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Jean M Self-Trail, Ph.D.

Jean M Self-Trail is a Research Geologist, USGS Florence Bascom Geoscience Center. 

I conduct basic research on calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, paleoclimate, lithostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy.  This work is focused primarily on the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain, for the purpose of understanding the geologic framework, the effect that changing climate had on shallow marine systems and coastal regions, and for characterizing strata that are major aquifers for water resources. 

 

Employment

  • 2001-Present:  Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Eastern Geology & Paleoclimate Science Center, Reston, Virginia.
    • Project Chief (2021-present), Atlantic Subsurface Stratigraphic Initiative
    • Staff Geologist (2018-present), Gulf Coast Project
    • Staff Geologist (2017-2018) Eastern Coastal Plain Geologic Mapping Project
    • Staff Geologist (2017-2018) Eocene Hyperthermals Project
    • Staff Geologist (2015-2017), Eastern Coastal Plain Studies Project.
    • Co-Project Chief (2008-2015), Atlantic Watersheds Project.
    • Co-Project Chief (1999-2008), Carolina Conitnental Margin Project.
    • Staff Geologist (1999-2008), Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater Project.
  • 2007-2016:  Adjunct Professor, Northern Virginia Community College, Sterling, VA, (Historical Geology, Physical Geology, Microfossil Laboratory Techniques).
  • 2007-2013:  Graduate Faculty Appointment, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC.
  • 1994-2001:  Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Eastern Earth Surface Processes Team, Reston, Virginia.
    • Staff Geologist (1995-2000), Southeastern Coastal Plain Project.
  • 1997:  Research Assistant, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
  • 1991-1993:  Teaching Assistant, University of Delaware, Newark, DE (Physical Geology, Historical Geology, Paleontology).
  • 1988-1995:  Physical Science Technician, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Branch of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, Reston, Virginia.

Other Activities

  • 2017-Present:  Board of Directors, Micropaleontology Press (journals Stratigraphy and Micropaleontology). 
  • 2016-Present:  Editor for the journal Stratigraphy.
  • 2014-Present:  Board of Trustees, Katharina von Salis Endowment, International Nannoplankton Association Foundation.  We provide a yearly grant to one graduate student for research on any subject pertaining to fossil calcareous nannoplankton.

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. (2001) – Geology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.   

  • M.S. (1994) – Geology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.  

  • B.S. (1988) – Geology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • Geological Society of America (GSA)

  • International Nannoplankton Association (INA)

  • Paleontological Society of Washington (PSW)

Honors and Awards

  • 2014    Superior Service Award (for work on PETM and Eocene hyperthermals), USGS.

  • 2012    Adjunct Faculty of the Year (nominated), Northern Virginia Community College.

  • 1993    Best Teaching Assistant, Department of Geology, University of Delaware.

  • 1991    Department Scholarship, Department of Geology, University of Delaware.

  • 1991    Women in Sciences Award, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Delaware.

Science and Products

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two people measuring a rock outcrop, one is on a ladder

Atlantic Subsurface Stratigraphic Initiative

The Atlantic Subsurface Stratigraphic Initiative (ASSI) is a project with an interdisciplinary group of scientists focused on documenting the Cretaceous and Cenozoic subsurface geology of the Salisbury Embayment across Maryland and Virginia. Data generated by ASSI is crucial for resolving stratigraphic issues across state boundaries and regions. By working closely with state geologic surveys, ASSI...
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National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
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Atlantic Subsurface Stratigraphic Initiative

The Atlantic Subsurface Stratigraphic Initiative (ASSI) is a project with an interdisciplinary group of scientists focused on documenting the Cretaceous and Cenozoic subsurface geology of the Salisbury Embayment across Maryland and Virginia. Data generated by ASSI is crucial for resolving stratigraphic issues across state boundaries and regions. By working closely with state geologic surveys, ASSI...
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Scientists sit on ground with eocene hyperthermal core samples

Eocene Hyperthermals Project

Sudden and extreme global warming events of the past are known as hyperthermals. The most intensely studied of these is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) that occurred about 56 million years ago. During the PETM, global temperatures rose by ~5°C, ocean acidification was widespread, floral and faunal communities were severely disrupted, and changing oceanic circulation and a disrupted...
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
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Eocene Hyperthermals Project

Sudden and extreme global warming events of the past are known as hyperthermals. The most intensely studied of these is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) that occurred about 56 million years ago. During the PETM, global temperatures rose by ~5°C, ocean acidification was widespread, floral and faunal communities were severely disrupted, and changing oceanic circulation and a disrupted...
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Microfossil data for the Coon Creek type locality, Tennessee

The Upper Cretaceous Coon Creek Formation type locality in McNairy County, Tennessee, has long been known to be an exceptional marine invertebrate lagerstattäte that was deposited in a nearshore reentrant into the ancestral continent of Appalachia. Extensive taxonomic analysis of the macrofauna over the past 100 years includes documentation of swimming reptiles, fish, marine invertebrates, and pla
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Database for the isopach map of the Brightseat Formation and Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary in Maryland and Virginia

The goal of the Atlantic Subsurface Stratigraphic Initiative (ASSI) is to create isopach and structural contour maps for all Coastal Plain formations within the Salisbury Embayment of Maryland and Virginia. Detailed information regarding thicknesses and extent of formations across state boundaries can then be utilized for more accurate documentation of the subaerial extent of aquifers across state
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

United States Gulf Coast Basin Curated Wells and Logs Database (ver. 2.0, November 2023)

The United States Gulf Coast Basin Curated Wells and Logs Database (CWLDB) is an online repository with stratigraphic information for petroleum wells in the United States portion of the onshore Gulf of Mexico Basin that provides several of the following attributes: a) deep penetrations (generally, total depth of 10,000 feet or more), b) high quality and diverse geophysical well log suites, c) lith
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Energy Resources Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Microfossil, grain size, and petrographic data for the Cabin Branch and Cabin Creek (Cappy Avenue) outcrops, Prince George's County, Maryland

The Cabin Branch and Cabin Creek (Cappy Avenue) outcrops are located along two small creeks in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The Cabin Branch outcrop contains exposures of silty sands of the Upper Cretaceous Severn Formation, and both outcrops contain Paleocene silty quartz and glauconitic sands of the Danian Brightseat Formation and highly fossiliferous glauconitic quartz sands of the Selandi
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National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Cenozoic Calcareous Nannofossil Occurrences from Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain Cores, Wells, and Outcrops

In this data release, Cenozoic calcareous nannofossil occurrence charts are provided as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for 57 cores, wells, or outcrops from the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey) and one core from offshore New Jersey. Samples have been assigned a USGS sample number and are organized by depth below (cores and wells) or height above (outcrops) th
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Office of Science Quality and Integrity

Cenozoic Calcareous Nannofossil Occurrences from South Atlantic Coastal Plain Cores

In this data release, Cenozoic calcareous nannofossil occurrence charts are provided as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for 17 cores from the South Atlantic Coastal Plain (North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) Samples have been assigned a USGS sample number and are organized by depth below the land surface. Based on their known stratigraphic position, lithology, and specific calcareous nannofo
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Office of Science Quality and Integrity

Cenozoic Calcareous Nannofossil Occurrences from Gulf Coastal Plain Cores and Outcrops

In this data release, Cenozoic calcareous nannofossil occurrence charts are provided as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for 15 cores or outcrops from the Gulf Coastal Plain (Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia). Samples have been assigned a USGS sample number and are organized by depth below (cores and wells) or height above (outcrops) the land surface. Based on their known stratigraphic position, lith
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Office of Science Quality and Integrity

Isotope, organic carbon, and biostratigraphic data for the Hope Plantation (BE-110) and Smith Elementary School (CR-675) cores, North Carolina

Isotopic, geochemical, and calcareous nannofossil data for the Hope Plantation and Smith Elementary School cores
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Grain size, microfossil, and strontium data for the Kure Beach and Elizabethtown cores, North Carolina

Grain size, calcareous nannofossil, and strontium data for the Cenomanian to Santonian sediments of the Kure Beach and Elizabethtown cores in North Carolina.
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Calcareous nannofossil assemblage data from the upper Floridan Aquifer in the Pineora, Cockspur Island, and Palm Dunes cores, GA and SC

Calcareous nannofossil assemblage data for the Pineora, Cockspur Island, and Palm Dunes cores.
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
map of Chesapeake Bay region showing study site locations
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Map showing the location of the Atlantic Subsurface Stratigraphic Initiative study area in Maryland and Virginia.
two people standing outside taking notes
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Geologists taking field notes
shells on black beach sand
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Paleocene bivalve mollusc shells, Aquina Formation, Charles County, Maryland
tan rock with numerous cm-scale shells and shell fragments
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Paleocene gastropods and bivalve molluscs of the Aquia Formation
man on ladder against rock face
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Sampling the Paleocene Aquia Formation, Prince George’s County, Maryland
two people measuring a rock outcrop, one is on a ladder
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Geologists measuring and sampling the Paleocene Aquia Formation, Prince George’s County, Maryland
pick lying on a coarsening upward, fossil-rich outcrop
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Aquia Formation (Paleocene) shell hash, Prince George’s County, Maryland
geologist standing on rock outcrop near water
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Indurated bed of the Paleocene Aquia Formation, Prince George’s County, Maryland
small waterfall over grey and tan rock, surrounded by greenery
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Aquia Formation (Paleocene), Prince George’s County, Maryland
Filter Total Items: 39

Assessing environmental change associated with early Eocene hyperthermals in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA

Eocene transient global warming events (hyperthermals) can provide insight into a future warmer world. While much research has focused on the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), hyperthermals of a smaller magnitude can be used to characterize climatic responses over different magnitudes of forcing. This study identifies two events, namely the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2 and H2), in shallow
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William Rush, Jean Self-Trail, Yan Zhan, Appy Sluijs, Henk Brinkhuis, James Zachos, James G. Ogg, Marci M. Robinson
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Geology and paleontology of Cretaceous and Paleocene sediments of the Cabin Branch, Cabin Creek (Cappy Avenue), and Tinkers Creek outcrops, Prince George’s County, Maryland

This field guide presents a one-day excursion in Prince George’s County, Maryland, USA, and documents the transition across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary by examining sediments from the upper Maastrichtian of the Severn Formation to the Paleocene sediments of the Brightseat and Aquia formations. Emphasis is placed on understanding how differences in depositional character and lithostratigraphy
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Jean Self-Trail, David L. Govoni, Laurel M. Bybell, Kristina Frank Gardner
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Astrochronology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum on the Atlantic Coastal Plain

The chronology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~56 Ma) remains disputed, hampering complete understanding of the possible trigger mechanisms of this event. Here we present an astrochronology for the PETM carbon isotope excursion from Howards Tract, Maryland a paleoshelf environment, on the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Statistical evaluation of variations in calcium content and magnet
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Mingsong Li, Timothy J. Bralower, Lee R. Kump, Jean Self-Trail, James C. Zachos, William D. Rush, Marci M. Robinson
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Climate Research and Development Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Surface ocean warming and acidification driven by rapid carbon release precedes Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is recognized by a major negative carbon isotope (δ13C) excursion (CIE) signifying an injection of isotopically light carbon into exogenic reservoirs, the mass, source, and tempo of which continue to be debated. Evidence of a transient precursor carbon release(s) has been identified in a few localities, although it remains equivocal whether there is a gl
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Tali L. Babila, Don E Penman, CD Standish, Monica Doubrawa, Tim J Bralower, Marci M. Robinson, Jean Self-Trail, Robert P. Speijer, Peter Stassen, Gavin L Foster, James C. Zachos
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Climate Research and Development Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Regression of the Tethys Sea (central Asia) during middle to late Eocene: Evidence from calcareous nannofossils of western Tarim Basin, NW China

Calcareous nannofossil assemblages from middle to upper Eocene sediments of the western Tarim Basin indicate two important episodes of marine incursion into the basin. The first episode represents a period of shallowing upward in the Wulagen Formation, which is dated as Zone CNE13 (Lutetian) by the co-occurrence of Discoaster bifax, Chiasmolithus solitus, and common Reticulofenestra umbilicus. The
Authors
Xuejiao Wang, Dangpeng Xi, David K. Watkins, Jean Self-Trail, Zihua Tang, Wenxin Cao, Tiantian Jiang, Muhammad Kamran, Xiaoqiao Wan
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Evolution and taxonomy of the Paleogene calcareous nannofossil genus Hornibrookina

The genus Hornibrookina consists of enigmatic calcareous nannofossils that first appeared shortly after the K-Pg mass extinction. Due to their relative paucity in most published sections, specimens of this genus have not been previously studied in detail and their paleobiogeographic preferences and evolutionary history have been poorly understood. Biostratigraphic and morphometric analyses of Horn
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Jean Self-Trail, David K. Watkins, James J. Pospichal, Ellen Seefelt
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National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Calcareous plankton biostratigraphic fidelity and species richness during the last 10 m.y. of the Cretaceous at Blake Plateau, subtropical North Atlantic

Species distributions of well-preserved and diverse assemblages of planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils spanning the last 10 m.y. of the Cretaceous (middle Campanian through Maastrichtian) are analyzed from samples taken across a 1400 m depth transect at Blake Nose in the western subtropical North Atlantic (Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1049, 1050 and 1052). Age models constructed by
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Brian T. Huber, Nataliya A. Tur, Jean Self-Trail, Kenneth G. MacLeod
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Enhanced terrestrial runoff during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 on the North Carolina Coastal Plain, USA

A global increase in the strength of the hydrologic cycle drove an increase in the flux of terrigenous sediments into the ocean during the Cenomanian–Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) and was an important mechanism driving nutrient enrichment and thus organic carbon burial. This global change is primarily known from isotopic records, but global average data do not tell us anything about chang
Authors
Christopher M Lowery, Jean Self-Trail, Craig Barrie
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Depositional sequence stratigraphy of Turonian to Santonian sediments, Cape Fear arch, North Carolina Coastal Plain, USA

A new sequence stratigraphic framework for Turonian to Santonian (94-84 Ma) sediments is established using data from the USGS Kure Beach and Elizabethtown cores collected from the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North Carolina (NC). These sediments represent some of the oldest marine units deposited on the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain and record the early development of a clastic wedge atop cryst
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Wilma Aleman Gonzalez, Jean Self-Trail, W. Burleigh Harris, Jessica P. Moore, Kathleen Farrell
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Geology and biostratigraphy of the Upper Floridan aquifer in the greater Savannah region, Georgia and South Carolina

The Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida has been considered a regionally continuous stratigraphic sequence of Eocene to Miocene carbonate strata, with documented unconformities based on lithology and biostratigraphy.  As part of an investigation of the regional subsurface geologic framework in the Atlantic Coastal Plain Province, three deep co
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Jean Self-Trail, Mercer Parker, John T. Haynes, Arthur P. Schultz, Paul. F. Huddleston
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum prolonged by fossil carbon oxidation

A hallmark of the rapid and massive release of carbon during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum is the global negative carbon isotope excursion. The delayed recovery of the carbon isotope excursion, however, indicates that CO2 inputs continued well after the initial rapid onset, although there is no consensus about the source of this secondary carbon. Here we suggest this secondary input might
Authors
Shelby L. Lyons, Allison A. Baczynski, Tali L. Babila, Timothy J. Bralower, Elizabeth A. Hajek, Lee R. Kump, Ellen G. Polites, Jean Self-Trail, Sheila M. Trampush, Jamie R. Vornlocher, James C. Zachos, Katherine H. Freeman
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Cross section of the North Carolina coastal plain from Enfield through Cape Hatteras

IntroductionThe Atlantic Coastal Plain, the southeasternmost physiographic province in the United States, is underlain by strata that regionally dip gently eastward and gradually thicken toward the Atlantic Ocean basin. These strata, ranging in age from Middle Jurassic to Holocene, accumulated along the eastern margin of North America after the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea during the Ear
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Robert E. Weems, Jean Self-Trail, Lucy E. Edwards
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Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government