A large project that included my Ph.D. research is aimed at an improved calibration of the Jurassic time scale. The samples were collected from volcanic units bracketed by fossiliferous sediments. Suitable volcanosedimentary sequences occur in the uppermost Triassic through Middle Jurassic of North American Cordillera. Field work was carried out in the Alaska Peninsula, southern Yukon, northwestern British Columbia, Queen Charlotte Islands, and Vancouver Island. The new U-Pb dates integrated with zonal level ammonoid biochronology provide improved constraints on stage boundaries and allow, for the first time, direct estimation of some zonal boundary ages.
Several publications are under preparation.
Within the Cordilleran Jurassic Calibration Project I apply and test existing Lower and Middle Jurassic regional zonal schemes and document the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of ammonite faunas from different allochthonous terranes such as Wrangellia and Stikinia in British Columbia, the Peninsular terrane in Alaska, and the Caborca terrane in northwest Mexico. I'm exploring ways to quantify the accuracy of ammonoid-based intercontinental correlation, e.g. between North America and the northwest European standard. Funding is provided through the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund and a bilateral Hungarian-British exchange program. Besides the systematic paleontology and a biostratigraphic study, the paleoecologic and paleobiogeographic analyses yielded new insights. Different Middle Triassic paleoenvironments are characterized by their well-defined brachiopod assemblages.