The University of British Columbia

My research interest is in non-traditional stable isotope geochemistry. This is a new field that is evolving hand in hand with the instrumentation used to measure small natural variations in the isotopic compositions of the elements (primarily MC-ICP-MS, but also TIMS). New isotopic data is accumulating rapidly and natural processes being identified as potential causes of isotope fractionation. Experimental data are of fundamental importance in order to provide a framework for the interpretation of this new and exciting data. In addition to biological processes, adsorption processes at the particle-water interface appear to play a major role in the fractionation of heavy element isotopes in a wide range of environments (e.g. natural waters, industrial waste waters, soils and sediments) suggesting applications in a wide range of fields (e.g. enviromental geochemistry, oceanography, geomicrobiology).

I have been involved in the investigation of the natural variation in the isotopic composition of Mo and the experimental investigation of natural processes capable of fractionating Mo. This work is aimed at understanding the Mo cycle in the oceans and developing the potential use of the Mo isotope composition of marine sediments (in particular black shales) to track variations in global oceanic anoxia through time.

Currently I am investigating mass bias variation and non-spectral matrix effects with the aim of developing techniques for mitigating non-spectral matrix effects in MC-ICP-MS and thus improving the precision and accuracy of isotope ratio measurements by MC-ICP-MS.