Staff profile

• Using novel lipid biomarkers (bacteriohopanepolyols, intact phospholipids, glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers etc) to investigate microbial processes in soils, sediments, extreme environments.
• Reconstructing sea surface temperatures during the Quaternary
• Investigating biogeochemical cycling in modern and past settings

• 2014: Discussion leader: Analytical Advances and Novel Environments session at Gordon Research Seminar (Organic Geochemistry, Holderness)
• 2013: Student committee member: IAPETUS PhD student conference (Durham University)
• 2000: 2016-Present: Faculty Chair of Research Staff Association (Social Sciences and Health):
• 2000: 2013-2016: Early Career Researcher representative: Biogeoscience division of European Geoscience Union

Doctoral Thesis

• Spencer-Jones, C. (2016). Novel concepts derived from microbial biomarkers in the Congo System: Implications for continental methane cycling. (Thesis). Newcastle University. Retrieved from https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1642120

Journal Article

• Filippidou, S., Price, A., Spencer-Jones, C., Scales, A., Macey, M. C., Franchi, F., …Olsson-Francis, K. (2024). Diversity of Microbial Mats in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Botswana. Microorganisms, 12(1), 147. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12010147
• McClymont, E. L., Bentley, M. J., Hodgson, D. A., Spencer-Jones, C. L., Wardley, T., West, M. D., …Phillips, R. A. (2022). Summer sea-ice variability on the Antarctic margin during the last glacial period reconstructed from snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) stomach-oil deposits. Climate of the Past, 18(2), 381-403. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-381-2022
• McClymont, E. L., Bentley, M. J., Hodgson, D. A., Spencer-Jones, C. L., Wardley, T., West, M. D., …Phillips, R. A. (2022). Snow petrel stomach-oil deposits as a new biological archive of Antarctic sea ice. PAGES Magazine, 30(2), 82-83. https://doi.org/10.22498/pages.30.2.82
• Spencer-Jones, C. L., McClymont, E. L., Bale, N., Hopmans, E., Schouten, S., Muller, J., …Smith, J. (2021). Archaeal Intact Polar Lipids in Polar Waters: A Comparison Between the Amundsen and Scotia Seas. Biogeosciences, 18(11), 3485-3504. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3485-2021
• Spencer-Jones, C., Wagner, T., & Talbot, H. (2017). A record of aerobic methane oxidation in tropical Africa over the last 2.5 Ma. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 218, 27-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2017.08.042
• Talbot, H., Sidgwick, F., Bischoff, J., Osborne, K., Rush, D., Sherry, A., & Spencer-Jones, C. (2016). Analysis of non-derivatised bacteriohopanepolyols by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 30(19), 2087-2098. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.7696
• Schefuß, E., Eglinton, T., Spencer-Jones, C., Rullkotter, J., DePolHolz, R., Talbot, H., …Schneider, R. (2016). Hydrologic control of the terrestrial carbon balance in the Congo River basin. Nature Geoscience, 9, 687-690. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2778
• Spencer-Jones, C., Wagner, T., Dinga, B., Schefuß, E., Mann, P., Poulsen, J., …Talbot, H. (2015). Bacteriohopanepolyols in tropical soils and sediments from the Congo River catchment area. Organic Geochemistry, 89-90, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2015.09.003
• Talbot, H., Handley, L., Spencer-Jones, C., Bienvenu, D., Schefuß, E., Mann, P., …Wagner, T. (2014). Variability in aerobic methane oxidation over the past 1.2 Myrs recorded in microbial biomarker signatures from Congo fan sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 133, 387-401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2014.02.035