SIF 3rd Cohort Fellows - Aniket Mitra, CY Cergy Paris University
Researcher Summary
The objective of my research is to understand how climatic perturbations have impacted the biotic world from the past to the present, with the goal of mitigating future climate-related impacts.
I am an invertebrate palaeontologist specialising in systematics, palaeobiogeography and sclerochronology, with a keen interest in palaeoclimate reconstruction. My approach integrates rigorous systematics, conventional and clumped isotope geochemistry and trace and rare-earth element analyses.
During my PhD, my study revealed 36 bivalve species among which 19 are new from the Cambay Basin of India. I applied foraminiferal biostratigraphy to establish age constraints and used stable isotope geochemistry to reconstruct early Eocene palaeoclimate in the Cambay and Kutch Basins of India, linking species-specific bivalve responses to extreme warming events. Furthermore, my studies on the global palaeobiogeographic distribution, dispersal and migration pathways of Paleogene bivalves provide new perspectives on palaeo-ocean circulation and the complex interplay between climatic perturbations, tectonic activity, and marine biogeographic evolution. My research also revealed evidence of facultative monogamy in early Eocene oysters.
My recent sclerochronological study on the late Eocene oysters from the palaeotropics of the western Indian Kutch Basin reveals a high-temperature (29-35°C), low-seasonality (3°C) climate, with relatively cooler conditions corresponding to the rainy season. This seasonal stress regime caused habitat specific growth rate adaptation in oysters during dry, warm periods.
Curriculum Vitae
- Education
2023: PhD - Topic: Effects of Eocene global events on marine bivalves from Kutch and Cambay basins of Gujarat, India; Supervisor: Prof. Kalyan Halder; Presidency University, Kolkata, India
2016: MSc - Applied Geology. Presidency University, Kolkata, India
2014: BSc - Geology Honours. Presidency University, Kolkata, India
- Experience
Post-doctoral fellow: Topic: Evolution of the Himalayan Foreland Basin vis-à-vis relict-Tethys during the early Paleogene period from bio-markers and molluscan viewpoint. IISER Mohali, India. Supervisor: Dr. Anoop Ambili. (2022-2023).
Research Fellow (DST India): Topic: Basin evolution and diversity of Eocene Molluscs from Vastan and adjoining areas of Surat, Gujarat. Presidency University, Kolkata, India. Supervisor: Prof. Kalyan Halder. (2017-2020).
- Publications/Research achievements
- Mitra, A., Dutta, R. and Halder, K., 2022. A study on benthic molluscs and stable isotopes from Kutch, western India reveals early Eocene hyperthermals and pronounced transgression during ETM2 and H2 events. Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, 141(1), pp.1-22.
- Halder, K. and Mitra, A., 2021. Facultative monogamy in an early Eocene brooding oyster and its evolutionary implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 66(3), pp.647-662.
Research Project:
Responses of Biota to a Sudden Global Warming Event in an Overall Cooling Phase of the Earth
The present day atmosphere is under a serious threat due to unbridled usage of fossil fuels, CO2 emission and global warming. Studying similar climatic conditions from the past is one of the best way to mitigate the situation in future. An abrupt warming of Bartonian ( i.e.~ 40 Ma ago from now) age within a major cooling phase is comparable to the present situation. The effects of warming on the morphology and diversification of Bartonian bivalves will be studied to parameterise the climate model.
The calcium carbonate shells of bivalves are excellent recorders of the palaeoclimatic conditions at very high resolution down to seasonal variability. Oysters, a cementing bivalve family spend their whole life in a fixed substratum. Thus, they can experience all the seasonality, temperature and environmental variation of a specific location throughout their life. Kutch, a paleoequatorial basin of western coast, India hosts a huge abundance of oysters from Bartonian age of late Eocene epoch. Stable isotope analysis will be adopted for identification of hyperthermal event(s). Cathodoluminescence, Raman Spectroscopy, micro X-rays fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy will be used for identification of seasonal growth pattern within the shells and (if) any morphological adjustment, associated with the global warming.