Mark McMenamin

Mark McMenamin
Residence	South Hadley, Massachusetts
Citizenship	United States
Fields	Geology
Institutions	Mount Holyoke College[1]
Alma mater	University of California, Santa Barbara, Ph.D. Stanford University, B.S.[1]
Known for	Evolution and history of life; Ediacaran fossils; Hypersea theory; Proterozoic supercontinent Rodinia[1]
Notable awards	Presidential Young Investigator Award, Sigma Xi National Lecturer[1]

Mark McMenamin is a tenured professor of geology at Mount Holyoke College. His research is primarily focused on paleontology, particularly the Ediacaran biota.

He is the author of several books, most recently The Garden of Ediacara: Discovering the Earliest Complex Life and Science 101: Geology. He is credited with co-naming several geological formations in Mexico, describing several new fossil genera and species, and naming the Precambrian supercontinent Rodinia. The Cambrian archeocyathid species Markocyathus clementensis was named in his honor in 1989.

Research and theories

McMenamin's work on the paleoecology of the Cambrian explosion showed that trilobites belonging to the Agnostida may have had a predatory lifestyle. McMenamin's research on the Phoenician world map helped to inspire Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos's 2007 novel The Navigator, and his Garden of Ediacara theory helped to inspire Greg Bear's novel Vitals.

Prehistoric "kraken"

Mark McMenamin and Dianna Schulte McMenamin argued that a formation of multiple ichthyosaur fossils (belonging to the genus Shonisaurus) placed together at Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park may represent evidence of a gigantic cephalopod or Triassic Kraken that killed the ichthyosaurs and intentionally arranged their bones in the unusual pattern seen at the site.^[2][3]

Opponents have challenged the theory as too far-fetched to be credible.^[4][5] PZ Myers believes that the rows of vertebral discs may simply be a result of the ichthyosaurs having fallen to one side or the other after death and rotting in that position, while Ryosuke Motani, a paleontologist at the University of California, Davis, has alternately proposed that the bones may have been moved together by ocean currents because of their circular shape.^[6] McMenamin has dismissed both of these concerns as not being in accord with either the sequence of bone placement or the hydrodynamics of the site. ^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Mark McMenamin". Mount Holyoke College web site. Mount Holyoke College. 
2. ^ McMenamin, Mark A. S.; McMenamin, Dianna Schulte (Oct 2011). "Triassic Kraken: The Berlin Ichthyosaur Death Assemblage Interpreted as a Giant Cephalopod Midden". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs (5): 310. http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2011AM/finalprogram/abstract_197227.htm. 
3. ^ "Psycho kraken made portraits from bones of prehistoric whale victims. Maybe...". Herald Sun. The Herald and Weekly Times. October 12, 2011. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/pyscho-kraken-made-portraits-from-giant-octopus-bones-maybe/story-e6frf7lx-1226164706064. 
4. ^ Simpson, Sarah (October 11, 2011). "Smokin' Kraken?". Discovery News. Discovery Channel. http://news.discovery.com/earth/smokin-kraken-111011.html. Retrieved 2011-10-11. 
5. ^ "Mythical Kraken-Like Sea Monster Might be Real: Researcher". International Business Times. The International Business Times Inc.. October 12, 2011. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/229497/20111012/mythical-kraken-kraken-prehistoric-oceans-ichthyosaur-bones-charles-lewis-camp.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-12. 
6. ^ Than, Ker (October 11, 2011). "Kraken Sea Monster Account "Bizarre and Miraculous"". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111011-kraken-sea-monster-ichthyosaurs-science/. Retrieved 2011-10-12. 
7. ^ Flatow, Ira (October 14, 2011). "Seeing a Cephalopod in Ancient Bones". NPR Stories. National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/2011/10/14/141356526/seeing-a-cephalopod-in-ancient-bones/. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 

Bibliography

• McMenamin, Mark A. S. (Oct 2000). The Garden of Ediacara: Discovering the Earliest Complex Life (New Ed ed.). Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10559-2. 
• McMenamin, Mark A. S.; McMenamin, Dianna Schulte. (Jan 1990). The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-06646-5. 
• McMenamin, Mark A. S.; McMenamin, Dianna Schulte (1994). Hypersea: Life on the Land. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-07530-8. 
• McMenamin, Mark A. S. (1996). Carthaginian Cartography: A Stylized Exergue Map. Meanma Press. ISBN 0-965-11361-2. 
• McMenamin, Mark A. S. (Jun 2007). Science 101: Geology. Science 101. Collins. ISBN 0-060-89136-X. 
• McMenamin, Mark A. S. (2009). Paleotorus: The Laws of Morphogenetic Evolution. Meanma Press. ISBN 978-1-893882-18-8. 
• McMenamin, Mark A. S. (2010). "Cambrian cannibals: Agnostid trilobite ethology and the earliest known case of arthropod cannibalism". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 42 (5): 320. 

Persondata
Name	Macmenamin, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death