Throughout the last 15 years the research team has analyzed a massive palaeontological dataset sampled in the field in western Russia and Estonia. More than 45,000 fossil trilobites and brachiopods were collected in the field and, thus, form the basis for the study.
They are applied to resolve palaeoecological details that reveal fluctuations in past climate. Based on the occurrences and ranges in time of key species within these two animal groups, a statistically supported relative sea level curve is constructed. With this sea level curve the research team demonstrate that sea level fell some 150 meters up though the 11 million years long investigated interval.