Bjaerke Continental drift animation Page 4.

Tor Bjærke Norwegian palynologist/geologist. (b. 10 February 1947 Kaupang, Larvik)

Bjærke was born into a family with strong interests in art, music, and science. He studied geology and philosophy at the

University of Oslo from 1967 and earned his Ph.D. in 1975. From 1976 to 1979 he worked at the university as post doc

stipendiate. He published a number of papers on Mesozoic geology and palynology mainly from the Svalbard area where he

spent four summers collecting samples for his studies. His most important contribution in addition to general biostratigraphy

was his description of the Parvocysta dinoflagellate complex (1980). In 1980 he quit the University and moved with his family

to Stavern, starting as an independant consultant. In 1984 he founded Stratlab, consultants in biostratigraphy together with

colleagues from IKU, Trondheim. He was director of Stratlab for two years. In 1986 the company moved to Lillestrøm outside

Oslo and he continued as an associate with this company working with palynological analyses and developing software for

handling biostratigraphical data and reporting. In 1997 he published a short version of his father Håkon Arnestad B.s manuscript on continental drift. He continued as a

biostratigraphical consultant, also working well site on the Norwegian shelf. He participated in several research projects

together with colleagues at the University of Oslo. At the same time he worked on an animation of the continental

movements. A preliminary version was published in 2011. Selected papers Bjærke, T. 1975 Atlas of palynomorphs from the Upper Triassic of Hopen, Svalbard. Continental Shelf Project. Open report. 1975. NTNF's Kontinentalsokkelkontor. Bjærke, T. & S.B. Manum 1977 Mesozoic Palynology of Svalbard - I. The Rhaetian of Hopen, with a preliminary report on the Rhaetian and Jurassic of Kong Karls Land. Norsk Polarinst. Skr. 165 1977 Bjærke, T. 1977 Mesozoic Palynology of Svalbard - II. Palynomorphs from the Mesozoic sequence of Kong Karls Land. Norsk Polarinst. Årbok 1976 pp.83-100 1977 Bjærke, T. & Dypvik, H. 1977 Sedimentological and palynological studies of Upper Triassic- Lower Jurassic sediments in Sassenfjorden, Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinst. Årbok 1976 pp.131-150. 1977 (19 pp) Bjærke, T. & Dypvik, H. 1977 Quaternary 'stromatolitic' limestone from Scandinavia. J.Sed.Petr. 47(3) pp.1321-27. Bjærke, T. 1978 Mesozoic Palynology of Svalbard III. Dinoflagellates from the Rurikfjellet Mbr. Janusfj. Fm. (Lower Cretaceous) of Spitsbergen. Palinologia num.extr. 1, pp.69-93. 1978 7 pls. Bjærke, T. 1978 Mesozoic Palynology of Svalbard V. Dinoflagellates from the Agardhfjellet Mbr. (Middle and Upper Jurassic) in Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinst. Skr 172, pp.145-167. 1978 5 pls. Bjærke, T. 1980 Mesozoic Palynology of Svalbard IV. Toarcian dinoflagellates from Spitsbergen. Palynology 4 pp.57-77 1980 5 pls. Nagy, J., Dypvik, H., & Bjærke, T. 1984 Sedimentological and paleontological analyses of Jurassic North Sea deposits from deltaic environments. J. Petr. Geol. 7,2 (169-188) 1984 Bjærke, H.A. & Bjærke, T. 1997 The earths moving continents. Continental movements from the Cambrian to the present. Tor Bjærke, 1997, Nagy, Jenø; Hess, Silvia; Dypvik, Henning & Bjærke, Tor (2011): Marine shelf to paralic biofacies of Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic deposits in Spitsbergen. Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 300 (1-4) pp.138-151.