Stijn Goolaerts

Deep Time Explorer with main interests in: the evolution and paleobiology of Cephalopoda (Ammonoids, Nautiloids & Coleoids) and Mollusca; µCT imaging: from specimen to stunning images and 3D-meshes; Belgian geoheritage, geoconservation & geodiversity; Belgian Neogene Stratigraphy; rescuing fossils from destruction at large temporary outcrops throughout Belgium; the ‘Carrière de Lompret’ quarry project; molluscs and climate change; the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary; science communication, citizen-science, connecting with fossil collectors

Researchgate Google Scholar LinkedIn ORCID

Function

RStijn Goolaerts works as a professional geologist and paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS). In this role, he focusses on evolution, diversification, and extinction, as well as paleobiology, in Cephalopoda and Mollusca in general, with a specific emphasis on the Devonian-Carboniferous and Cretaceous-Cenozoic. He likes to incorporate novel techniques into his research, and avocates strongly for Belgian geoheritage, stratigraphy, collections and fieldwork. He runs the 'Carrière de Lompret' quarry project, likes to connect with professional and citizen-scientists, and is also the head-organizer of the yearly BePaleo event.

Research team: Palaeobiosphere Evolution unit
Research themes: Evolution and the Web of Life
                                      Ecosystems over time

Current Project

Belspo Brain project

BePaleo

Area of Expertise

Stijn Goolaerts has expertise in various research metholodologies and topics, like µCT and other non-destructive 2D and 3D digitisation techniques, invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology, evolution, climate change, paleontological excavations and fieldwork, in and outside Belgium, heritage conservation, collection management, valorisation of fossil collections, connecting people, teaching and science communication.

External activities

Member of the subcomission Paleogene-Neogene of the Belgian National Commission on Stratigraphy.

Subcommission Paleogene-Neogene

Professional Experience

Stijn Goolaerts professional experience includes making geological maps, doing science communication, being a heritage salvager, a collection manager, and mostly a hard-core scientist. He has worked at the KULeuven Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (Jan 2001 - June 2011) , and since Aug 2011, at RBINS, first at the (former) Paleontology Department, then at the OD Earth & History of Science and the Scientific Service of Heritage.

Dissemination activities 

Goolaerts, S., 2020. Graptolieten uit Lompret! Hona 55(2): 14-18. [In Dutch]
Grulke, W., 2016. Nautilus - Beautiful Survivor - 500 million years of evolutionary history. At One Communication, England, 224pp.
Goolaerts, S., (Ed), 2015. De Kesselberg binnenstebuiten. Hona 50(3), 60pp. [In Dutch]
Vandenberghe, N., Van Peer, Ph., Goolaerts, S., 2008. De Rupelstreek en de Boomse klei: Een korte geologische geschiedenis. Museum Rupelklei, Terhagen, 78 pp. [In Dutch]

Publication highlights

New additions to the Belgian fossil Nautilida
Goolaerts, S., Mottequin, B., 2023. A Santonian record of the nautilid cephalopod Angulithes westphalicus (Schlüter, 1872) from the subsurface of the Campine, north-east Belgium, with comments on regional lithostratigraphic problems. Geologica Belgica 26(1-2), 101-113. [Open Access] https://doi.org/10.20341/gb.2023.007

Fossil shells from Antwerp area tell us about past and near-future climate
de Winter, N.J., Tindall, J., Johnson, A.L.A., Goudsmit-Harzevoort, B., Wichern, N., Kaskes, P., Claeys, P., Huygen, F., van Leeuwen, S., Metcalfe, B., Bakker, P., Goolaerts, S., Wesselingh, F., Ziegler, Z., 2024. Amplified seasonality in western Europe in a warmer world. Science Advances 10 (20), eadl6717. [Open access] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adl6717

50myr old cuttlefish from Belgium revisited, with µCT imaging
Goolaerts, S., Christiaens, Y., Mollen, F., Mottequin, B., Steurbaut, E., 2022. Applying micro-CT imaging in the study of historically and newly collected specimens of Belosaepia (Sepiida, Coleoidea, Cephalopoda) from the Early Eocene (Ypresian) of Belgium. Riviste Italiana Di Paleontologia E Stratigrafia 128(3): 585-606. [Open access] https://doi.org/10.54103/2039-4942/16617

Heteromorph ammonites galore
Hoffmann, R., Slattery, J., Kruta, I., Linzmeier, B.J., Lemanis, R.F., Mironenko, A., Goolaerts, S., Klug, C., De Baets, K., Peterman, D.J., 2021. Recent advances in heteromorph ammonoid paleobiology. Biological Reviews 96, 576–610. [Open access] https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12669

Amazing discoveries in the upper Miocene of Belgium, with a nice citizen-science collaboration
Goolaerts, S., De Ceuster, J., Mollen, F., Gijsen, B., Bosselaers, M., Lambert, O., Uchman, A., Adriaens, R., Van Herck, M., Houthuys, R., Louwye, S., Bruneel, Y., Elsen, J., Hoedemaekers, K., 2020. The Upper Miocene Deurne Member of the Diest Formation revisited: unexpected results from the study of a large temporary outcrop near Antwerp International Airport, Belgium. Geologica Belgica 23(3-4), 219-252. [Open access] https://doi.org/10.20341/gb.2020.011