Using marine fossils, a large international collaboration decodes a fundamental process in Earth's history

Using marine fossils, a large international collaboration decodes a fundamental process in Earth's history Published on the 11th September 2026 by ANSTO StaffShare to FacebookShare to BlueskyShare to LinkedIn Key Points Sedimentation is more important than other factors in the 'time averaging' of marine fossils The investigators analysed more than 7,500 fossils, which were collected from a variety of oceanic environments around the world The study decodes a fundamental process in Earth’s history and provides guidelines regarding the types of research questions that palaeontologists can investigate using marine fossils ANSTO has contributed to a large international study which decodes a fundamental process in Earth’s history and provides guidelines regarding the types of research questions that palaeontologists can investigate using marine fossils.Dr Quan Hua, an authority on radiocarbon dating, reconstructed regional marine post-bomb radiocarbon curves for age calibration of the fossil samples used in the research. “The level of radiocarbon or 14C in the surface ocean is spatially different due to ocean circulation, such as currents and upwelling, and regional variations in air-...