Professor, Department Head
Year Started at JMU: 2007
lesliesa@jmu.edu
Contact Info
Research Description
My research interests are at the intersection of paleontology with stratigraphy and geochemistry using conodont microfossils. Only the small tooth-like elements, composed of calcium phosphate, of conodont animals are usually preserved, which makes understanding the paleobiology of these extinct eel-like creatures challenging. My students and I use conodonts to determine the age of the rocks that contain them, and we study the oxygen and carbon isotopes in the conodonts and the rocks to interpret paleoclimate.
Courses
- GEOL 110: Physical Geology
- GEOL 350: Paleobiology
- GEOL 399: Field Geology
- GEOL 400: Geology and Ecology of the Bahamas
Education
- PhD in Geology, 1995, The Ohio State University
- MS in Geology, 1990, University of Idaho
- BS in Geology, 1988, Bowling Green University
Select Publications
- Myrow, P.M., Fike, D.A., Malmskog, E., Leslie, S.A., Singh, B.P., Chaubey, R.S., and Prasad, S.K., 2018. Ordovician–Silurian boundary strata, Spiti Valley region of the Indian Himalaya: Record of the latest Ordovician Boda Event GSA Bulletin DOI: 10.1130/B31860.1.
- Leslie, S.A., Goldman, D. and Orndorff. R.C., (eds) 2015. 12th International Symposium on the Ordovician System, Short Papers and Abstracts, Stratigraphy 12(3-4): 288p. DOI: 10.2110/sepmord.015.
- Quinton, P.C., Law, S., MacLeod, K.G., Herrmann, A.D., Haynes, J.T., and Leslie, S.A., 2017. Testing the Early Late Ordovician cool-water hypothesis with oxygen isotopes from conodont apatite, Geological Magazine DOI: 10.1017/S0016756817000589.