What is a ‘conodont’ and why are they so useful?

One of our HBISP colleagues Lina Wang recently gave a fascinating talk about her research to the Kent Geology Group. Lina is an Associate Professor at the Hebei GEO University and is one of the world's leading experts on using conodonts to explore the conditions that occurred at the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction.

For the non-geologists:
The Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction was the most severe of the five Extinction Events that have occurred in geological history. It occurred 250 million years ago and resulted in the elimination of 90% of the Earth’s species including 95% of marine species where the greatest losses were amongst invertebrates that lived in shallow, warm waters. Conodonts are the hard, teeth-like fossils of these invertebrates and by studying their distribution and the changes in their form due to rising sea temperatures it is possible to model the conditions that occurred during the Extinction Event. This modelling can then be applied to the current global warming crisis.

The talk was well received by a friendly audience of specialists and non-specialists, with many questions and conversations afterwards.

We hope to work with the Kent Geology Group next summer to organise fossil walks for our visiting Chinese students. You can find out more about their programme here: