Dr. Diana Boyer

 

Professor of Geology

 

I am a southern transplant taking refuge from the lake effect snow, abundant fossils and glorious black shales of upstate New York and Ohio. I have extensive field experience in the basin and range of the western US (Utah, Nevada primarily) and California, as well as the Appalachian basin.  

I am trained as a paleontologist, but use a wide range of tools, in particular inorganic geochemistry and sedimentology, to better understand ocean conditions surrounding the end Devonian mass extinctions, as well as other questions involving Paleozoic communities. I am excited to involve students in my research both in the field and in the laboratory.

I teach Historical Geology (Geol 210) and sometimes the lab (Geol 211), Oceanography (Geol 220), Dinosaurs! (Geol 270),  Geochemistry (Geol 335), Geology of the Bahamas with travel to a research station on San Salvador Island (GEOL 345), an honors seminar on extinctions past and present (Honr 205H), and even HMXP.

Please feel free to contact me:

boyerd@winthrop.edu

Or drop by my office in Sims 212 B

 

Publications:

Boyer, Diana L., Martinez, Aaron M., Evans, Scott, D., Cohen, Phoebe A., Haddad, Emily E. Pippenger, Katherine H., Love, Gordon, D., and Droser, Mary L., 2021, Living on the edge: the impact of protracted oxygen stress on life in the Late Devonian: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 566, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110226.

Ver Staeten, Charles, Brett, Carlton, Baird, Gordon, Boyer, Diana, Lindemann, Richard, Ivany, Linda, Over, D. Jeffery, and Witzke, Brian, 2019, Shallow-water onlap model for the deposition of Devonian black shales in New York, USA.: Comment: Geology, 47 (12), p 495 https://doi.org/10.1130/G46928C.1.

Kelly, Abigail, Cohen, Phoebe, and Boyer, Diana, 2019, Tiny keys to unlocking the Kellwasser Events: detailed characterization of organic walled microfossils associated with extinction in western New York State: Palaois, v. 34, p 96-104, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/palo.2018.063.

Martinez, Aaron, Boyer, Diana L., Droser, M.L, Barrie, C., and Love, G.D, 2019, Identification of the Late Devonian Hangenberg Crisis within the Cleveland Shale of the Appalachian Basin, USA: Geobiology, p. 1-16, DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12314.

Uveges, Benjamin, Junium, Christopher, Boyer, Diana, Cohen, Phoebe , and Day, James, 2019, Biogeochemical controls on black shale deposition during the Frasnian-Famennian biotic crisis in the Illinois and Appalachian Basins, USA, inferred from stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.05.031.

Emily E. Haddad, Diana L. Boyer, Mary L. Droser, Bridget K. Lee, Timothy W. Lyons, Gordon D. Love, 2018, Ichnofabrics and chemostratigraphy argue against persistent anoxia during the Upper Kellwasser Event in New York State: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 490, p 178-190, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.10.025.

Boyer, Diana L. and Miller, Charles E., 2017, An aligned hypothesis on the feeding habits of Triarthrus beckii inferred from trace fossils preserved in the Utica Shale: Lethaia, DOI: 10.1111/let.12177.

Haddad, Emily, Tuite, Michael L., Martinez, Aaron M., Williford, Kenneth, Boyer, Diana L., Droser, Mary L., and Gordon D. Love, 2016, Lipid biomarker stratigraphic records through the Late Devonian Frasnian/Famennian boundary: Comparison of high- and low-latitude epicontintental marine settings: Organic Geochemistry, 98, p 38-53.

Boyer, Diana L. Haddad, Emily E. and Seeger, Emily S.,* 2014, The last gasp: Pyritized burrows tell the story of de-oxygenation leading into the Frasnian-Famennian extinction event: Palaios, v. 29, p 646-651 doi:10.2110/palo.2014.049.

Boyer, Diana L. and Droser, Mary L., 2011, A Combined Trace and Body Fossil Approach Reveals a High Resolution Record of Oxygen Fluctuations in Devonian Seas: Palaios, v. 26, p. 500-508.

Boyer, D.L., Owens, J.D., Lyons, T.W., and Droser, M.L., 2011, Joining forces: Combined biological and geochemical proxies reveal a complex but refined high-resolution palaeo-oxygen history in Devonian epeiric seas: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 306, Issues 3-4, p.134-146.

Boyer, D.L. and Wooten, E., 2011, Paleoecology of black and gray shales of central New York: New York State Geological Association Field Trip Guide Book, 83, p.153-162.

Boyer, Diana L. and Droser, Mary L, 2009, Palaeoecological patterns within the dysaerobic biofacies: examples from Devonian black shales of New York State: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, v. 276, p. 206-216.

Boyer, Diana L. and Droser, Mary L., 2007, Devonian monospecific assemblages: new insights into the ecology of reduced oxygen depositional settings: Lethaia, v. 40, p. 321-334.

Boyer, Diana L., Bottjer, David J., and Droser, Mary L., 2004, Ecological signature of Lower Triassic shell beds of the western United States: Palaios, v. 19, no. 4, p. 372-380.

Boyer, Diana L., and Droser, Mary L., 2003, Shell beds of the Kanosh and Lehman Formations of western Utah: paleoecological and paleoenvironmental interpretations: Brigham Young University, Geology Studies, v. 47, p. 1-15.