Shallow carbonate and contourite systems; Seismic facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy, petrophysics of carbonates and mixed carbonate/siliciclastic systems.

Ph.D., Earth Observation and Geology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2004.

Sam Purkis is a geologist and professor at the University of Miami, where he serves as the Department Chair of Marine Geosciences. He specializes in marine geology and coral reef research, with a focus on understanding how climate and environmental changes impact marine ecosystems. His research spans the use of modern and ancient reef systems to study processes like sedimentation, biodiversity patterns, and sea-level changes, often utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as satellite imagery and numerical modeling.

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• The Climate Dynamics of the Atlantic
• Sclerosponges/Corals
• Carbonate Diagenesis
• Nitrogen Dynamics in the Marine Environment
• Clumped Isotopes
• Global Carbon Cycle through Time

Ph.D., University of Illinois, 2005

Evolution and extinction of Cenozoic to Recent reef corals, paleoecology of Cenozoic reefs, geo-microbiology of modern coral reef ecosystems.

Geochemistry, geobiology, paleoclimate, global carbon cycling.

Petrophysics of carbonates.

Ph.D Coastal Oceanography

Geobiology, microbial ecology, marine ecology, microbiology.

Applied geophysics, reflection seismic, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), equipment development, 3-D and 4-D near surface imaging, reservoir characterization, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), cold-water coral ecosystems, data integration and visualization.

Carbonate sedimentology & stratigraphy, carbonate petrophysics, contourites, carbonate reservoirs.

Ph.D., University of Miami, 1977

(1) carbonate sand deposits in the Bahamas as templates for undersanding reservoir heterogeneity;

(2) microbial-dominated carbonate platform margins, especially Late Paleozoic examples; 

(3) isolated platform type carbonate reservoirs. 

University of Ferrara

University of Hamburg, Germany

Oklahoma State University

University of Bochum, Germany

MARUM, Bremen, Germany

Mozambique

Ph.D. Student since 2023 (Supervisor: Prof. Sam Purkis)

Ph.D. student since 2024 (Supervisor: Assistant Prof. Amanda Oehlert)

Research Interests: Biogeochemistry, ichthyocarbonate, stable isotopes, mineralogical fractionation factors

Thesis: Deep-water cores

Research assistant

Research assistant