360(2001)075<0001:SPPSFT>2.0.CO;2)
2000
- Sutton, M. D., Bassett, M. G. and Cherns, L. 2000. Lingulate brachiopods from the Lower Ordovician of the Anglo-Welsh Basin, Part 2. London: Palaeontographical Society.
- Sutton, M. D., Bassett, M. G. and Cherns, L. 2000. The type species of Lingulella (Cambrian Brachiopoda). Journal of Paleontology 74(3), pp. 426-438. (10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0426:TTSOLC>2.0.CO;2)
- Cherns, L. and Wright, V. P. 2000. Missing molluscs as evidence of large scale, early skeletal aragonite dissolution in a Silurian sea. Geology 28(9), pp. 791-794. (10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<791:MMAEOL>2.0.CO;2)
1999
- Sutton, M. D., Bassett, M. G. and Cherns, L. 1999. Lingulate brachiopods from the Lower Ordovician of the Anglo-Welsh Basin, Part 1. London: Palaeontographical Society.
- Cherns, L. 1999. Silurian chitons as indicators of rocky shores and lowstand on Gotland, Sweden. Palaios 14(2), pp. 172-179.
1998
- Cherns, L. 1998. Silurian polyplacophora from Gotland, Sweden. Palaeontology 41(5), pp. 939-974.
- Cherns, L. 1998. Chelodes and closely related Polyplacophora (Mollusca) from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden. Palaeontology 41(3), pp. 545-573.
Lesley was transferred from Swansea University to Cardiff University as a Lecturer in 1989. She had previously worked as a State Geologist for the Swedish Geological Survey in Uppsala, Sweden following post-doctoral research in Uppsala and in Prague, Czech Republic. She is Course Convenor for Geology.
Her research interests are centred on the Lower Palaeozoic of Britain and Baltoscandia. Long-standing research interests in Scandinavia focus on the facies development and correlation across the Scandinavian Caledonides, from the platform shelf successions of the autochthon into fossiliferous metasediments in deformed allochthonous nappes.
Fieldwork on the Ordovician of Jämtland (as part of James Wheeley's PhD project) identified trilobites as the burrow-makers in Thalassinoides trace fossils networks. Ongoing Silurian projects in research collaboration with Prof. Mike Bassett (NMW Cardiff) involve the basin evolution of the classic carbonate platform of Gotland, Sweden. Research interest in polyplacophoran molluscs (chitons) arose from working with silicified faunas from Gotland. This group has a generally poor fossil record, but several fossil faunas are currently being investigated. Studies on early silicified faunas, in collaboration with Prof. Paul Wright, also identified the potential for taphonomic bias in the fossil record as a result of early carbonate dissolution of shells ('missing molluscs').
The wider implications of this process concern the veracity of the fossil record and taphonomic control of palaeoenvironmental gradients. Late Ordovician bryozoan-rich carbonate facies in cores from Libya (Gondwana), studied with Dr C Buttler (NMW Cardiff), were interpreted as offshore mud-mounds developed in cool-water carbonates. Diamictites identified among mounds indicate mound growth during glacial lowstand, analogous to Recent high latitude analogues. Interpretation of a cooling episode prior to the end-Ordovician glaciation and mass extinction contrasts with previous suggestions of a global warming event (Boda Event) represented by these carbonates.
Geoconservation research projects include landscape evaluation using the LANDMAP methodology, and geoconservation site audits.
