James A. MacEachern BSc, MSc (Regina), PhD (Alberta)

Professor and Department Chair

Current Research Interests:
Facies models stand as one of the most important contributions of sedimentary analysis. Most models, however, are largely based on physical sedimentological characteristics, particularly in siliciclastic successions. These models can be greatly improved through the addition of data derived from study of the ichnological (trace fossil) components of the rocks. Trace fossils primarily record the behaviours of organisms living in or on the sediment during deposition; such organisms are exceedingly sensitive to changes in depositional conditions and to various physico-chemical stresses inherent to the environment. The integration of trace fossil analysis with physical sedimentology and genetic stratigraphy is essential to the evolution of facies analysis, and will serve to refine our understanding of the sedimentary rock record.


I specialise in the integration of ichnology with sedimentology and genetic stratigraphy, in both subsurface and outcrop contexts. In recent years, I have also collaborated with colleagues (Drs. Kerrie Bann , Shahin Dashtgard, Murray Gingras, George Pemberton) focused on modern animal-sediment responses (process ichnology) in order to enhance my understanding of environmental stresses on organism behaviours . At SFU, we have founded a research group Applied Research in Ichnology and Sedimentology (ARISE), with close ties to the Ichnology Research Group (IRG) at the University of Alberta. 

My current research centres around three major depositional setting types: shoreface/strandlines; estuarine incised valleys; and deltas. My own focus over the last several years has been in the area of deltaic ichnology and the recognition of mixed influence systems. Within these areas of interest, I have a number of specific case studies that are ideal for either M.Sc. or Ph.D research programs. I believe that these case studies, combined with data from published modern and ancient analogues, will facilitate the development of integrated ichnological-sedimentological models. These integrated models will enhance our ability to recognize of new examples in the rock record, delineate paleogeographic distributions of facies, assist in the determination of the sequence stratigraphic history of deposition, and expand our understanding of the paleoenvironmental stresses (physical and chemical) that operated in these systems. I am interested in supporting field- and subsurface-based graduate research that leads to the development of such integrated facies models.
 
 

Recent Publications:

Dashtgard, S.E., MacEachern, J.A. , Frey, S.E., and Gingras, M.K., in press, Tidal effects on the shoreface: Towards a conceptual framework. Sedimentary Geology. (Invited) doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2010.09.006. 21p.

Vakarelov, B. K., Ainsworth, R. B., and MacEachern, J. A. , in press, Recognition of wave-dominated, tide-influenced shoreline systems in the rock record: Variations from a microtidal shoreline model: Sedimentary Geology. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2011.03.004.

Gingras, M.K., MacEachern, J.A., and Dashtgard, S.E., in press, The potential of trace fossils as tidal indicators, Sedimentary Geology. doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2011.05.007.

Gingras, M.K., and MacEachern, J.A., in press, Tidal ichnology of shallow clastic seas, in Dalrymple, R. and Davis, R.A., (eds.), Principles of Tidal Sedimentology, Springer, New York, doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-0123-6_4, 20p.

Gingras, M.K., MacEachern, J.A., and Dashtgard, S.E., 2011, Process ichnology and the elucidation of physico-chemical stress, Sedimentary Geology, v. 237, p. 115-134.

MacEachern, J.A. , Pemberton, S.G., Gingras, M.K., and Bann, K.L., 2010, Ichnology and Facies Models, in Dalrymple, R.W., and James, N.P., eds., Facies Models, edition 3: Geological Association of Canada, St. John's Newfoundland, p. 19-58.

Dashtgard, S.E., Gingras, M.K., and MacEachern, J.A., 2009, Tidally modulated shorefaces, Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 79, p. 793-807.

Bhattacharya, J.P., and MacEachern, J.A. , 2009, Hyperpycnal rivers and prodeltaic shelves in the Cretaceous seaway of North America: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 79, p. 184-209.

MacEachern, J.A ., and Bann, K.L., 2008, The role of ichnology in refining shallow marine facies models, in Hampson, G., Steel, R., Burgess, P., and Dalrymple, R., eds., Recent Advances in Models of Siliciclastic Shallow-Marine Stratigraphy, SEPM Special Publication 90, p. 73-116.

Bann, K.L., Tye, S.C., MacEachern, J.A ., Fielding, C.R., and Jones, B.G., 2008, Ichnological signatures and sedimentology of mixed wave- and storm-dominated deltaic deposits: examples from the Early Permian, southern Sydney Basin of southeastern Australia, in Hampson, G., Steel, R., Burgess, P., and Dalrymple, R., eds., Recent Advances in Models of Siliciclastic Shallow-Marine Stratigraphy, SEPM Special Publication 90, p. 293-332.

Pemberton, S.G., MacEachern, J.A ., Gingras, M.K., and Saunders, T.D.A., 2008, Biogenic chaos: Cryptobioturbation and the work of sedimentologically friendly organisms: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology, v . 208, p. 273-279.

Gingras, M.K., Dashtgard, S.E., MacEachern, J.A. , and Pemberton, S.G., 2008, Biology of shallow marine ichnology: a modern perspective: Aquatic Biology, v. 2, p. 255-268.

Pemberton, S.G., McCrea, R., Gingras, M.K., Sargeant, W.A.S., and MacEachern, J.A., 2008. History of Ichnology: The correspondence between the Reverend Henry Duncan and the Reverend William Buckland and the discovery of the first vertebrate footprints, Ichnos , v. 15, p. 5-17.

Hovikoski, J., Lemiski, R., Gingras, M., Pemberton, G., and MacEachern, J.A. , 2008, Ichnology and sedimentology of a mud-dominated deltaic coast: Upper Cretaceous Alderson Member (Lea Park Fm), Western Canada: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 78, p. 803-824.

MacEachern, J.A., Pemberton, S.G., Gingras, M.K., and Bann, K.L., 2007, The ichnofacies concept: a fifty-year retrospective, in Miller III, W. (ed.), Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems, Prospects, Elsevier, p. 50-75.

MacEachern, J.A ., and Gingras, M.K., 2007, Recognition of brackish-water trace fossil suites in the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of Alberta, Canada, in Bromley, R.G., Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., Genise, J.F., and Melchor, R.N., eds., Sediment-Organism Interactions: a Multifaceted Ichnology, SEPM Special Publication 89, p. 149-194.

MacEachern, J.A ., Gingras, M.K., Bann, K.L., Pemberton, S.G., and Dafoe, L.T., 2007, Applications of ichnology to high-resolution genetic stratigraphic paradigms, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 95-129.

Gingras, M.K., Pemberton, S.G., and MacEachern, J.A ., 2007, Applications of ichnology to fluid and gas production in hydrocarbon reservoirs, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 131-145.

Coates, L., and MacEachern, J.A ., 2007, The ichnological signatures of river- and wave-dominated delta complexes: differentiating deltaic from non-deltaic shallow marine successions, Lower Cretaceous Viking Formation and Upper Cretaceous Dunvegan Formation, west-central Alberta, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 227-254.

Davison, J.E.A., and MacEachern, J.A., 2007, Ichnological variations in brackish-water central basin complexes of wave-dominated estuarine incised valley fills, Lower Cretaceous Viking Formation, central Alberta, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 273-289.

Gani, M.R., Bhattacharya, J.P., and MacEachern, J.A ., 2007, Using ichnology to determine relative influence of waves, storms, tides and rivers in deltaic deposits: examples from Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, U.S.A., in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 209-225.

Hansen, C.D., and MacEachern, J.A ., 2007, Application of the asymmetric delta model to along-strike facies variations in a mixed wave- and river-influenced delta lobe, Upper Cretaceous Basal Belly River Formation, central Alberta, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 255-271.

Sadeque, J., Bhattacharya, J.P., MacEachern, J.A., and Howell, C.D., 2007, Differentiating amalgamated parasequences in deltaic settings using ichnology: an example from the Upper Turonian Wall Creek Member of the Frontier Formation, Wyoming, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 343-362.

Key Publications:

MacEachern, J.A ., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., 2007, Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, 380p.

MacEachern, J.A ., Bann, K.L., Pemberton, S.G., and Gingras, M.K., 2007, The ichnofacies paradigm: high resolution paleoenvironmental interpretation of the rock record, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 27-64.

MacEachern, J.A ., Pemberton, S.G., Bann, K.L., and Gingras, M.K., 2007, Departures from the archetypal ichnofacies: effective recognition of environmental stress in the rock record, in MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Gingras, M.K., and Pemberton, S.G., eds., Applied Ichnology, SEPM Short Course Notes 52, p. 65-93.

MacEachern, J.A., Bann, K.L., Bhattacharya, J.P., and Howell, C.D., 2005, Ichnology of deltas: organism responses to the dynamic interplay of rivers, waves, storms and tides, in Bhattacharya, J.P. and Giosan, L. (eds.), River Deltas: Concepts, Models and Examples, SEPM Special Publication 83, p. 49-85.

Pemberton, S. G., and MacEachern, J.A ., 2005, Significance of ichnofossils in applied stratigraphy, in Koutsoukos, E.A. (ed.)., Applied Stratigraphy, Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. p. 281-302.

Groenewald, G.H., J. Welman, and J.A. MacEachern , 2001, Vertebrate Burrow Complexes from the Early Triassic Cynognathus Zone (Driekoppen Formation, Beaufort Group) of the Karoo Basin, South Africa, Palaios 16, 148-160.

MacEachern, J.A. and J.A. Burton, 2000, Firmground Zoophycos in the Lower Cretaceous Viking Formation, Alberta: A distal expression of the Glossifungites Ichnofacies, Palaios, v. 15, p. 387-398.

MacEachern, J.A., B.A. Zaitlin and S.G. Pemberton, 1999, A sharp-based sandstone succession of the Viking Formation, Joffre Field, Alberta, Canada: Criteria for recognition of transgressively incised shoreface complexes: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 69, p. 876-892.

MacEachern, J.A. and S.G. Pemberton, 1994, Ichnological aspects of incised valley fill systems from the Viking Formation of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, Alberta, Canada, in : R. Boyd, B. Dalrymple and B. Zaitlin (eds.), Incised valley systems: origin and sedimentary sequences: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication 51, p. 129-157.

Pemberton, S.G., J.A. MacEachern and R.W. Frey, 1992, Trace fossil facies models: environmental and allostratigraphic significance, in : R.G. Walker and N.P. James (eds.), Facies models: response to sea level change: Geological Association of Canada, St. John's Newfoundland, p. 47-72.

PDF's of selected publications available upon request

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