Professor Michael A. Kaminski

Professor, Professor, Geosciences Department, Geosciences Department

Prof. Mike Kaminski is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Geosciences. He started his prolific academic career in 1979, graduating with a B.S. degree in Geology from Rutgers University, New Brunswick N.J., USA. He did his masters degree in Geology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow Poland. In 1987, he was awarded his Ph.D. in the subject of Oceanography from the W.H.O.I./M.I.T. Joint Program in the USA. In 2007, he defended his “Habilitation” thesis at the Polish Academy of Science.

His research, projects, and teaching experience spans nearly 40 years and his recognition within the academic world brings significant recognition to KFUPM. Dr. Kaminski is fluent in English and Polish and is a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts & Sciences. He has authored over 250 scientific publications and is the Editor-in-Chief of Micropaleontology, the oldest scientific journal in the subject area. He is a member of the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the Revue de Micropaleontologie, Geological Quarterly, Geologica Carpathica, and the Grzybowski Foundation Special Publications. He has supervised over 60 graduate students.

Educational Qualification

Ph.D., Oceanography, W.H.O.L, MIT Joint Program, USA, 1987.
M.S., Geology, Jagiellonian University, Poland, 1981.
B.A., Geology, Rutgers University, USA, 1979.
B.A., Slavic Studies, Rutgers University, USA, 1979.

Research Interests

Historical Geology, Paleontology, Paleoceanography, Paleoclimatology.
Biodiversity, Evolutionary processes, and the history of marine microfossil communities
Classification, taxonomy, biodiversity of benthic foraminifera
Biochronology of marine microfossils and calibration to the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale.
Biostratigraphy & paleoceanography of the North Atlantic and its marginal seas.
High-latitude biostratigraphy and its correlation to standard, low-latitude biochronology
Problems in Tethyan Paleobiogeography and stratigraphic correlation.
The evolution of Cretaceous-Cenozoic climate and the timescales of Global Change.
The use of benthic foraminiferal assemblages for paleoenvironmental analysis.
The development of the general circulation of the Atlantic Ocean from the Late Cretaceous to the Recent.

Selected Publications

Kaminski, M.A., Amao, A.O., Babalola, L., Bu Khamsin, A., Fiorini, F., Garrison, A.M., Gull, H.M., Johnson, R.L., Tawabini, B., Frontalini, F. & Garrison, T.F. 2021. Substrate temperature as a primary control on meiofaunal populations in the intertidal zone: A dead zone attributed to elevated summer temperatures in eastern Bahrain. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 42: 101611.
Stein, R., Fahl, K., Schreck, M., Knorr, G., Niessen, F., Forwick, M., Gebhardt, C., Jensen, L., Kaminski, M., Kopf, A., Matthiessen, J., Jokat, W., Lohmann, G. 2016. Evidence for ice-free summers in the late Miocene central Arctic Ocean. Nature Communications, 7, 11148.
Kaminski, M.A. & Alegret, L. (eds), 2017. Proceedings of the Ninth International Workshop on Agglutinated Foraminifera. Grzybowski Foundation Special Publication, 22, 264 pp.
Katz, M.E., Miller, K.G., Kaminski, M.A. & Browning, J.V. 2018. Neogene benthic foraminiferal biofacies, paleobathymetry, and paleoenvironments of a Gulf of Mexico transect. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 48 (4), 356-372.
Kaminski, M.A., Perdana, P., Abouelresh, M.O., and Babalola, L. 2019. Late Ordovician agglutinated foraminifera from the Ra’an Shale Member of Saudi Arabia as indicators of the O40 Maximum Flooding Surface. Stratigraphy, 16 (1), 27–39.
Kaminski, M.A. & Perdana, P.R.D. 2020. Lower Silurian benthic foraminifera from Saudi Arabia – including the oldest known multichambered lituolids. Stratigraphy, 17 (3), 141-185.
Kaminski, M.A., Amao, A.O., Babalola, L., Bu Khamsin, A., Fiorini, F., Garrison, A.M., Gull, H.M., Johnson, R.L., Tawabini, B., Frontalini, F., & Garrison, T.F. 2021. Substrate temperature as a primary control on meiofaunal populations in the intertidal zone: A dead zone attributed to elevated summer temperatures in eastern Bahrain. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 42: 101611.

Extended Publications (+)

Kaminski, M.A., 1985. Evidence for control of abyssal agglutinated foraminiferal community structure by substrate disturbance. Marine Geology, 66, 113-131.
Kaminski, M.A., Gradstein, F.M. & Berggren, W.A., 1989. Paleogene benthic foraminiferal stratigraphy and paleoecology at Site 647, southern Labrador Sea. In: S.P. Srivastava, M.A. Arthur and B. Clement, et al., Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 105, College Station, TX (Ocean Drilling Program), 705-730.
Kaminski, M.A., Baumgartner, P.O., Bown, P., Haig, K., McMinn, A., Moran, M.J., Mutterlose, J., & Ogg, J., 1992. Magnetobiostratigraphic synthesis of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 123: Sites 765 and 766 (Argo Abyssal Plain and lower Exmouth Plateau). In: Ludden, J., Gradstein, F.M., et al. Proc. Sci. Results ODP 123, (College Station, TX), 717-737.
Kaminski, M.A., Kuhnt, W. & Radley, J., 1996. Paleocene-Eocene deep water agglutinated foraminifera from the Numidian Flysch (Rif, Northern Morocco): their significance for the Paleoceanography of the Gibraltar Seaway. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 15, 1-19.
Kaminski, M.A., Kuhnt, W. & Moullade, M. 1999. The evolution and paleobiogeography of abyssal agglutinated foraminifera since the Early Cretaceous: a tale of four faunas. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen, 212 (1-3), 401-439.
Kaminski, M.A. Aksu, A.E., Box, M., Hiscott, R.N., Filipescu, S. & Al-Salameen, M. 2002. Late Glacial to Holocene benthic foraminifera in the Marmara Sea: Implications for the Black Sea – Mediterranean Sea connections following the last deglaciation. Marine Geology, 190, 165-202.
Kaminski, M.A. & Gradstein, F.M. 2005. Atlas of Paleogene cosmopolitan deep-water agglutinated foraminifera. Grzybowski Foundation Special Publication, 10, 547 pp.
Kender, S., Kaminski, M.A., & Jones, R.W. 2008. Early to Middle Miocene Foraminifera from the deep-sea Congo Fan, offshore Angola. Micropaleontology, 55 (6), 477-568.
Kaminski, M.A., Setoyama, E. & Cetean, C.G. 2010. The Phanerozoic diversity of Agglutinated Foraminifera: Origination and Extinction rates. Acta Paleontologia Polonica, 55 (3), 529-539.
Kender, S. & Kaminski, M.A. 2013. Arctic Ocean benthic foraminiferal faunal change associated with the onset of perennial sea ice in the Middle Miocene. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 43 (1), 99-109.
Kaminski, M.A. 2014. The year 2010 classification of the agglutinated foraminifera. Micropaleontology, 61 (1), 89-108.