Keith Richards,^1,2,*,** Stephen J. Vincent,^3,*** Clare E. Davies,^4,**** David J. Hinds,^5,***** Elmira Aliyeva<sup>6,******

1</sup>KrA Stratigraphic, Conwy, North Wales, United Kingdom
²Department of Geography and Planning, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
³CASP, West Building, Madingley Rise, Cambridge, United Kingdom
⁴BHP Petroleum Pty Ltd, Perth, WA, Australia
⁵Shell International Ltd, London, United Kingdom
⁶Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan

^*CONTACT Keith Richards kr@paly.co.uk KrA Stratigraphic, 116 Albert Drive, Conwy, North Wales LL31 9YY, United Kingdom.
^**KEITH RICHARDS has worked commercially as a palynologist since 1985, first for Robertson Research for 11 years, based in North Wales, Indonesia and Singapore, and then with his own company (KrA Stratigraphic) since 1996. He has maintained an academic interest throughout that time with around 20 peer-reviewed articles and many more conference presentations with particular emphasis on palynology and stratigraphy of the Greater Caspian Region. He has been a Guest Researcher at The University of Amsterdam (Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics) since 2016, obtaining his PhD from UvA in 2018. He is currently an Honorary Senior Research Fellow (Geography and Planning) at the University of Liverpool.
^***STEPHEN VINCENT received his PhD from Liverpool University in 1993. His PhD focussed on the sedimentology, stratigraphy and provenance of palaeovalley deposits within the Spanish Pyrenees. He joined CASP in 1993 and has subsequently worked on aspects of clastic sedimentology, regional geology, syn-tectonic sedimentation and basin evolution in China, Siberia, West Africa, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Albania and all countries surrounding the Black Sea. Steve has been Black Sea Project leader since 1999 and became Chief Geologist in 2019. He co-ordinates CASP's work in the Caspian region.
^****CLARE DAVIES is a geologist and sedimentologist who obtained her PhD in 2000 from the University of Leeds, based on the Miocene-Pliocene evolution of the Ganges Delta. She then worked at CASP, Cambridge, researching the stratigraphic evolution of Paratethys and other regions. She is an experienced geoscientist with more than 20 years working in petroleum geology, stratigraphy, sedimentology and seismic interpretation in major exploration companies, most recently as Australian Exploration Manager at BHP, Perth, Australia.
^*****DAVID HINDS obtained his PhD from Aberdeen University in 2002, entitled “Sedimentology and depositional setting of the Neogene Productive Series, Apsheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan”. His PhD was part funded by CASP. He has since worked as a geologist and sedimentologist for several exploration companies, most recently for Shell International Limited.
^******ELMIRA ALIYEVA is Head of Department at the Scientific Research and Design Institute of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Head of Department at the Geology and Geophysics Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, in Baku, Azerbaijan. She is coauthor of numerous reports and publications on many aspects of the geology of the Caspian region.