Dr Claire Browning

Sedimentology, Palaeontology, Palaeoenvironments, Ordovician-Silurian geology
Honorary Research Associate

Research

My research explores the interplay between palaeontology and sedimentology to reconstruct past environments and the dynamics that shaped them. Working with collaborators, I investigate South African geological record to understand ecological and environmental change across two major mass extinction events: the end-Ordovician (~444 Ma) in the Cape Supergroup, and the end-Permian (~262 Ma) in the Karoo Supergroup. I am also fascinated by how life adapts during, and recovers after ice ages - periods of profound environmental stress and evolutionary innovation.

My active research include:

  • A multiproxy approach to refining the Ordovician-Silurian boundary in South Africa: integratingbiostratigraphy, detrital zircon geochronology, palaeomagnetism, sedimentology, and sequence stratigraphy.
  • Exploring U-Pb geochronology of carbonate nodules as an alternative method for dating sedimentary rocks in the Karoo basin.
  • Can marine snow and dust be used as palaeoenvironmental indicators in the Late- and Early-Palaeozoic Ice Ages in South Africa?

Selected Publications

More on Google Scolar, ORCID, and Research Gate 

  1. Browning, C. 2025. Museums in the age of extinction. Nature Ecology and Evolution, DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02772-x Lithos.

  2. Penn-Clarke, C.R., Browning, C., and D.A.T. Harper. 2023. Ordovician of South Africa. A Global Synthesis of the Ordovician System, Geological Society of London, 533, DOI: 10.1144/SP533-2022-23.

  3. Penn-Clarke, C.R., Deacon, J., Wiltshire, N., Browning, C. and du Plessis, R., 2020. Short report: Geoheritage in the Matjiesrivier Nature Reserve, a World Heritage Site in the Cederberg, South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 166, 103818, DOI: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2020.103818

  4. Gabbott, S.E., Browning, C., Theron, J.N. and Whittle, R.J., 2017. The late Ordovician Soom Shale Lagerstätte: an extraordinary post-glacial fossil and sedimentary record, Journal of the Geological Society, 174(1), 1-9, DOI: 10.1144/jgs2016-076

Science Communication

  1. Science Communication: An introduction to theory, best practice and practical skills, Stellenbosch University, 2021

  2. Browning, C., Ruther, H., Wessels, S., and Black, W. August 2020. Technology and planning help museums manage outdated exhibitions, The Conversation online publication.

  3. Browning, C., Ruther, H., Wessels, S., and Black, W. December 2020. Digitizing Dioramas, Quest magazine

  4. Benoit, J., Browning, C., and Norton, L. June 2021. Fossil offers fresh insights into social habits of our non-mammalian ancestors, The Conversation online publication

  5. Documentary film appearances: “!AITSA”, “The origin of Mammals” and “Sea my World”

 

Biography

Degrees:

  • PhD, University of Cape Town, 2024
  • MSc, BSc, BSc (Hons) Nelson Mandela University, 2009

Employment:

  • Geology and Invertebrate Palaeontology Curator | Research and Exhibitions Department | Iziko South African Museum, 2025 – current
  • Karoo Palaeontology Curator | Research and Exhibitions Department | Iziko South African Museum, 2017–2025
  • Geologist, Council for Geoscience (Geological Survey), 2009–2017
  • Contract lecturer, Geology Department, Nelson Mandela University, 2009