Randall S. Perry

2007 Annual Research Report

Much of 2007 has been spent in collection of samples for the projects listed below. Current research is centered on organic geochemistry. Our new lab is up and running with two new graduate students, one post doc and fulltime staff. There are four basic projects:

  1. Using Antarctica soils and rock coatings to search for preserved biochemicals in minerals.
  2. The organic geochemistry of the Triassic/Jurassic mass extinction.
  3. Lab analyses of rock coatings from worldwide arid locations, including the Atacama, Sonoran, Mojave, Gobi Deserts, as well as Antarctica, Morocco, Namibia and Tibet.
  4. Lab analysis of sinter samples from active and extinct hotsprings as analogues to Martian environments.

Papers:

Randall S. Perry, Nicola McLoughlin, Bridget Y. Lynne, Mark Sephton, Joan Oliver, Carole C. Perry, Kathleen Campbell, Michael H. Engel, Jack D. Farmer, Martin D. Brasier, James T. Staley, "Defining biominerals and organominerals: direct and indirect indicators of life?", 2007, 201, 157-179 Sedimentary Geology

Randall S. Perry, Mark Sephton, 2007, "Baking Black Opal in the Desert Sun", 2007, Geology, Forum, 103, p. 106-113.

Abstracts:

Olendzenski, L., Gotta, E., Sardella, A., O'Connell, E., Dodsworth, J., Sogin, M., Staley, J., and Perry, R., "tRFLP and RNA sequence analysis of desert varnish organisms from Mojave Desert, CA", ASM, Toronto, 2007