Office: Benson 422A
Research
Due to university administrative duties, I am not currently taking new graduate students.
I am a radiogenic isotope geochemist, with interests in application of neodymium, strontium, lead, and hafnium isotopic data to to problems in the earth sciences. My recent research have centered around assessing the large trace element and isotopic data set available from Phanerozoic igneous rocks in western North America to look at the physical evolution of the deep continental lithosphere in this region. I've also be using combined detrital zircon Hf isotopic data and whole rock Nd analyses to reconstruct the paleogeography of western North America during the early Paleozoic, and to study the basic physical processes that occur in siliciclastic sediments during fluvial transport across continents. Finally, I am working to develop new ion sources for thermal ionization mass spectrometry, using nanofabrication and electrochemical techniques. Much of this work is done in house in a 1,300 sq. ft. clean room dedicated to high precision isotope ratio mass spectrometry located in the Benson Earth Sciences building.
Department Topic Areas
- Primary: Geochemistry, Petrology, Sedimentology & Stratigraphy
- Secondary: Geochronology, Geodynamics, Geophysics, Paleoclimate & Paleoceanography