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Octavian Catuneanu is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta, specializing in sedimentology, stratigraphy, and basin analysis. His current research focuses on the stratigraphic evolution of the Western Interior foreland system in North America, encompassing sedimentary basins from the Precambrian to Phanerozoic ages. His expertise lies in analyzing sedimentary successions at local and regional scales, which involves investigating the complex interplay of allogenic and authigenic processes that shape the stratigraphic record. Catuneanu places a special interest in the external controls on sedimentation, studying the relative influence of climate, sea-level change, and tectonism on sedimentary processes. His innovative research aims to evaluate local and global environmental changes recorded in geological strata, explore the origin and evolution of sedimentary basins, and analyze the internal architecture of stratigraphic sequences that fill these basins. With a pragmatic economic perspective, his work rationalizes the distribution of depositional elements and stratigraphic discontinuities. He employs a range of research techniques, including outcrop and core sedimentology, subsurface methods such as well-log and seismic data interpretation, and correlation. Catuneanu also supervises students in research themes such as process sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, and basin analysis, and he teaches courses that cover the geology of Western Canada.
Department: Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Management