I am a geochemist who studies the exchange of carbon between the atmosphere and rocks, and how these carbon transfers respond to and drive climate change.

Our research group Earth Surface Geochemistry @Oxford quantifies how erosion and weathering processes act as CO2 sinks, and CO2 sources, and transfer CO2 between the atmosphere, hydrosphere and oceans, and long-term, geological storage in sedimentary deposits.

To do this, we’ve developed several geochemical approaches, which include trace element proxies of weathering and their isotopes (e.g. rhenium), while also tracking carbon as CO­2, CH4, dissolved and particulate organic carbon, and their radiocarbon and stable C isotope composition.

We have a current research focus (ERC, NERC and Leverhulme funded) on climate change impacts on carbon cycles in the Arctic and high latitudes. Fieldwork is focused on the Mackenzie River Basin and the Isle of Lewis. These include projects to understand and predict weathering processes which act as a CO2 sink via the “mineral permafrost feedback”, alongside the leak of CO2 and CH4 from landscapes to rivers and to the atmosphere. We are also interested in wider impacts of changing weathering reactions on rivers, including trace metal delivery and fate, and how enhanced weathering impacts river chemistry.