Research

Non-proprietary studies

Upper Carboniferous of the UK and Dutch southern North Sea – a palynological and chemostratigraphic evaluation of 63 wells from the Upper Carboniferous of the UK and Dutch southern North Sea.

Namurian shales of northern England and north Wales – a biostratigraphical and sedimentological study on the shale-dominated lithologies.

Carboniferous of the Gainsborough Trough, onshore UK – a palynological, chemostratigraphic and mineralogical evaluation of 5 wells from the Lower Carboniferous in the Gainsborough Trough, onshore UK.

Carboniferous of the Midland Valley of Scotland, onshore UK – a palynological, chemostratigraphic and mineralogical evaluation of 4 wells from the Lower Carboniferous in the Midland Valley of Scotland, onshore UK.

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Here is a selection of our extensive research profile:

Research Papers

DEL STROTHER, P., GIZE, A., HOLLIS, C. & McLEAN, D., 2021. Bituminous coals on emergent surfaces in an Asbian, Lower Carboniferous, limestone succession on the North Wales carbonate platform and implications for palaeoclimate. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 63, 2020-006. DOI: 10.1144/pygs2020-006

GIBSON, M.E. & BODMAN, D.J., 2021; Evaporite palynology: a case study of the Permian (Lopingian) Zechstein Sea. Journal of the Geological Society 2021;; 178 (6): jgs2020–174. doi: https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-174

McLEAN, D., BOOTH, M., BODMAN, D.J. & McLEAN, F.D., 2020. Carboniferous records of the Zoophycos group of trace fossils from England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the North Sea. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 63, 135-145. DOI: 10.1144/pygs2019-007

BOOTH, M.G., UNDERHILL, J.R., GARDINER, A. & McLEAN, D., 2020. Sedimentary and tectonic controls on Lower Carboniferous (Visean) mixed carbonate-siliciclastic deposition in NE England and the Southern North Sea: implications for reservoir architecture. Petroleum Geoscience, 26, 204-231. DOI: 10.1144/petgeo2019-101

INGRAMS, S., McLEAN, D., BODMAN, D.J. & BOOTH, M.G., 2020. Asbian to Brigantian (Mississippian) miospores from Northumberland: preliminary results. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 276, 104-206. DOI: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2020.104206

McLEAN, D., RIDING, J.B. & WELLMAN, C.H., 2020. Professor Bernard Owens (1938-2019). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. DOI: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2020.104184

RIDING, J.B., McLEAN, D. & WELLMAN, C.H., 2020. Bernard Owens (1938-2019). Palynology. DOI: 10.1080/01916122.2020.1739252.

MAMONTOV, D.A., McLEAN, D., ORLOVA, O.A. & GAVRILOV, O.A., 2019. Maiaspora gen et sp. nov. – a miospore genus with enigmatic sculpture from the late Visean of european Russia. Papers in Palaeontology, 7, 263-306. DOI: 10.1002/spp2.1278

McLEAN, D., OWENS, B., BODMAN, D.J. & McLEAN, F.D., 2018. Miospores from the Brigantian stratotype section at Janny Wood, Cumbria. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 62, 89-100. DOI: 10.1144/pygs2017-004

McLEAN, D., BODMAN, D.J., LUCAS, P. & PENDLETON, J.P., 2018. An incertae sedis organic-walled microfossil from the Mississippian (Early Carboniferous): Kirby Misperton-1 borehole, North Yorkshire, UK. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 62, 51-57. DOI: 10.1144/pygs2017-398

LOPES, G., McLEAN, D., MANGERUD, G. & CLAYTON, G., 2018. A new Mississippian biozonal scheme for the Finnmark Platform, Norway – palynostratigraphic integration of exploration wells 7128/4-1 and 7128/6-1. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 92, 94-108. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.02.004

McLEAN, D., OWENS, B., PENDLETON, J.L. & BODMAN, D., 2013. Pennsylvanian (Namurian and Westphalian) miospore assemblages from the west coast of Scotland. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 190, 1-14.

WATERS, C.N., SOMERVILLE, I.D., JONES, N.S., CLEAL, C.J., COLLINSON, J.D., WATERS, R.A., BESLY, B.M., DEAN, M.T., STEPHENSON, M.H., DAVIES, J.R., FRESHNEY, E.C., JACKSON, D.I., MITCHELL, W.I., POWELL, J.H., BARCLAY, W.J., BROWNE, M.A.E., LEVERIDGE, B.E., LONG, S.L. & McLEAN, D., 2011. A revised correlation of the Carboniferous rocks in the British Isles. Geological Society Special Report, 26, 1-186.

WATERS, C.N., COLLINSON, J.D., McLEAN, D. & BESLY, B., 2011. North Sea and NW approaches. In: WATERS, C.N. et al., A revised correlation of the Carboniferous rocks in the British Isles. Geological Society Special Report, 26, 103-109.

PEARCE, T.J., McLEAN, D., MARTIN. J.H., RATCLIFFE, K. & WRAY, D., 2010. A whole-rock geochemical approach to the recognition and correlation of “marine bands”. Application of Modern Stratigraphic Techniques: Theory and Case Histories. SEPM Special Publications, 4, 221-238.

CLEAL, C.J., OPLUŠTIL, S., THOMAS, B.A., TENCHOV, Y., ABBINK, O.A., BEK, J., DIMITROVA, T., DRÁBKOVÁ, J., HARTKOPF-FRÖDER, C., VAN HOOF, T., KĘDZIOR, A., JARZEMBOWSKI, E., JASPER, K., LIBERTIN, M., McLEAN, D., OLIWKIEWICZ-MIKLASINSKA, M., PŠENIČA, J., PTAK, B., SCHNEIDER, J.W., SCHULTKA, S., ŠIMŮNEK, Z., UHL, D., WAKSMUNDZKA, M.I., VAN WAVEREN, I. & ZODROW, E. L., 2009. Late Moscovian Terrestrial biotas and palaeoenvironments of Variscan Euramerica. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 88, 181-278.

BEK, J., LIBERTIN, M., OWENS, B., McLEAN, D. & OLIWKIEWICZ-MIKLASIŃSKA, M., 2009. The first compression Pteroretis-producing sphenophyllalean cones, Pennsylvanian of the Czech Republic. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 155, 159-174.

CUNNINGHAM, D., DAVIES, S.J. & McLEAN, D., 2009. Exhumation of a Cretaceous rift complex within a Late Cenozoic restraining bend, southern Mongolia: implications for the crustal evolution of the Gobi Altai region. Journal of the Geological Society, 166, 321-333.

JÄGER, H. & McLEAN, D., 2008. Palynofacies and spore assemblage variations of Late Viséan (Mississippian) strata across the southern North Sea – regional variations versus facies dependence. Review of Paeobotany and Palynology, 148, 136-153.

McLEAN, D., OWENS, B., BEK, J. & OLIWKIEWICZ-MIKLASIŃSKA, M., 2006. A structural reinterpretation of the enigmatic Carboniferous miospore Pteroretis Felix & Burbridge 1961 emend nov. Palynology, 30, 17-32.

McLEAN, D. (2006). Appendix. In FORD, T.D. & WILLIES, L., Viséan coal seam in Crich Quarry. Mercian Geologist, 16, 209-211.

OWENS, B., McLEAN, D., SIMPSON, K.R.M., SHELL, P.M.J. & ROBINSON, R. (2005). Reappraisal of the Mississippian palynostratigraphy of the East Fife coast, Scotland, United Kingdom. Palynology, 29, 23-47.

McLEAN, D, OWENS, B. & NEVES, R. (2005). Carboniferous miospore biostratigraphy of the North Sea. In COLLINSON, J.D., EVANS, D.J., HOLLIDAY, D.W. & JONES, N.S. (editors) Carboniferous Hydrocarbon Geology: the Southern North Sea and Surrounding Onshore Areas. Occasional Publications of the Yorkshire Geological Society No. 7, 13-24.

PEARCE, T.J., McLEAN, D., WRAY, D., WRIGHT, D.K., JEANS, C.J. & MEARNS, E.W., (2005). Stratigraphy of the Upper Carboniferous Schooner Formation, southern North Sea: chemostratigraphy, mineralogy, palynology and Sm-Nd isotope analysis. In COLLINSON, J.D., EVANS, D.J., HOLLIDAY, D.W. & JONES, N.S. (editors) Carboniferous Hydrocarbon Geology: the Southern North Sea and Surrounding Onshore Areas. Occasional Publications of the Yorkshire Geological Society No. 7, 165-182.

McLEAN, D., OWENS, B. & BODMAN, D. (2004). Palynostratigraphy of the Late Carboniferous Langsettian-Duckmantian boundary in Britain. In BEAUDOIN, A.B. & HEAD, M.J. (eds.) The Palynology and Micropalaeontology of boundaries. Special Publication of the Geological Society of Great Britain, No. 230, 123-135.

OWENS, B., McLEAN, D. & BODMAN, D., (2004) A revised palynozonation of the British Namurian deposits and comparisons with eastern Europe. Micropaleontology, 50, 89-103.

McLEAN, D. & NEVES, R., (2003) A new genus of monolete plant spores from the Ballagan Formation (Tournaisian, Early Carboniferous) of Scotland. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 126, 153-162.

McLEAN, D. & HARVEY, C., (2002) Palynomorphs from the Late Carboniferous Caño Indio and Río Palmar formations of Venezuela. In L.V. HILLS, L.V., HENDERSON, C.M. & BAMBER, E.W. (editors) Carboniferous and Permian of the World. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 19, p. 371-381.

McLEAN, D. & DAVIES, S.J., (1999) Constraints on the application of palynology to the correlation of Euramerican Late Carboniferous clastic hydrocarbon reservoirs. In JONES, R.W. & SIMMONS, M. (eds.) Biostratigraphy in Production Geology. Geological Society Special Publication, 152, 201-218.

STEPHENSON, M. & McLEAN, D., (1999) International correlation of Early Permian palynofloras from the Karoo sediments of Morupule, Botswana. South African Journal of Geology, 102, 3-14.

McLEAN, D., (1997). The miospore genus Fragilipollenites Konyali emend. from the Silesian of Great Britain. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 16, 85-90.

DAVIES, S.J. & McLEAN, D., (1996). Spectral gamma ray and palynological characterisation of marine bands in the Kinderscoutian (Namurian, Late Carboniferous) of the Pennine Basin. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 51, 103-114.

McLEAN, D. & CHISHOLM, J.I. (1996). Reworked palynomorphs as provenance indicators in the Yeadonian of the Pennine Basin. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 51, 141-151.

McLEAN, D. & MURRAY, I., (1996). Subsurface correlation of coal seams and inter-seam sediments using palynology: applications to exploration for coalbed methane. In GAYER, R. & HARRIS, I. (eds.) Coalbed Methane and Coal Geology, Geological Society Special Publication No. 97, 315-325.

McLEAN, D., (1995). Provenance of reworked palynomorphs from the Greenmoor Rock (Langsettian, late Carboniferous) near Sheffield, England. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 305-317.

ELLIN, S. & McLEAN, D., (1994). The use of microwave heating in Hydrofluoric Acid digestions for palynological preparations. Palynology, 18: 23-31.

Biostratigraphical contributions

JONES, C.M., ALLEN, P.J. & MORRISON, N.H. (2005). Geological factors influencing gas production in the Tyne Field (Block 44/18a), southern North Sea, and their impacting on future infill well development. In COLLINSON, J.D., EVANS, D.J., HOLLIDAY, D.W. & JONES, N.S. (eds.) Carboniferous hydrocarbon resources: the southern North Sea and surrounding areas. Occasional Special Publication of the Yorkshire Geological Society, No. 7, 183-194.

COLLINSON, J.D. (2005). Dinantian and Namurian depositional systems in the southern North Sea. In COLLINSON, J.D., EVANS, D.J., HOLLIDAY, D.W. & JONES, N.S. (eds.) Carboniferous hydrocarbon resources: the southern North Sea and surrounding areas. Occasional Special Publication of the Yorkshire Geological Society, No. 7, 35-56.

BRUCE, D. & STEMMERIK, L. (2003). Carboniferous. In EVANS, D., GRAHAM, C., AMOUR, A. & BATHURST, P., The Millenium Atlas: petroleum geology of the central and northern North Sea. The Geological Society of London, 83-89.

MARTIN, C.A.L., DOUBLEDAY, P.A. & STEWART, S.A. (2002). Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian tectonostratigraphy on the southern margin of the Central North Sea. The Journal of the Geological Society, 159, 731-749.

Ongoing publications

Co-writing the update to Clayton et al. (1977), the standard palynostratigraphic zonation for the european Carboniferous, with G. Clayton, K. Higgs and B. Owens. Publication date: 2008, American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Special Publications Series.

Editing (previously with B. Owens), A Stratigraphical Atlas of Spores and Pollen. Micropalaeontological Society Special Publication.

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