Research Expertise and Interest
biogeochemistry, earth history, geobiology, global climate studies, organic geochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry
Research Description
Daniel Stolper is a geochemist with interests in a variety of problems related to the rock record, microbiology, and biogeochemical cycles in the present and past. His approach to scientific problems is centered around linking experiments and physically based models to natural observations in an integrated fashion and, when necessary, developing new methods and techniques. His lab is centered around mass spectrometric measurements of experimental and environmental samples.
His interests are currently centered on the following questions.
(1) The application of carbonate clumped-isotope paleothermometry to solve geological problems including the formation of carbonates during crustal alteration reactions off mid-ocean ridge flanks, the temperature history of the Neogene ocean, and controls on carbonate crystal growth and recrystallization.
(2) The use of methane clumped isotope thermometry to understand the methane cycle. I am especially interested in applying this technique to understand the origin of methane in natural settings and studying the fundamental mechanisms of methane generation.
(3) The study of the O2 cycle in the present and past using the isotopic composition and concentration of O2 in samples retrieved from the atmosphere, ice cores, and dissolved in the ocean.
