Ruth Martin

Research:

My specialty is micropaleontology, concentrating on foraminifera from fossil and modern cold methane seeps. My research integrates data from foraminiferal tests and inorganic authigenic carbonates to assess the influence of methane-influenced fluids near the sediment/water interface. The primary tools I am using are foraminiferal assemblage data, carbon and oxygen stable isotopes, and Mg/Ca analyses. These should enable the distinction between primary minerals and those that formed as secondary (diagenetic) deposits, thus indicating different phases of fluid flow. On these projects I work with Liz Nesbitt, Kathy Campbell (University of Auckland New Zealand) and Marta Torres and Gary Klinkhammer (Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University).

RECENTLY PUBLISHED PAPERS:

Martin, R. A., Nesbitt, E.A., Campbell, K.A. 2007. Carbon stable isotopic composition of benthic Foraminifera from Pliocene cold methane seeps, Cascadia accretionary margin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol.246, no.2-4, pp.260-277.

Martin, R.A., 2008. Foraminifers as hard substrates: an example from the Washington continental shelf of smaller foraminifers attached to larger, agglutinate foraminifers. Journal of Foraminiferal Research