My specialty is micropaleontology, concentrating on foraminifera from fossil and modern cold methane seeps. My research integrates data from foraminiferal tests and inorganic authigenic carbonates to assess the influence of methane-influenced fluids near the sediment/water interface. The primary tools I am using are foraminiferal assemblage data, carbon and oxygen stable isotopes, and Mg/Ca analyses. These should enable the distinction between primary minerals and those that formed as secondary (diagenetic) deposits, thus indicating different phases of fluid flow. On these projects I work with Liz Nesbitt, Kathy Campbell (University of Auckland New Zealand) and Marta Torres and Gary Klinkhammer (Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University).

Martin, R. A., Nesbitt, E.A., Campbell, K.A. 2007. Carbon stable isotopic composition of benthic Foraminifera from Pliocene cold methane seeps, Cascadia accretionary margin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol.246, no.2-4, pp.260-277.

Martin, R.A., 2008. Foraminifers as hard substrates: an example from the Washington continental shelf of smaller foraminifers attached to larger, agglutinate foraminifers. Journal of Foraminiferal Research