Teaching Responsibilities
Chuck Savrda teaches undergraduate courses in Historical Geology, Sedimentary Petrology, and Field Camp. On the graduate level, he teaches Directed Studies in Ichnology and co-teaches Petrology, Geology of Organic Matter, Facies Analysis and Sequence Stratigraphy, Cycles through Earth History, and Issues in Paleontology.

Research Interest & Current Projects

Dr. Savrda’s research emphasizes trace fossils (ichnofossils or biogenic sedimentary structures) and their use in stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and paleoceanographic analyses. Interests include: (1) organic-rich mudrocks and benthic oxygenation histories of Phanerozoic marine basins; (2) orbital-climate forcing and rhythmic bedding in North American Cretaceous chalk/marl sequences; (3) Recent and Cretaceous marginal marine facies and associated fossil-lagerstätten; and (4) Cretaceous and Tertiary sequence stratigraphy and the ichno-sedimentologic record of sea-level dynamics in marine strata.

 Current research funding derives from both NSF and ACS-PRF. NSF-sponsored studies (with Dr. Ron Lewis and graduate students) are focusing on a Cretaceous fossil-lagerstätte—its biota and modes of preservation and the formative processes responsible for exceptional preservation. With PRF support, he and a team of undergraduate assistants are exploring ichnofabrics in fair-weather and storm-related facies in Cretaceous and Tertiary shallow and marginal marine sequences of the eastern Gulf coast plain.

Other Professional Activities
Dr. Savrda currently serves as associate editor of the journal Ichnos. In the recent past, he has served as Co-Editor of the SEPM journal Palaios, as a distinguished lecturer for the Paleontological Society, and as a scientific crew member on ODP Leg 174A. He is the co-author of a well-received laboratory manual for Historical Geology (Deciphering Earth History-  Exercises in Historical Geology, 3rd Edition, with R.A. Gastaldo and R.D. Lewis), and is active in various K-12 outreach activities (Science Olympiad, AUExplore, etc.).

Selected Publications

Knight, T.K., Bingham, P.S., Grimaldi, D., Anderson, K., Lewis, R.D., and Savrda, C.E., 2010, A new Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) amber deposit from the Eutaw Formation of eastern Alabama, USA: Cretaceous Research, v. 35, p. 85-93.

Bingham, P.S., Savrda, C.E., Knight, T.K., and Lewis, R.D., 2008, Character and genesis of the Ingersoll shale, a compact terrestrial fossil-lagerstätte, Upper Cretaceous Eutaw Formation, eastern Alabama: Palaios, v. 23, p. 391-401.

Savrda, C.E., 2007, Taphonomy of trace fossils: for Miller, W., III, ed., Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems, Prospects, Elsevier, p. 92-109.

Savrda, C.E., *Counts, J., *McCormick, O., *Urash, R., and *Williams, J., 2005, Log-grounds and Teredolites in transgressive deposits, Eocene Tallahatta Formation (southern Alabama, U.S.A.): Ichnos, v. 12, p. 47-57.

Savrda, C.E., and Uddin, A., 2005, Large Macaronichnus and their behavioral implications (Cretaceous Eutaw Formation, Alabama, U.S.A.): Ichnos, v. 12, p. 47-57. 

Savrda, C.E., and *Nanson, L., 2003, Ichnology of fair-weather and storm deposits in an Upper Cretaceous passive-margin estuary (Eutaw Formation, western Georgia, USA): Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 202, p. 67-93.

Savrda, C.E., 2003, Zoophycos, systematic stratigraphic leaking, and lamella stratigraphy: Do some spreiten contain a unique record of high-frequency depositional dynamics?: in Harries, P., ed., High-Resolution Approaches in Stratigraphic Paleontology, Topics in Geobiology Series, Volume 21, Kluwer Academic Pub., p. 129-148.

Savrda, C.E., Browning, J.V., Krawinkel, H., and Hesselbo, S.P., 2001, Firmground ichnofabrics in deep-water sequence stratigraphy, Tertiary clinoform-toe deposits, New Jersey slope. PALAIOS, v. 16, p. 294-305.

*Designates graduate student co-authors