According to new research from a team of earth scientists including EES Professor Christopher Junium, smaller plants may have reduced carbon dioxide levels on Earth before the evolution of large forests. New research published in PNAS answers a lingering question about the source of atmospheric sulfur leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Professor Christopher K. Junium uses ancient marine sediment as benchmark for present, future climate models. Earth scientists use NSF grant to study link between elevated temperatures, precipitation in ancient Antarctica.
I am a sedimentary and organic geochemist. I focus on the redox evolution of the Earth, specializing in biogeochemical cycling. I use a range of geochemical tools, but focus on the stable isotopes of nitrogen, carbon and sulfur, with a particular interest in compound-specific, stable isotope techniques.
My research interests span the spectrum of geologic time from the Archean to modern systems. Current I am working principally on the Cretaceous and Neoproterozoic with and eye toward understanding future global change. Renovations for the new stable isotope lab are complete and will house lab space for preparation and instrumentation for compound-specific carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotope analyses.
Sample preparation facilities will be housed in a class clean lab with HEPA-filtered air supply. Two large HEPA-filtered laminar flow exhaust Isolation Cabinets Patent Pending capable of class 10 chemistry will be used for acid digestions kerogen and pyrite , organic extractions, and preparative chromatography. Instrumentation space includes a new Isoprime continuous flow stable isotope mass spectrometer with Isoprime Trace Gas module as well as an Elementar varioIsotope elemental analyzer for N2, CO2, and SO2.
