Environmental Geochemistry
Programme Leader: Travis Horton
Contributors: David Bell, Catherine Reid
Collaborators: Richard Holdaway, Sally Gaw (Chemistry), Matthew Turnbull (Biology), Islay Marsden (Biology); Aisling O’Sullivan (Civil/Natural Resource Engineering), Joel D. Blum (University of Michigan), C. Page Chamberlain (Stanford University), Dave Craw (Otago), Jenny Webster-Brown (Auckland)
PhD Students:
Research programme
Taking advantage of the department’s new stable isotope analytical laboratory, this exciting new research programme provides opportunities for investigation of a broad spectrum of geochemical and biogeochemical topics on a variety of spatial and temporal scales. At the core of all our projects is the utilisation of geochemical compositions – of geologic, biologic, pedologic, hydrologic, and anthropogenic samples – as tracers and/or proxies for environmental processes and conditions.
Developing research projects will focus on:
- paleoenvironmental reconstructions of pre-historic New Zealand using biogenic mineral C, N, O, H stable isotopic proxies.
- isotope stratigraphy of marine and terrestrial extinction events and environments
- source and fate of trace metals in marine and terrestrial ecosystems
- geochemical fingerprinting of water resources and aqueous contaminants
- paleoclimatologic impacts of tectonic processes and surface uplift events
- calibration and development of isotopic proxies for precipitation and temperature
- biogenic mineral-fluid inclusion (paleo)thermometry
- tracing the nitrogen cycle in exotic ecosystems
Recently Completed Postgraduate Theses (new programme):
TBA