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My wife, Elizabeth, and I, at Noosa National Park in Queensland, Australia. June 2003.
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Roger Summons
Professor
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT
E34-246, 42-44 Carleton Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA
phone 617.452.2791
email rsummons@mit.edu
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research interests
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I am interested in biogeochemistry and geobiology with the following themes:
- lipid chemistry of geologically significant microbes and microbially dominated ecosystems
- organic and isotopic indicators of climate change, biotic evolution and mass extinction
- age- and environment-diagnostic biomarkers in sediments and petroleum
- Archean, Proterozoic and extraterrestrial biogeochemical fossils
I've been lucky enough to work with some great people, and have a hand in all the research going on in the MIT Geobiology lab.
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| professional experience and training |
professional experience
- MIT, Professor of Geobiology (2001 to present)
- Bureau of Mineral Resources and Australian Geological Survey Org., Senior to Chief Research Scientist (1987 to 2001)
- Baas Becking Geobiological Laboratory Senior Research Scientist (1983 to 1987)
- Australian National University, Research Schools of Chemistry and Biological Sciences (1975 to 1983)
training
- High School: Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia
- B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemistry: University of New South Wales (Wollongong College) 1969 and 1972, respectively
- Postdoc in Genetics: Stanford University 1972 - 73
- Postdoc in Chemistry: Australian National University 1973-75
honors
Treibs Award of the Geochemical Society (2003)
Australian Organic Geochemistry Medal (2002)
Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (1998)
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| personal |
born Sydney, Australia. 11 june year (note: password required to access this information)
family married to Elizabeth and proud father of Justine, Alice and Rebecca
... and i came here from australia?? what was i thinking...
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| publications |
all published papers
the whole shebang, right here
a selection of papers, in chronological order
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Summons R.E. & Powell T.G. (1986) Chlorobiaceae in Palaeozoic seas - Combined evidence from biological markers, isotopes and geology. Nature 319: 763-65.
Jackson M.J., Powell T.G., Summons R.E. & Sweet I.P. (1986) Hydrocarbon shows and petroleum source rocks in sediments as old as 1.7x10-9 years. Nature 322: 727-29.
Summons R.E. & Powell T.G. (1987) Identification of aryl isoprenoids in source rocks and crude oils : Biological markers for the green sulphur bacteria. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 51: 557-66.
Summons R.E., Volkman J.K. & Boreham C.J. (1987) Dinosterane and other steroidal hydrocarbons of dinoflagellate origin in sediments and petroleum. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 51: 3075-82.
Summons R.E., Brassell S.C., Eglinton G., Evans E., Horodyski R.J., Robinson N. & Ward D.M. (1988) Distinctive hydrocarbon biomarkers from fossiliferous sediment of the late Proterozoic Walcott Member, Chuar Grp, Grand Canyon, Arizona. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 52: 2625-37.
Summons R.E. & Capon R.J.(1988) Fossil steranes with unprecedented methylation in ring-A. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 52: 2733-6.
Summons R.E. & Jahnke L.L. (1990) Identification of the methylhopanes in sediments & petroleum. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 54: 247-51.
Summons R.E. & Walter M.R. (1990) Molecular fossils and microfossils of prokaryotes and protists from Proterozoic sediments. Am. J. Science 290-A: 212-44.
Summons R.E. & Jahnke L.L. (1992) Hopenes and hopanes methylated in ring-A: correlation of the hopanoids of extant methylotrophic bacteria with their fossil analogues. In: Biomarkers in Sediments and Petroleum (eds. Moldowan J.M. , Albrecht P. & Philp R. P.), Prentice Hall, NJ, pp.182-200.
Summons R.E., Thomas J., Maxwell J.R. & Boreham C.J. (1992) Secular and environmental constraints on the distribution of dinosterane in sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56: 2437-44.
Logan G.A., Hayes J.M., Hieshima G.B. and Summons R.E. (1995) Terminal Proterozoic reorganisation of biogeochemical cycles. Nature 376: 53-56.
Logan G.A., Summons R.E., & Hayes J.M. (1997) An isotopic biogeochemical study of Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian sediments from the Centralian Superbasin. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 61: 5391-5409.
Foster C.B., Logan G.A. & Summons R.E. (1998) The Permian-Triassic boundary in Australia: where is it and how is it expressed. Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria 110: 247-66.
Jahnke L.L., Summons R.E., Hope J.M. & Des Marais D.J. (1999) Carbon isotopic fractionation in lipids from methanotrophic bacteria II: The effects of physiology and environmental parameters on the biosynthesis and isotopic signatures of biomarkers. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 63: 79-93.
Logan G.A., Calver C.R, Gorjan P., Summons R.E., Hayes J.M. & Walter M.R. (1999) Terminal Proterozoic mid-shelf benthic microbial mats in the Centralian Superbasin and their environmental significance. Geochim.Cosmochim. Acta 63: 1345-58.
Summons R.E., Jahnke L.L., Logan G.A. & Hope J.M. (1999) 2-Methylhopanoids as biomarkers for cyanobacterial oxygenic photosynthesis. Nature 398: 554-57.
Brocks J.J., Logan G.A., Buick R. & Summons R.E. (1999) Archean molecular fossils and the early rise of Eukaryotes, Science 285: 1033-36.
Hinrichs K.-U., Summons R.E., Orphan V., Sylva S.P. and Hayes J.M. (2001) Molecular and isotopic analysis of anaerobic methane-oxidising communities in marine sediments. In Yalcin M.N. and Inan S. (eds) Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1999, Org. Geochem. 31: 1685-1701.
Brocks J.J., Love G.D., Snape C.E., Logan G.A., Summons R.E. and Buick R. (2003) Release of bound aromatic hydrocarbons from late Archean and Mesoproterozoic kerogens via hydropyrolysis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 67: 1521-30 .
Brocks J.J., Summons R.E., Logan G.A. and Buick R. (2003) Molecular Fossils in Archean rocks II: Composition, thermal maturity and integrity of hydrocarbons extracted from sedimentary rocks of the 2.78 - 2.45 billion years old Mount Bruce Supergroup, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 67: 4289-4319.
Brocks J.J., Buick R., Summons R.E. and Logan G.A. (2003) A reconstruction of Archean biological diversity based on molecular fossils from the 2.78 - 2.45 billion year old Mount Bruce Supergroup, Hamersley Basin, Western Australia. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 67: 4321-35.
Brocks J. J., Summons R. E., Buick R., and Logan G. A. (2003) Origin and significance of aromatic hydrocarbons in giant iron ore deposits of the late Archean Hamersley Basin in Western Australia. Org. Geochem. 34: 1161-75.
Rothman D. H., Hayes J. M., and Summons R. E. (2003) Dynamics of the Neoproterozoic carbon cycle. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 100: 8124-29. |
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