Dr Matt Wakefield talk will cover the Lealt Shale Formation, Great Estuarine Group, from the Inner Hebrides and how research has developed our understanding of the depositional system. Predominantly he will focus on the type section for the Kildonnan Member on the Isle of Eigg. At first sight this is an unimpressive shoreline outcrop but, with careful work using marker beds the stratigraphy can be elucidated; the Reptile, Complex, Unio and Algal beds, the latter being traceable for c.75km (some hand specimens will be available). More positively shell preservation is excellent, often with original aragonite, unlike many sections in the Hebrides that have been metamorphosed by the Tertiary volcanics. The talk will cover some historical aspects of research in the area from Hugh Miller and the Cruise of the Betsey (1858), who discovered some plesiosaur bones on Eigg in 1845, to the latest findings including dinosaur trackways and bones. He will cover the basic palaeontology (mostly bivalves, gastropods and conchostracans/spinicaudatans) but also the micropalaeontology (ostracods, foraminifera and fish ear bones - otoliths) and how they inform us on the lagoonal palaeoenvironment and how it changed through time, particularly its palaeosalinity. He will briefly cover the basics of how C, O and Sr isotope work has helped to refine these findings (marine connection or evaporation?) and will finish with the developing research on whether migratory fishes, the equivalent of modern eel and salmon type lifestyles, inhabited the lagoons.
Image: Top image Eigg (left) and Rhum (right) looking west. Lithostratigraphy of the Great Estuarine Group. Praemytilus and Tancredia bivalves Matt Wakefield


Matt graduated from the University of Leicester with a Ph.D. in Jurassic ostracods. He is an applied biostratigrapher with over 30 years of experience, mostly with BG Group. Post leaving BG Group (Shell; 2016) in addition to consultancy work Matt has returned to palaeontological research. He has published over 25 papers, and is currently working with other scientists from the UK, Denmark, Germany and Canada. With a group of like-minded individuals he offers Applied Biostratigraphy training courses including as part of an M.Sc. course at the University of Athens.