2001 - present: Professor, Dept. of Geology, & head of Research Unit Earth System Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
2009 - present: Guest Professor, Dept. of Geology and Soil Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
1996 - 2000: Senior Scientist & Director of Analytical Laboratories, Institute of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, Berlin, Germany
• 1994 - 1995: Research Geologist, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
• 1993: Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
• 1991 - 1992: Exploration Geologist, Shell Oil Exploration & Production Co - Houston - Texas, USA
• 1989 - 1990: Research Assistant, Nuclear Chemistry Dept., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA (part-time)
• 1987 - 1992: Teaching and/or Research Assistant, Dept. of Gelogy, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, USA.

Research interests

Planetary sciences, biogeoevolution of the Earth, asteroid, comet impacts and mass extinctions, astrobiology, global changes and paleoenvironmental reconstructions, geoarcheology

• The Chicxulub Crater (Yucatan - Mexico) and relationship to the Cretaceous - Tertiary Boundary Event.
• The Eocene-Oligocene transition : asteroid or comet shower?
• Astrobiology, Impact Events and Origin of Life
• Paleoenvironmental reconstructions: Calcareous marine skeletons as recorders of global climate changes (CALMARS)
• Geoarcheology, from tracing the source of archeological artifacts to sustainable development in the ancien world
• Urban Environmental Geosciences: Better water management and reduction of inundation risk in Brussels

Current funding

• NARNIA, member of the VUB team (Pi Karin Nys, Archeology) that constitutes one of the partners in this EU Marie Curie training Network, (http://narnia-itn.eu/), 1 Ph. D student, travel and teaching costs, and consumables, 2011-2013.
• Brussels: the forgotten water fluxes (ground, sewer, river, precipitation, potable etc.): Isotopic, cartographic and historic approach for a sustainable development at the city scale (Pi), Funded by: Institute for the encouragement of Scientific Research and Innovation of Brussels, 2011-2014: 180.000€ (IRSIB/IWOIB personnel & consumables)
• Application of Sm-Nd and Lu-Hf isotope systems in geological and archeometric research (Co-Pi), funded by: FWO-Research Fund Flanders 2011-2014: 52.000€ (FWOAL601-G00211N, consumables)
• Development of sample introduction methods and analytical protocols for high-precision and accurate isotopic analyses via multi-collector ICP-Mass Spectrometry for innovative and interdisciplinary applications, (Co-Pi), funded by: FWO-Research Fund Flanders 2011-2014: 48.000€ (FWOAL604-GA07811N, consumables)
• Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (MAT 253 with dual inlet and Thermo Chemical Elemental Analyzer) for interdisciplinary applications in the Earth and Life Sciences, (Pi), funded by: Hercules Foundation Flanders, Mid-size Infrastructures project, 2010: 400,000€ (instrument purchase)
• Van Dierendonck Research fellowship, (Pi), funding for a 4 years PhD student on the topic of Global Changes and bio-geo-chemical cycles (starts in 2011)
• Documenting ash fallout from the Eyjafjallajökull in Belgium, (Pi), funded by: Belgocontrol, 2010, 5000€
• “SAMBA II” Search and Study of Antarctica Meteorites: Belgian Contribution, (Pi), funded by: BELSPO Belgian Science Policy, 2010-2014: 498,000€, (DWTC254 Personnel & consumables)
• “SAMBA I” Search for Antarctica Meteorites: Belgium Activities, (Pi), funded by: BELSPO Belgian Science Policy, 2009-2010: 50,000€ (DWTC253, Field work campaign Antarctica, 2010)
• “MICROMETA”: Antarctic micrometeorites as clues to the early Solar System and planetary evolution, (Pi), funded by: InBev-Baillet Latour Antarctic Prize 2009 to Steven Goderis, 150,000€ 2010-2011, (DWTC259 Personnel & consumables).
• Ecology and hydrogeology of the Molenbeek Valley in the Brussels Capital Region, (Pi), funded by: Brussels Environment IBGE/BIM 2010-2011: 120,000€ (BRGEOZ158 Personnel & consumables)
• Stable isotope methods for the study of biogeochemical processes in aquatic environments and the paleoclimate, (Co-Pi), funded by: FWO-Research Fund Flanders 2010-2013: 225,000€ (FWOAL542, Personnel & consumables)
• Evolution of the deep-sea ecosystem during early Eocene transient warming events: stable-isotope and foraminiferal evidence, (Co-Pi), funded by: FWO-Research Fund Flanders 2010-2013: 36,000€ (FWOAL544, consumables)

Invited talks

• American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Ghent Chapter, February 15, 2011
• Graduate School of Science & Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, June 11, 2010
• Association of Geologists from Ghent University, Ghent, December 10, 2009
• CEREGE (Centre Européen de Recherche et Enseignement des Géosciences et de l’Environnement), Aix en Provence, France, July 1st, 2009
• Collège Belgique de l’Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, February 5, 2009
• Earth & Space Week, series of lectures organized in Brussels, Gent, Transinne etc. within the framework of the International Year of Planet Earth, April 7 - 11 2008,
• Paleontological Institute, Shenyang, China, November 20, 2008
• Geoscience Research Center, Jilin University of Changchun, Changchun, China, November 16, 2008
• Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Dino's & meteorite day, Brussels, Belgium, February 24, 2008
• Union des Anciens Etudiants de l"université Libre de Bruxelles, Dour, Belgium, February 18, 2008
• Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Co. USA, October 26, 2007

Professional services

• President of Geologica Belgica, the Belgian association of Geologists (2011-2013)
• Member of National Committee for Quaternary Science (BELQUA) of the The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (2006 – present)
• Member of National Committee for Geological Sciences of the The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (2004 – present)

Outreach to the media and public

• Click here 

Selected publications

• De Vleeschouwer, F., Renson, V., Claeys, Ph., Nys, K., Bindler, R., Quantitative WD-XRF calibration for small ceramic samples and their source material, Geoarcheology, 26, 440-450, 2011 [pdf version]
• Renson, V., Coenaerts, J., Nys, K., Mattielli, N., Vanhaecke, F., Fagel, N., Claeys, Ph., Lead isotopic analysis for the identification of Late Bronze Age pottery from Hala Sultan Tekke (Cyprus), Archaeometry, 53, 1, 37-57, 2011, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00535.x [pdf version]
• Tian, H.; Schryvers, D.; Claeys, Ph. Nanodiamonds do not provide unique evidence for a Younger Dryas impact, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 108,1, 40-44, 2011, doi:10.1073/pnas.1007695108 [pdf version]
• Schulte, P. Alegret, L., Arenillas, I., Arz, J.A. Barton, P.J., Brown, P.R., Bralower, T.J., Christeson, G.L., Claeys, Ph., Cockell, C.S., Collins, G.S., Deutsch, A., Goldin, T.J., Goto, K., Grajales-Nishimura, J.M., Grieve, R.A.F., Gulick, S.P.S., Johnson, K.R., Kiessling, W., Koeberl, C., Kring, D.A., MacLeod, K.G., Matsui, T., Melosh, J., Montanari, A., Morgan, J.V., Neal, C.R., Nichols, D.J., Norris, R.D., Pierazzo, E., Ravizza, G., Rebolledo-Vieyra, M., Reimold, W.U., Robin, E., Salge, T., Speijer, R.P., Sweet, A.R., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., Vajda, V., Whalen, M.T. & Willumsen, P.S. The Chicxulub asteroid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, Science, 327, 1214 – 1218, 2010, doi:10.1126/science.1177265 [pdf version]
• Paquay, F., S., Goderis*, S., Ravizza, G., Vanhaecke, F., Boyd, M., Surovell, T., Holliday, V., T., Haynes, C., V., Claeys, Ph., Absence of geochemical evidence for an impact event at the Bølling/Allerød/Younger Dryas transition, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106, 51, 21505 – 21510, 2009, 40doi:10.1073/pnas.0908874106 [pdf version]
• Surovell, T. A., Holliday, V. T., Gingerich, J. A., Ketron, C., Haynes, C. V., Hilman, I., Wagner, D. P., Johnson, E., Claeys, Ph., An independent evaluation of the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106, 41, 18155 – 18158, 2009, 40doi:10.1073/pnas.0907857106 [pdf version]
• Kolo*, K., Konhauser, K., Krumbein, W., Van Ingelgem, Y., Hubin, A., Claeys, Ph., Microbial dissolution of hematite and associated cellular fossilization by reduced iron phases, Astrobiology, 9(8), 2009, doi:10.1089/ast2008.0263 [pdf version]
• Goderis, S. Kalleson, E., Tagle, R., Dypvik, H., Schmitt, R. T., Erzinger, J., Claeys, Ph., A non-magmatic iron projectile for the Gardnos impact event, Chemical Geology, 258, 245 - 256, 2009 [pdf version]
• Claeys, Ph. Impact cratering on volatile-rich targets: Some remarks related to the Deep Impact experiment, in Deep impact as a world observatory event – Synergies in Space, Time and Wavelenghth, ESO Springer Series, 209-214, 2009, ISBN: 978-3-540-76958-3, [link to book]
• Dypvik, H., Claeys, Ph., Detusch, A., Kyte, F., Matsui, T., Smelror, M., Marine impacts and environmental consequences – Drilling of the Mjølnir structure, the Barents Sea, Scientific Drilling, 6, 55 – 57, 2008, doi:10.2204/iodp.sd.6.09.2008 [pdf version]
• Schulte, P., Speijer, R.P., Brinkhuis H., Kontny, A., Claeys, Ph., Galeotti, S., and Smit, J., Comment on the paper: "Chicxulub impact predates K-T boundary: New evidence from Brazos, Texas" by Keller et al. (2007), Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 269, 614-620, 2008 [pdf version]
• Tagle, R., Ohman, T., Schmitt, R. T., Erzinger, J., and Claeys, Ph. Traces of an H-chondrite in the impact melt rocks from Lappajärvi impact structure, Finland, Meteoritics and Planetary Science,42, 1841-1854, 2007 [pdf version]
• Claeys, Ph. and Goderis S., Lethal billards, Nature, 449, 30-31, 2007 [pdf version]
• Renson, V., Coenaerts, J., Nys, K., Mattielli, N., Åström, P., Claeys, Ph. Provenance determination of pottery from Hala Sultan Tekke using lead isotopic analysis: Preliminary results, Hala Sultan Tekke 12, Studies in Mediterranean Archeology v. XLV:12, Sävedalen, Sweden, 2007 [pdf version]
• Goderis, S., Tagle, R., Schmitt, R. T., Erzinger, J., and Claeys, Ph. Platinum group element in the impact melt from the Bosumtwi crater, Ghana, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 42, 4/5, 731-741, 2007 [pdf version]
• Kolo, K., Keppens, E., Préat, A. and Claeys, Ph., Experimental observations on fungal diagenesis of carbonate substrates, Journal Geophysical Research, v. 112, G01007, 2007, doi:10.1029/2006JG000203 [pdf version]
• Martin, H., Albarède F., Claeys, Ph., Gargaud, M., Marty., B., Morbidelli, A., Pinti, D., Building of a habitable planet, Earth, Moon and Planets, v. 98, 97 – 151, 2006, DOI 10.007/s11038-006-9088-4 [pdf version]
• Martin, H., Claeys, Ph., Gargaud, M., Pinti, D., Selsis, F., Environmental context, Earth, Moon and Planets, 98, 205 – 245, 2006, DOI 10.007/s11038-006-9090-x [pdf version]
• Lopez-Garcia, P., Moreira, D., Douzery, E., Forterre, P., Van Zuilen, M., Claeys, Ph., D. Prieur, (2006) Ancient fossil record and early evalution (ca. 3.8 to 0.5 Ga), Earth, Moon and Planets, 98, 247 – 290, 2006, DOI 10.007/s11038-006-9091-9 [pdf version]
• Montmerle, T., Claeys, Ph., Gargaud, M., Lopez-Garcia, P., Martin, H., Pascal, R., Reisse, J., Selsis, F., (2006), Life on Earth And elsewhere?, Earth, Moon and Planets, 98, 299 – 312, 2006, DOI 10.007/s11038-006-9093-7 [pdf version]
• Kolo K., and Claeys, Ph., In vitro formation of Ca-oxalates and the mineral glushinskite by fungal interaction with carbonate substrates and seawater. Biogeosciences v. 2, 277-293, 2005 [pdf version].
• Tagle R., and Claeys, Ph., An ordinary chondrite impactor for the Popigai crater, Siberia. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 69, 11, 2877-2889, 2005 [pdf version]
• Tagle R., and Claeys, Ph., Comet or Asteroid Shower in the late Eocene? Science, v. 305, 492, 2004. [pdf version]
• Tagle R., Erzinger, J., Hecht, L., Schmitt, R. T., Stoeffler, D., and Claeys, Ph., Platinum group elements in impactites of the ICDP Chicxulub drill core Yaxcopoil-1. Are there traces of the projectile ? Meteoritics and Planetary Science, v. 39, 1009-1016, 2004. [pdf version]
• Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., Morgan, J., Stoeffler, D., and Claeys, Ph., The Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Project (CSDP). Meteoritics and Planetary Science, v. 39, 787-790, 2004. [pdf version]
• Claeys, Ph., Heuschkel, S., Lounejeva-Baturina, E., Sanchez-Rubio, G., Stoeffler, D., The suevite of drill hole Yucatan 6 in the Chicxulub impact crater. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, v. 38, 1299-1317, 2003. [pdf version]
• Dypvik, H, Burchell, M., Claeys, Ph., Impacts into marine and icy environments – A short review. In Cratering in Marine Environments and on Ice Springer Verlag Berlin p.1 - 20, 2003. [pdf version]
• Fouke, B., W., Zerkle A., L., Alvarez, W., Pope, K., O., Ocampo, A., C., Wachtman, R., J., Grajales-Nishimura, J., M., Claeys, Ph., Fischer, A., Cathodoluminescence petrography and isotope geochemistry of KT impact ejecta deposited 360 km from the Chicxulub crater in Albion Island, Belize. Sedimentology, v. 49, 117-138, 2002. [pdf version]
• Claeys, Ph., Kiessling, W. and Alvarez, W., Distribution of Chicxulub ejecta at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary. Geological Society of America Special Paper no. 356, 55 - 69, 2002. [pdf version]
• Kiessling, W. and Claeys, Ph. A geographic database approach to the K/T boundary. In Geological and Biological Effects of Impact Events. Eds. E. Buffetaut, and Koeberl C., Impact Studies, Springer Verlag Berlin p.83-140, 2001. [pdf version]
• Wdowiak, T. J., Armendarez, L. P., Agresti, D. G., Wade, M. L., Wdowiak, S. Y., Claeys, Ph., and Izett, G. Presence of iron-rich nanophase material in the upper layer of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary clay. Meteoritics and Planetary Science v. 36, 123-133, 2001.[pdf version]
• Chadwick, B., Claeys, Ph. and Simonson, B. New evidence for a large Palaeoproterozoic impact: Spherules in a dolomite layer in the Ketilidian orogen. South Greenland. Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. 158, p. 331-340, 2001. [pdf version]
• Jones, A.P., Claeys, Ph., and Heuschkel, S. Impact melting: a review of experimental constraints for carbonate targets and applications to the Chicxulub crater. In Impact and Early Earth. Eds. I. Gilmour and C. Koeberl, Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, v. 91, p. 343-362, Springer Verlag Berlin, 2000. [pdf version]
• Grajales-Nishimura, J. M., Cedillo-Pardo, E., Rosales-Domínguez, C., Morán-Zenteno, J. D., Alvarez, W., Claeys, Ph., Ruíz-Morales, J., García-Hernández, J., Padilla-Avila, P., and Sánchez-Ríos, A. The Chicxulub impact: source for reservoirs and seals in southeastern Mexico oil fields. Geology, v. 28, 4, 307-310, 2000. [pdf version]
• Pope, K.O., Ocampo, A.C., Fisher, A. G., Alvarez W., Fouke, B.W., Webster, C.L. Jr., Vega, F., Smit, J., Frische A. E., Claeys, Ph. Proximal Chicxulub impact ejecta from Albion Island, Belize. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 170, p. 351-364, 1999 [pdf version]
• Stoeffler D., and Claeys Ph., Earth rocked by combination punch. Nature, v. 388, 331-332, 1997 [pdf version]
• Claeys Ph., Kyte F. T., Herbosch A. and Casier J-G, Frasnian - Famennian boundary : mass extinction, anoxic oceans, microtektite layers, but not much iridium ? Geological Society of America Special Paper, v. 307, 491-504, 1996. [pdf version]
• Smit J., Roep, T.B., Alvarez W., Montanari, A., Claeys Ph., Grajales-Nishimura, J.M., and Bermudez, J. Coarse-grained, clastic sandstone complex at the KT boundary around the Gulf of Mexico: Deposition by tsunami waves induced by the Chicxulub impact? Geological Society of America Special Paper, v. 307, p. 151-182, 1996. [pdf version]
• Warren, P. H., Claeys Ph. and Cedillo-Pardo E. Mega-impact melt petrology (Chicxulub, Sudbury, and the Moon): Effects of scale and other factors on potential for fractional crystallization and development of cumulates. Geological Society of America Special Paper, v. 307, p. 105-124, 1996. [pdf version]
• Casier, J-G, Lethiers, F., Claeys, Ph. Ostracod evidence for an abrupt mass extinction at the Frasnian/Famen nian boundary (Devil’s Gate, Nevada). Comptes Rendus Academie des Sciences, Paris t. 332, série IIa, p. 415-422, 1996 [pdf version]
• Claeys P., Chicxulub le cratere ideale, La Recherche, v. 293, 60-62, 1996 [pdf version]
• Alvarez W, Claeys Ph. and Kieffer S. W., Emplacement of KT boundary shocked quartz from Chicxulub crater, Science v. 269, p. 930-935, 1995. [pdf version]
• Claeys, Ph., When the sky fell on our heads: Identification and interpretation of impact products in the sedimentary record. Invited paper, Reviews of Geophysics, Supplement to U.S. National Report to International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, 1991-1994, p. 95-100, 1995. [read it online]
• Claeys, Ph. and Casier J-G., Microtektite-like impact glass associated with the Frasnian-Famennian boundary mass extinction. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 122, p. 303-315 [pdf version]
• Claeys, Ph., Casier J-G. and Margolis, S.V. Microtektites and Mass extinctions. Evidence for a Late Devonian impact. Science, v. 257, p. 1102-1104, 1992. [pdf version]
• Swisher, C.C. III, Grajales-Nishimura, J.M., Montanari, A., Margolis, S.V., Claeys, Ph., Alvarez, W., Renne, P., Cedillo-Pardo, E., Maurasse, F.J-M. R., Curtis, G.H., Smit J. and McWilliams, M.O. Coeval 40Ar/39Ar Ages of 65 Million Years Ago from Chicxulub Crater Melt Rock and Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Tektites. Science v. 257, p. 954-958, 1992. [pdf version]
• Alvarez, W., Smit, J., Lowrie, W., Asaro, F., Margolis, S.V., Claeys, Ph., Kastner, M. and Hildebrand, A.R. Proximal impact deposits at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the Gulf of Mexico: A restudy of DSDP Leg 77 Sites 536 and 540. Geology, v. 20, p. 697-700, 1992 [pdf version]
• Smit, J., Montanari, A., Swinburne, N.H.M., Alvarez, W., Hildebrand, A. R., Margolis, S.V., Claeys, Ph., Lowrie, W. and Asaro, F. Tektite-bearing, deep-water clastic unit at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in northeastern Mexico. Geology, v. 20, p. 99-103, 1992 [pdf version]
• Margolis, S.V., Claeys, Ph. and Kyte, F. T. Microtektites, microkrystites and spinel from a Late Pliocene asteroid impact in the Southern ocean. Science, v. 251, p. 1594-1597, 1991. [pdf version]

(all pdf files require acrobat reader 8.0)

Books 

• Lectures in Astrobiology, volume II, Gargaud, M., Martin, H., Claeys, Ph., Springer, 669 p. 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-33692-1 [click here for info]
• From Suns to Life, Gargaud, M., Claeys, Ph., Lopez-Garcia, P., Martin, H., Montmerle, T., Pascal, R., Reisse, J., Springer, 370 p. 2006, ISBN 978-0-387-45082-7 [click here for info]
• Des atomes aux planètes habitables, Gargaud, M., Claeys, Ph., Martin, H., Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 599 p. 2005, ISBN: 2-86781-346-6 [click here for info]
• Cratering in Marine Environments and on Ice, Dypvik, H., Burchell, M., Claeys, Ph., Springer, 340 p. 2003, ISBN: 3-540-40668-9 [click here for info]

   

Adress and how to reach me

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