Personal profile
Research interests
The mass extinction marking the Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundary (KPgB) »66.04 million years ago. It was one of the most devastating events in the history of life, as well as the most recent and best studied of the ‘big five’ mass extinctions that occurred during the Phanerozoic. After decades of research, one of the most critical lines of inquiry is understanding the short- to long-term effects of this impact on the global environmental system, including the re-establishment of pre-impact environmental conditions and marine biological productivity. After characterizing, during my PhD period, how the recovery of palaeoenvironmental conditions were (productivity and seafloor oxygenation), before, during, and after the KPgB impact, by the analysis of inorganic geochemical proxies, currently in this postdoctoral at the School of Earth Sciences, I am studying the KPgB distal sections (the Agost and Caravaca sections) using molecular fossils (or biomarkers). The approach will broadly encompass several methods, all of which will be carried out in the OGU (Organic Geochemistry Unit) at Bristol University. These will include the determination of total organic carbon (TOC) contents; the extract and analysis of the biomarkers from ground samples; the determination of key biomarker abundances and distributions by GC and GC-MS in order to ascertain changes in organic matter (OM) source, algal assemblages, terrestrial biomarkers (n-alkanes, triterpenes), redox state (pristane/phytane ratio; homohopane index) and microbial inputs (hopanes); and also, to explore changes in ‘apparent thermal maturity.
Research Groups and Themes
- Cabot Institute Environmental Change Research
Keywords
- Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary
- Biomarkers
- Organic matter sources
- Paleoenvironmental reconstruction
- Mass extinctions
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Research output
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Evolution of the primary productivity recovery at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary at the Caravaca distal section (Spain)
Sosa Montes de Oca, C., Rodrigo Gámiz, M., de Gea Guillén, G. A., Seguero, C., Zhang, Y., Prokopiou, P., Castro , J. M., Quijano, M. L. & Pancost, R. D., 1 Apr 2026, In: Global and Planetary Change. 259, 16 p., 105366.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Downloads (Pure) -
Reviews and syntheses: Best practices for the application of marine GDGTs as proxy for paleotemperatures: sampling, processing, analyses, interpretation, and archiving protocols
Bijl, P. K., Śliwińska, K. K., Duncan, B., Huguet, A., Naeher, S., Rattanasriampaipong, R., Sosa-Montes de Oca, C., Auderset, A., Berke, M. A., Kim, B. S., Davtian, N., Jones, T. D., Eefting, D. D., Elling, F. J., Fenies, P., Inglis, G. N., O'Connor, L., Pancost, R. D., Peterse, F. & Rice, A. & 4 others, , 6 Nov 2025, In: Biogeosciences. 22, 21, p. 6465-6508 44 p., 22.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
Open Access3 Citations (Scopus) -
Intense Changes in the Main Source of Organic Carbon to the Gulf Coastal Plain Following the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary
Sosa Montes de Oca, C., Witts, J. D., Lowery, C. M., Kearns, L. E., Garb, M. P., Naujokaityte, J., Myers, C. E., Landman, N. H. & Pancost, R. D., 9 Aug 2024, In: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 39, 8, p. 1-25 25 p., e2024PA004887.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
Open Access5 Citations (Scopus)
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GAMES: Global environmental changes And recovery of primary producers over Mesozoic mass extinctions EventS: a molecular fossil approach
Sosa Montes de Oca, C. (Principal Investigator), García-Alix, A. (Co-Investigator) & Pancost, R. D. (Collaborator)
1/12/24 → 30/11/26
Project: Research
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EPROAMA: Environmental changes and global recovery of primary producers after the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (KPgB): A molecular fossil approach
Sosa Montes de Oca, C. (Principal Investigator) & Pancost, R. D. (Principal Investigator)
1/01/22 → 31/01/23
Project: Research
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Ecological and environmental change across the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary: A molecular fossil approach
Sosa Montes de Oca, C. (Principal Investigator) & Pancost, R. D. (Co-Principal Investigator)
1/01/20 → 31/12/21
Project: Research