Paleontology, specializing in terrestrial spores and pollen, as applied to Jurassic, Cretaceous and Early Tertiary biostratigraphy, sedimentary basin analyses and sequence stratigraphy, especially in non-marine, coal-bearing strata

Arthur Sweet has been with the Geological Survey of Canada since receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Calgary in 1972. His research focuses on Cretaceous and Paleogene biostratigraphy based on terrestrial floras represented by fossilized pollen and spores. He is familiar with the biostratigraphy of most Cretaceous/Tertiary basins in western and northern Canada, including the Western Canada, Brackett, Bowser, and Bonnet Plume basins. Involvement in the Paleocene and Eocene of Ellesmere Island and of late stage kimberlite crater fill deposits in the Lac de Gras area, NWT, and the climatically-controlled Eocene-Oligocene boundary in sections from the Yukon Territory continues. Arthur currently supports Energy (coal bed methane) and Groundwater Programs (Paskapoo subcomponent) by developing a biostratigraphic framework for the Paleocene of Alberta. Involvement with the Northern Resources and Development Program includes studies of the Bowser and Sustut Basins, northwestern British Columbia, the Paleogene of the Arctic and kimberlite host rocks in Alberta and the NWT. The only source of information on the Cretaceous and Tertiary host sediments once covering the Slave Craton, NWT is the chaotic mix of fossiliferous sedimentary clasts within kimberlites, the challenge being sorting out the nature of the strata present at the time of kimberlite emplacement. One other aim of the kimberlite host rock studies is to establish the relationships hiatuses in the stratigraphic record and the timing of kimberlite emplacement.

Dr. Sweet maintains an advisory interest in Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary research and the global consequences of profound gradual or catastrophic environmental stress. His other interests include plant evolution and interdisciplinary studies linking paleontology with magnetostratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, lithostratigraphic and regional basin analyses from a sequence stratigraphic and foreland basin development perspective. As leader of PaleoLab, his hope is to see the fundamental contribution of paleontology to basin analyses and mapping projects increasingly highlighted.

List of publications for Arthur R. Sweet (from GEOSCAN)