Title of Research Group: Earth History Research Group
Principal Investigator: Dr. Catherine Rose
Institution: Trinity College Dublin
School: School of Natural Sciences
Research: My research involves pairing sedimentary stratigraphic data with a range of geochemical proxies to explore key Earth history events, such as large perturbations to the global carbon cycle and changes in climate. This work relies on making original field observations at a range of scales from maps, rock outcrops, and thin sections. I am currently investigating the impact sedimentology has on isotopic signatures preserved in modern and ancient settings. In particular, I am working to characterise the localisation of different sulphur species within complex carbonate facies at the micron-scale, using synchrotron facilities and secondary ion mass spectrometry.
Techniques: X-ray absorption spectroscopy; XAS imaging
Facilities: APS, SSRL
Beamlines: 13-IDE, BL10-2a
Group (as of 2014): 1 Ph.D. student
Participating group members at SR/FEL/neutron facilities (period 2008-2014):
Stephen Coakley (Ph.D. student, TCD)
Impact: Access to these synchrotron facilities is hugely influential to our research as it aims to decipher the spatial variability of sulphur isotopes at a scale previously unobtainable, and so eliminating much of the uncertainty of chemostratigraphic records generated using bulk samples.
Quote: – “Using X-ray spectromicroscopy facilities at the APS to map carbonate samples is providing us with an unprecedented view of the distribution of different phases of sulphur, allowing us to decipher Earth’s ancient ocean chemistry.” Stephen Coakley, Ph.D. student.
Publication Highlights:
Website: – http://www.tcd.ie/Geology/staff/catherine/
