Norwegian center for paleontology

Paleontology, the study of plants and animals and the rocks containing them, has a long tradition at the Natural History Museum. Research at the museum is based on the contained collections amounting to well over 1.7 million specimens but this number is being constantly increased as the result of ongoing field work and research. The focus has always been on fossils from the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the Oslo Region and rocks both older and younger from the Arctic Archipelago. To this can be added fossils from the Norwegian continental shelf, land-based Quaternary deposits and from fossils resulting from special collecting trips abroad.

The Norwegian centre for paleontology was established in 2009 with special focus on the following main areas:

Lower Paleozoic of the Oslo Region

• Paleozoic trilobites and non-trilobitic arthropods
• Systematics and ecology of Ordovocian and Silurian bryozoans
• Systematics and ecology of Ordovocian and Silurian brachiopods
• Ordovician trilobites
  Responsible researcher: David L. Bruton

Upper Paleozoic of the Arctic

• Bryozoans from the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic of Svalbard and the Canadian Arctic
  Responsible researcher: Hans Arne Nakrem
• Conodonts from the Carboniferous and Permian of Svalbard
  Responsible researcher: Hans Arne Nakrem
  
• Late Paleozoic fossils and rocks from Novaya Zemlya, Arctic Russia
  Responsible researcher: Hans Arne Nakrem

Mesozoic of Svalbard

• Triassic amphibians from Svalbard
  Responsible researcher: Franz-Josef Lindemann
• Jurassic marine reptiles from Svalbard
  Responsible researcher: Jørn H. Hurum
• Jurassic seep carbonates of Spitsbergen
  Responsible researchers: Hans Arne Nakrem og Øyvind Hammer

Evolution and biology of Mesozoic and early Cenozoic higher vertebrates

• Mesozoic mammals and early primates
• Marine reptiles from the Jurassic of Svalbard
• Dinosaurs from Norway and Svalbard

Off-shore Cenozoic biostratigraphy, paleoceanography, paleoclimatology

• Radiolarians
  Responsible researcher: Kjell R. Bjørklund
• Foraminiferans

Mathematics in geology

• Mathematical methods in paleontology and geology
  Responsible researcher: Øyvind Hammer

Masteroppgaver i paleontologi

Radiolarien Lophospyris pentagona	Røntgenbilde av en trilobitt, devon, Tyskland
Ryggvirvler av en 150 millioner år gammel plesiosaur – en svaneøgle – fra Svalbard.	Nettmønstret bryozo (mosdyr) fra Svalbard, ca 270 millioner år gammel.