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Thomas Kammer

EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY

Dr. Kammer specializes in paleontology and paleoecology of Paleozoic marine fossils, especially crinoids, plus stratigraphy of the Mississippian Period. He is an Honorary Fellow of both the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society.

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Education

  • B.S. Geology, 1975, Kent State University
  • M.S. Geology, 1978, Indiana University
  • Ph.D. Geology, 1982, Indiana University

WVU Positions

  • 1982-1987, Assistant Professor of Geology
  • 1987-1993, Associate Professor of Geology
  • 1993-2016, Professor of Geology
  • 1997-2016, Eberly College Centennial Professor of Geology

Recent Significant Publications

Ausich, W.I., Kammer, T.W. and Mirantsev, G.V. 2022  Carboniferous crinoids. In S.G. Lucas, J.W. Schneider, X. Wang and S. Nikolaeva (eds), The Carboniferous Timescale. London. Geological Society of London Special Publication 512, 551–601.  doi.org/10.1144/SP512-2020-71 

Deline, B., Thompson, J.R., Smith, N.S., Zamora, S., Rahman, I.A., Sheffield, S.L., Ausich, W.I., Kammer, T.W., and Sumrall, C.D. 2020. Evolution and development at the origin of a phylum. CURRENT BIOLOGY, 30:1672-1679.  doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.054

Segessenman, D.C., and T.W. Kammer. 2018. Testing reduced evolutionary rates during the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age using the crinoid fossil record. LETHAIA, 51:330-343.  doi.org/10.1111/let.12239

Ausich, W.I., and T.W. Kammer. 2016. Exaptation of pelmatozoan oral surfaces: Constructional pathways in tegmen evolution.  JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY, 90(4):689-720.  doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2016.73

Ausich, W.I., T.W. Kammer, E. C. Rhenberg, and D.F. Wright. 2015. Early phylogeny of crinoids within the Pelmatozoan clade. PALAEONTOLOGY, 58(6):937-952.    doi.org/10.1111/pala.12204

Kammer, T.W., C. Bartels, W.I. Ausich. 2015. Presumed postlarval pentacrinoids from the Lower Devonian Hunsruck Slate, Germany. LETHAIA,  doi.org/10.1111/let.12147

Kammer, T.W., C.D. Sumrall, S. Zamora, W.I. Ausich, B. Deline. 2013. Oral region homologies in Paleozoic crinoids and other plesiomorphic pentaradial echinoderms.  PLoS ONE 8(11): e77989. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077989    www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0077989

Ausich, W.I., and T.W. Kammer. 2013. Mississippian crinoid biodiversity, biogeography, and macroevolution. PALAEONTOLOGY, 56:727-740.    doi.org/10.1111/pala.12011

Sallan, L.C., T. W. Kammer, W.I. Ausich, L. A. Cook. 2011 Persistent predator-prey dynamics revealed by mass extinction. PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(20):8335-8338.  doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1100631108

Courses Previously Taught AT WVU

GEOL 103, Earth Through Time

GEOL 200, Geology for Environmental Scientists

GEOL 331, Paleontology

GEOL 404, Geology Field Camp

GEOL 591, Advanced Paleontology

GEOL 632, Paleoecology


Supervised Student Research

PH.D. DISSERTATIONS DIRECTED

  • 1986 Bjerstedt, T.W. Stratigraphy and deltaic depositional systems of the Price Formation (Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian) in West Virginia. 720 pp.
  • 1992 Christopher, C.C. Marine paleocommunities and paleoenvironments of the Upper Mississippian Bluefield Formation in southern West Virginia. 447 pp.
  • 2002 Martin, R. Taxonomic revision and paleoecology of Middle Devonian (Eifelian) fishes from the Onondaga, Columbus and Delaware limestones of the eastern United States. 166 pp. 
  • 2004 Matchen, D.L. Depositional environments, age, and regional correlation of the Black Hand Sandstone Member of the Cuyahoga Formation and the Lower Mississippian of the central Appalachians. 149 pp. 
  • 2005 Lebold, J. Gradient and recurrence analyses of four marine zones in the Glenshaw Formation (Upper Pennsylvanian, Appalachian Basin). 164 p. 
  • 2009 Blake, B.M. Carboniferous paleobotany and paleoclimatology of the central Appalachian basin, West Virginia, USA. 251 pp. 
  • 2010 Cook, L. Systematics and Evolutionary Paleoecology of Crinoids from the St. Louis Limestone (Mississippian, Meramecian) of the Illinois Basin.  180 pp.
  • 2011 Rhenberg, E.  Systematics, phylogenetics, and biogeography of Early Mississippian camerate crinoids of the Nunn Member, Lake Valley Formation, in south-central New Mexico.  263 pp.

M.S. THESES DIRECTED

  • 1983 Kochanov, W.E. Ostracode paleoecology of the Pennsyslvanian Kanawha Formation, southern West Virginia. 122 pp.
  • 1986 Tissue, E.C. Paleoecology and paleoenvironments of the upper Greenbrier-lower Mauch Chunk transition, Garrett County, Maryland. 215 pp.
  • 1988 Bird, D. Paleontology of the Meadville Member of the Cuyahoga Formation (Mississippian) in Medina County, Ohio. 185 pp.
  • 1990 Rodeheaver, J.S. Paleontology and paleoecology of the Middle Devonian Mahantango Formation in Mineral and Hampshire Counties, West Virginia. 382 pp.
  • 1992 Matchen, D.L. Sequence stratigraphy of the Lower Mississippian clastic wedge in West Virginia and Kentucky. 190 pp.
  • 1998 Pokrifka, T. The relationship of depositional environment to rock and aqueous geochemistry of the Mauch Chunk and Pottsville formations in southcentral Pennsylvania. 91 pp.
  • 1998 Lake, A. Marine paleoecology of Upper Mississippian strata in northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. 95 pp.
  • 2001 Murphy, S. Influence of the West Virginia Dome on paleocurrent patterns in the Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Price Formation in the central Appalachians. 315 pp. 
  • 2005 Cole, S. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Upper Mississippian Reynolds Limestone in the central Appalachian Basin of West Virginia. 135 pp. 
  • 2007 Vance, T. Marine paleoecology of the Eads Mill Member, Hinton Formation, Upper Mississippian, West Virginia and Virginia. 87 pp. 
  • 2007 Cawthern, T. R. Marine paleoecology of the Fivemile Member, Hinton Formation, Upper Mississippian, West Virginia and Virginia. 107 pp. 
  • 2016 Segessenman, D. Did the Late Paleozoic Ice Age cause reduced evolutionary rates in marine invertebrates?: A test using the crinoid fossil record.  86 pp.

M.S. OPTION 2 PROBLEMS DIRECTED

  • 1982 Stafford, J.N. Analysis of stratigraphic and geographic distributions of North American Mississippian corals. 66 pp.
  • 1995 Gurshaw, E.A. Hydrogeologic Applications for Geology 266: Appalachian Geology Field Camp. 48 pp.
  • 1995 Criss, D.R. Paleoecology of the Early Devonian Keyser and New Creek Limestones of the Helderberg Group at New Creek, West Virginia. 80 pp.

UNDERGRADUATE SENIOR RESEARCH PROJECTS DIRECTED

  • 1984 Cox, K. Brachiopods from the Nancy Member of the Borden Formation (Mississippian) in north-central Kentucky.
  • 1985 Bird, D. Paleoecology of the Upper Devonian Chemung Formation at Gap Mills, Monroe County, West Virginia.
  • 1987 Rodeheaver, J.S. Brachiopods and molluscs of the Middle Devonian Mahantango Formation in Mineral County, West Virginia.
  • 2003 Forloin, J. Paleontology and paleoecology of the Ames Member of the Glenshaw Formation (Upper Pennsylvanian), Morgantown, West Virginia.
  • 2003 Cole, S. Environmental distribution of flexible crinoids during the Mississippian: testing for environmental preferences between genera and families.