Dr. Dorothy Oehler
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Contact Details: Email: doehler r@els.mq.edu.au Postal: |
Dr. Oehler received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1967 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in the same year. She spent the year between undergraduate and graduate studies in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she held the position of Program Coordinator for the English Language Institute of the U.S. Information Service. After that, she returned to UCLA to begin graduate studies under Professor J. William Schopf, one of the key research scientists in the field of Precambrian paleobiology. She received her Ph.D. in 1973 from UCLA, when she also was named "Graduate Woman of the Year."
As part of her Ph.D., Dr. Oehler did pioneering work in transmission electron microscopy of Proterozoic microfossils - work of a calibre rarely repeated. Subsequent to that, she spent 3 years working as a Research Scientist for CSIRO in the Baas Becking Geobiological Laboratory in Canberra where she wrote several additional definitive papers on Australian Proterozoic microbiotas.
Dr. Oehler spent the years from 1977 to 1999 working for Conoco Inc. as a Research Scientist in organic geochemistry and as an International Petroleum Exploration Geologist. She worked in Conoco's Research centre in Ponca City, Oklahoma, in their North Sea Exploration office in London, UK, and in their International New Ventures Group in Houston, Texas. Her work in Research resulted in a Patent being awarded for the method to evaluate near surface electrical anomalies and their relevance to hydrocarbon seepage; in London, she concentrated on maturation of petroleum source rocks along with downhole log signatures of source maturity, and she formulated new insights to gas exsolution during basin inversion; in Houston, she was the Technical Lead of a team evaluating coalbed methane resources worldwide and she headed the New Ventures efforts in the Former Soviet Union, Venezuela and Africa.
Overall, during the years at Conoco and from 1999-2003 when she worked as a consultant, Dr. Oehler worked on petroleum basins in more than 30 countries and she wrote more than 50 professional reports covering topics from carbon isotope studies, methane seepage, organic diagenesis, coalbed methane, and basin analysis - all relevant to understanding the nature of preserved organic matter in sediments.
In early 2003, Dr. Oehler spent two months at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA), collaborating with long-time colleague, Dr. Malcolm Walter, and beginning studies of microfossils preserved in shales of the Proterozoic HYC deposit of Australia. This effort was repeated in August and September of 2004, when she returned to the ACA as a Visiting Scientist for continuing collaboration with Dr. Walter on Proterozoic microfossils and potential Mars analogues. In 2003, Dr. Oehler became a consultant for NASA - Johnson Space Centre where she is carrying forward the HYC studies and related work of interest to Mars exploration. In her spare time, Dr. Oehler enjoys walking and caring for her Old English Sheepdog and playing classical guitar. She is on the Board of Directors for Guitar Houston, the classical guitar society in Houston and also plays guitar duets with a friend.
Selected References
Oehler, D. Z. & Walter, M. R., 2004. Proterozoic Microfossils and Their Implications for Recognising Life on Mars. 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Abstract # 1018, Houston.
Marshall, C. P., Mackenzie, K. L., Chen, J., Oehler, D. Z. Logan, G. A., & Walter, M. R., 2004. Microbes, Organic Matter and Ore Deposits. Microbiology Australia 25 (1): 36-38.
Oehler, D. Z. & Sternberg, B. K., 1984. Seepage-induced anomalies, "false" anomalies, and implications for electrical prospecting. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 68 (9): 1121-1145.
Sternberg, B. K. & Oehler, D. Z., 1984. Electrical methods for hydrocarbon exploration: I. IP, in Unconventional Methods in Exploration for Petroleum & Natural Gas, SMU. Press: 188-201.
Oehler, D. Z. & Sternberg, B. K., 1982. Induced polarization for hydrocarbon exploration: Geochemical/geological interpretation, Expanded Abstract, 52nd International. Soc. Expl. Geophysicists Meeting, Dallas: 445-448.
Oehler, D. Z., Oehler, J. H. & Stewart, A. J., 1979. Algal fossils from a late Precambrian, hypersaline lagoon. Science 205: 388-390.
Oehler, D. Z., 1978. Microflora of the middle Proterozoic Balbirini Dolomite (McArthur Group) of Australia. Alcheringa 2 (3): 269-309.
Oehler, D. Z., 1977. Pyrenoid-like structures in late Precambrian algae from the Bitter Springs Formation of Australia. J. Paleont. 51: 885-901.
Oehler, D. Z. & Smith, J. W., 1977. Isotopic composition of reduced and oxidised carbon in early Archaean rocks from Isua, Greenland. Precambrian Research 5: 221-228.
Donnelly, T. H., Lambert, I. B., Oehler, D. Z., Hallberg, J. A., Hudson, D. R., Smith, J. W., Bavinton, O. A. & Golding, L. 1977. A reconnaissance study of stable isotope ratios in Archaean rocks from the Yilgarn Block, Western Australia. J. Geol. Soc. Australia 24 (7): 409-420.
Oehler, D. Z., 1976. Transmission electron microscopy of organic microfossils from the late Precambrian Bitter Springs Formation of Australia: Techniques and survey of preserved ultrastructure. J. Paleont. 50: 90-106.
Oehler D. Z., 1976. Biology, mineralisation, and biostratigraphic utility of microfossils from the mid-Proterozoic Balbirini Dolomite, McArthur Group, N.T., Australia, 25th Intl. Geol. Cong. (Sydney), Abstracts. 1: 34-35.
Oehler, J. H., Oehler, D. Z. & Muir, M. D., 1976. On the significance of tetrahedral tetrads of Precambrian algal cells. Origins of Life 7: 259-267.
Donnelly, T. H., Lambert, I. B., Oehler, D. Z., Hallberg, J. A., Hudson, D. R. & Smith, J. W., 1976. A reconnaissance study of stable isotope ratios in Archaean rocks from Western Australia. Stable Isotope Conference, New Zealand, Aug. 1976, (Abs).
Schopf, J. W. & Oehler, D. Z., 1976. How old are the eukaryotes? Science 193: 47-49.
Walter, M. R., Oehler, J. H. & Oehler, D. Z., 1976. Megascopic algae 1300 million years old from the Belt Supergroup, Montana: Reinterpretation of Walcott's Helminthoidichnites, J. Paleont. 50: 872-881.
Oehler, D. Z., 1974. Transmission electron microscopy of late Precambrian organic microfossils. Geol. Soc. Amer. Abstracts with Programs 6: 895.
Oehler, D. Z., Schopf, J. W., & Kvenvolden, K. A., 1972. Carbon isotopic studies of organic matter in Precambrian rocks. Science 175: 1246-1248.
Oehler, D. Z. & Schopf, J. W., 1971. Carbon isotopic studies of organic matter in the oldest known sedimentary rocks. Amer. J. Botany 58 (5), pt. 2: 471 (abs.).
Schopf, J. W., Oehler, D. Z., Horodyski, R. J., & Kvenvolden, K. A., 1971. Biogenicity and significance of the oldest known stromatolites. J. Paleont. 45 (3): 477-485.
Last Updated: Jan 30 2006