Dynamic Paleontology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Scleritome

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 1-35

3. Christmas Tree Stromatolite

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 37-49

4. Archaeocyath Mixotrophy

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 51-58

5. Environmental Convergence

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 59-78

6. Mat Farmers

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 79-96

7. Etch Stop

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 97-107

8. Sampling Bias

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 109-118

9. Shell Alignment

   • Mark A. S. McMenamin

   Pages 119-129

10. Deep Bones

    • Mark A. S. McMenamin

    Pages 131-158

11. Dung Stones

    • Mark A. S. McMenamin

    Pages 159-179

12. Cambrian Cannibals

    • Mark A. S. McMenamin

    Pages 181-189

13. Parenting Skills

    • Mark A. S. McMenamin

    Pages 191-205

14. First Fruits

    • Mark A. S. McMenamin

    Pages 207-217

15. Pandora’s Pithos

    • Mark A. S. McMenamin

    Pages 219-244

16. Back Matter

    Pages 245-251

    PDF

Using a series of case studies, the book demonstrates the power of dynamic analysis as applied to the fossil record. Written in an engaging and informative style, Dynamic Paleontology outlines the best application of quantitative and other tools to critical problems in the paleontological sciences including such topics as analysis of the Cambrian Explosion and the question regarding the presence of life on Mars. The book considers how we think about certain types questions and shows how we can refine our approach to analysis right from the beginning of any particular research effort. The analytical tools presented here will have wide application to other fields of knowledge; as such the book represents a major contribution to our deployment of modern scientific method.

• Analytical Science
• Cambrian Explosion
• Dynamic Analysis
• History of Life
• Life on Mars
• Paleontology
• Quantitative Methods
• Science Education
• quantitative geology

“The text is a series of case studies that portray the author’s skill at deciphering paleontological puzzles. … Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students; faculty and professionals.” (P. K. Strother, Choice, Vol. 54 (5), January, 2017)

“All author's ideas are well-argued theoretically and supported by facts … . The illustrations are rich and worth themselves: The reader has a possibility to see really peculiar images of the past life forms. … McMenamin's book contains a lot of interesting information, original interpretations, and novel ideas, and, thus, it is recommended to palaeontologists, especially palaeobiologists studying the Cambrian Explosion.” (Dmitry A. Ruban, Rostov am Don, Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, ISS. 1-2, 2017)

• Department of Geology and Geography, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, USA

  Mark A.S. McMenamin

Mark McMenamin is a Professor of Geology and author or co author of several books and numerous research articles that consider the origin of animals and other forms of complex life, the origin of land plants, and the Snowball Earth glaciation. In 2008, Mark received (as director of the Keck Geology project to study the rocks of the Boston Basin) a teaching award from Southern Utah University for student project excellence (the student in question, Jessica Williams, demonstrated the Snowball Earth glacial origin of the Cambridge Argillite). His 2007 book for the Smithsonian Science Series, Science 101: Geology, has received wide national distribution. In 1988 he received a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, and in 1992-1993 he was named a Sigma Xi National Lecturer. He named the supercontinent Rodinia in The Emergence of Animals (Columbia University Press, 1990). His research was featured in 2006 in the National Geographic Channel program Naked Science: Colliding Continents and in the History Channel’s 2007 program How the Earth Was Made. In 1994, Mark and Dianna McMenamin introduced Hypersea theory to explain the diversification of life forms on land. The thesis of their book on the subject, Hypersea: Life on Land, was called one of "seven ideas that could change the world" by Discover magazine.

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