My main research is focused on Isotope Geochemistry with applications to Economic and Environmental Geology problems. In addition, my research interests often cross disciplines, within the Earth Sciences and beyond. On one side, I am interested in the geological processes that control the geochemical cycles of a number of metals that ultimately lead to formation of ore deposits. On the other side, the natural geochemical cycles of many of these metals in the near surface environment are altered or even dominated by anthropogenic activities at present. We mine and use vast amounts of metals and I am also interested in tracing the fate of these metals in the modern environment. Some of these anthropogenic activities have inadvertently created geochemical “tracers” that we can use to solve a number of current problems. For example, I use high-precision Pb isotopic analyses of human teeth to decipher the lead sources to the human body and a side effect of this work is the possibility of geo-referencing cold case victims.

Research Facilities:
– sample preparation for chemical and isotope analyses under “Clean Laboratory” environment;
– isotope analyses on “Nu-Plasma” MC-ICP-MS equipped with “New Wave” UV-213 and “Applied Spectra” J200 TANDEM (LIBS) Laser Ablation systems;
– trace element analyses on “Element2” High-Resolution Magnetic Sector ICP-MS;