Bio
Research Interests
Professor Vondra’s research has focused on ancient fluvial (stream) systems as they apply to the stratigraphic documentation and relative age determination of the fossil remains of early man, his ancestors and associated faunas and the interpretation of paleoenvironments recorded by the strata in which these fossil remains are preserved. He has provided a stratigraphic base and paleoenvironmental interpretations for such critical fossil localities as the Fayum Depression, Egypt (Aegyptopithecus zuesis), the Siwalik Hills, northern India (Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis), East Turkana, Kenya (Australopithecus africanus and Homo erectus), the central Afar, Ethiopia, (Australopithecus afarenis), and the Cagayan Valley, northern Luzon, Philippines. In addition he as studied the fluvial facies models for complex plate boundary associations for two of the three possible plate boundary types, the convergent (collisional) and divergent (rift) plate boundaries and his paleoenvironmental interpretations of critical fossil localities have broadened the understanding of the Cenozoic history of Africa, Asia, and North America.