How I got into diatoms: Luca Pellegrino
Luca Pellegrino – Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra (Università degli Studi di Torino) I am an Italian PhD student in the Earth Sciences Department of the University of Torino (Italy). My researches concern the Upper Miocene diatomaceous deposits of the Mediterranean region, with special emphasis on the Italian sedimentary successions deposited during the late Tortonian-early Messinian, i.e. around 7-6 Ma. My aim is to better understand the paleoceanographic processes responsible for their deposition, mostly through SEM-based sedimentological and micropaleontological investigations. My interest in this topic arose some years ago, after a discussion with my supervisor, who hinted about the impressive accumulation of diatom-rich sediments globally characterizing the latest Miocene and attributable to the so called ‘latest Miocene biogenic bloom’ (e.g ., Farrell et al., 1995; Cortese et al., 2004). The circum-Mediterranean Upper Miocene diatomites are special if compare...