Kelly is a carbonate stratigrapher in the STARR research group. Kelly holds a M.S. degree in Geosciences from the University of Texas at Austin and B.S. degrees in Geology and Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Her early research interests focused on sequence stratigraphy and paleoecology of coral reef systems, particularly with respect to global and local ocean perturbations such as ocean anoxic events and ocean acidification. She now broadly works Gulf Coast Cretaceous carbonates (as well as the occasional Paleozoic carbonates) with a focus on unique systems such as mixed carbonate-siliciclastic environments, post-perturbation recovery patch reef complexes, halokinetic carbonate systems (salt-sediment interactions), and drowned platforms. She has built a specialty in salt-sediment interactions within the East Texas Basin that examine the sometimes-conflicting relationship between halokinesis and traditional sequence stratigraphy as well as the impact of halokinetic topography on carbonate depositional systems.
Research Interests
- Carbonate sedimentology and stratigraphy
- Sequence stratigraphy
- Mixed carbonate-siliciclastic systems
- Salt-sediment interactions
- Reefs
- Ocean anoxic events and effect on carbonate deposition
