Biography
Earth's sedimentary systems have changed through time. I am a sedimentologist interested in uncovering the processes that shape paleoenvironmental change and influence sedimentary environments through the Precambrian and early Paleozoic. I am most interested in how Earth's sedimentary systems, marine oxygen levels, and life (microbes, animals, and plants) have co-evolved through time. To investigate possible links between variables I integrate sedimentology, stratigraphy, geobiology, and geochemistry in my research.
2022–present: Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Cambridge. I am working with Alex Liu to constrain the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Nama Group in Namibia to place paleoenvironmental constraints on Ediacaran macrobiota and a late-Ediacaran mass extinction.
2018–2022: PhD in Earth Science, University of Melbourne. I worked with Malcolm Wallace and Ashleigh Hood to explore the sedimentology of Neoproterozoic reefal systems, nearshore tidal environments, and the redox history of terminal Precambrian oceans.
2016–2018: Research Associate, Yale University. I worked with Noah Planavsky to explore the chemical evolution of Earth's ocean-atmosphere using metal isotopes (Fe, Mo, Cr, U), trace metals, sedimentology, and petrography.
2013–2016: MSc in Earth Science, University of Oregon. I worked with Rebecca Dorsey to investigate mixed carbonate-siliciclastic tidal sedimentation in the Miocene-Pliocene paleo-Gulf of California.
2009–2012: BA in Geology, Colorado College.
Publications
- O’Connell B., Wallace, M.W., Hood A.Vs, Brooks, H., Lechte, M., Mahon, L., 2022, Nearshore environments before the evolution of land plants, Precambrian Research, 382, 106883.
- O’Connell B., Wallace, M.W., Hood, A.v.S, Rebbechi, L., 2022, Deep water cuspate stromatolites in the Cryogenian Trezona Formation, Geobiology, 20(2), 194-215
- Dorsey, R.J., Braga, J.C., Gardner, K., McDougall, K. O’Connell, B., 2022, Early Pliocene Marine Transgression into the Lower Colorado River Valley, Southwestern USA, By Re-Flooding of a Former Tidal Strait, Special Publication on Straits and Seaways (Geological Society of London)
- O’Connell, B., Dorsey, R.J., Hasiotis, S.T., Hood, A.v.S., 2021, Mixed carbonate-siliciclastic tidal sedimentation in the Miocene to Pliocene Bouse Formation, Paleo-Gulf of California, Sedimentology, 68 (3).
- Dorsey, R.J.D., O’Connell, B., Gardner K., Homan, M., Bennett, S.K.E., Thacker, J.O., Darin, M.O., 2021, Tectonostratigraphic record of late Miocene–early Pliocene transtensional faulting in the Eastern California shear zone, southwestern USA, 2021, Geosphere, 17(4), 1101-1125
- Lipp, A. G., Shorttle, O., Sperling, E., Brocks, J. J., Cole, D., Crockford, P. W., … O’Connell, B. … & Yang, J., 2021, The composition and weathering of the continents over geologic time. Geochemical Perspectives Letters, 7, 21-26.
- Mehra, A., Keller, C., Zhang, T., Tosca, N., McLennan, S., Sperling, E., ... O’Connell, B. … & Strauss, J., 2021, Curation and analysis of global sedimentary geochemical data to inform earth history. GSA Today, 1-6.
- O’Connell, B., Wallace, M.W, Hood, A.v.S., Lechte, M.A., Planavsky, N.P., 2020. Iron-rich carbonate tidal deposits of the Angepena Formation, South Australia: A redox-stratified Cryogenian basin, Precambrian Research, 342, 105668.
- Konhauser, K.O., Hao, W., Li, Y., von Gunten, K., Bishop, B.A., Alessi, D.S., Tarhan, L.G., O'Connell, B., Robbins, L.J., Planavsky, N.J. and Gingras, M.K., 2019. Diopatra cuprea worm burrow parchment: a cautionary tale of infaunal surface reactivity. Lethaia, 53(1), 47-61.
- Shen, J., Chen, J., Algeo, T.J., Yuan, S., Feng, Q., Yu, J., Zhou, L., O’Connell, B. and Planavsky, N.J., 2019. Evidence for a prolonged Permian–Triassic extinction interval from global marine mercury records. Nature Communications.
- Jin, C., Lib, C. Algeo, T.J., O’Connell, B., Cheng, M., Shi W., Shen, J. Xieb, S., Planavsky, N.P. Highly heterogeneous “poikiloredox” conditions in the early Ediacaran Yangtze Sea, Precambrian Research, 10(1), pp.1-9
- Planavsky, N.J., Slack, J.F., Cannon, W.F., O'Connell, B., Isson, T.T., Asael, D., Jackson, J.C., Hardisty, D.S., Lyons, T.W. and Bekker, A., 2018. Evidence for episodic oxygenation in a weakly redox-buffered deep mid-Proterozoic ocean. Chemical Geology, 483, 581-594
- Cole, D.B., O’Connell, B., Planavsky, N.J., 2018 Authigenic chromium enrichments in Proterozoic ironstones. Sedimentary Geology, 372, 25-43.
- Dorsey, R.J., O'Connell, B., McDougall, K. and Homan, M.B., 2017. Punctuated sediment discharge during early Pliocene birth of the Colorado River: Evidence from regional stratigraphy, sedimentology, and paleontology. Sedimentary Geology, 363, 1-33
- O’Connell, B., Dorsey, R.J. and Humphreys, E.D., 2017. Tidal rhythmites in the southern Bouse Formation as evidence for post-Miocene uplift of the lower Colorado River corridor. Geology. 45(2), 99-102
