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University of Minho – Department of Earth Sciences

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Carolina Maria F. Marcelo da Fonseca

Carolina Maria F. Marcelo da Fonseca

Summary

Carolina Fonseca has been an Assistant Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences since 2025 and is an integrated member of the Institute of Earth Sciences (ICT). She graduated in Geology (2014) and completed an MSc in Geosciences (2016) at the University of Coimbra, and received her PhD in Solid Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Université de Toulouse (2020), with a thesis on organic facies variability during the Toarcian and Cenomanian–Turonian oceanic anoxic events.

She was an Invited Assistant Professor at the University of Minho (2021–2022) and a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2022–2025), where she studied the organic facies of Pre-Salt wells in the Santos Basin. Her work applies organic petrology and organic geochemistry to the sedimentary record and to petroleum systems.

She is a member of the Council of the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP), secretary of its Commission I and an ICCP-accredited petrographer, and has been treasurer of The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP) since 2026.

Compiled from: CIÊNCIAVITAE, ORCID

Research interests

  • Organic petrology
  • Organic geochemistry
  • Organic facies and palynofacies
  • Oceanic anoxic events
  • Petroleum systems
  • Vitrinite reflectance

Education

  • 2020
    PhD in Solid Earth and Planetary Sciences
    Université de Toulouse, France
    Thesis: «Organic facies variability during the Toarcian and Cenomanian—Turonian oceanic anoxic events: local versus global paleoenvironmental control»
  • 2016
    MSc in Geosciences
    University of Coimbra
    Thesis: «Organic facies variability during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event recorded in southern France: Grands Causses, Quercy and Pyrenean basins»
  • 2014
    BSc in Geology
    University of Coimbra

Current position

  • 2025 –
    Assistant Professor
    Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minho
  • 2025 –
    Integrated member
    Institute of Earth Sciences (ICT)

Ongoing projects

  • PRESAL-II - Impacto dos controles tectonoestratigráficos na qualidade e distribuição de reservatórios do intervalo Pré-sal da Bacia de Santos
    2022 – · Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda

Recent publications

  1. Component identification of solid biomass fuels using reflected light microscopy: Interlaboratory study 2. International Journal of Coal Geology, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2025.104814
  2. Paleoenvironmental factors controlling organic-rich formations deposition in the Babouri-Figuil Basin (Northern Cameroon). International Journal of Coal Geology, 2024. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2024.104589
  3. Organic Facies Variability and Paleoenvironmental Characterization of the Codó and Itapecuru Formations (Aptian-Albian) of Parnaíba Basin, Brazil. International Journal of Coal Geology, 2023. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2023.104337
  4. First putative occurrence in the fossil record of choanoflagellates, the sister group of Metazoa. Scientific Reports, 2023. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-26972-8
  5. Boosted microbial productivity during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event in the Paris Basin, France: new evidence from organic geochemistry and petrographic analysis. Geological Society London Special Publications, 2021. doi:10.1144/sp514-2020-167
  6. Solid Bitumen Occurrences in the Pyrenean Basin (Southern France): A Case Study across the Pliensbachian–Toarcian Boundary. Minerals, 2021. doi:10.3390/min11121338

Publications since 2021 (ORCID and OpenAlex), ordered by the impact of the journal or series (two-year mean citedness in OpenAlex).

Full list of publications on ORCID

Information compiled from public sources: CIÊNCIAVITAE, ORCID, OpenAlex, Instituto de Ciências da Terra (photograph), accessed on 20-10-2026. To correct or complete this profile, use the website’s content manager or contact the Department’s Director.