Salem State College: Marine Geology Research Lab

Salem State College
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA 01970
978-542-6000

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Geological Sciences

Marine Geology Research Lab

Professor James Cullen maintains an active research program in marine science. Over 25 students have been employed through grant monies acquired by Dr. Cullen and have competed directed studies projects under his direction in paleoceanography.

Past Projects

Dr. Cullen has participated on several oceanographic and marine geologic research cruises through Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and the Ocean Drilling Program. Research focused on:

paleoceanographic changes in the equatorial Indian Ocean and reconstructing the history of the Asian Monsoon using micropaleontological and geochemical information contained in deep-sea sediment cores.
Developing and improving a global data base of quantitative micropaleontological information from the sediment surface of the world's oceans and interpreting these data in terms of the surface water environments these fossil organisms recently inhabited.

Present Projects

Scott Barlow, GLS student, analyzes deep-sea sediments in the Marine Geology Lab

Present research projects stem from Dr. Cullen's participation in Leg 154 of the Ocean drilling Program from January-March, 1994 to the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, and the Ocean Drilling Program Leg 162 to the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans during July-August, 1995. During Winter Session Dr. Cullen directs a research oriented directed study in carbonate sedimentation at the Caribbean Marine Research Laboratory in the Bahamas.

These funded research projects enable students to gain valuable experience processing and analyzing deep sea sediments in the marine geology laboratory and provide them with the necessary training to conduct their own independent paleoceanographic research projects. See student research.