The Team
Dr. Peter Crockford
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University and a guest investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
Matthew Nadeau (incoming Post-doc 2026): I apply a broad suite of isotopic (Ca, Mg, Li, C, and stable Sr) and trace-element tools to interrogate carbonate sediments and rocks as archives of Earth history. I work across carbonate-producing environments and timescales, focusing on distinguishing local carbonate-factory dynamics from global environmental signals and quantifying how these processes shape long-term paleoclimate records.
Sabs Wimmer (Ph.D candidate). I received my M.Sc. from the University of Vienna, where I studied Paleoproterozoic snowball Earth glaciations and their interbedded iron formations in South Africa. My current research focuses on tracing environmental change through a systems approach across Earth's Great Oxidation. I aim to improve our knowledge of the function and response of early life to paleoclimates and changes in Earth's chemical composition.
Olivia King (Ph.D candidate): My work is focused on the geochemistry and biostratigraphy of the Carboniferous-Permian carbonates in the Yukon. I aim to understand where these sites in the Yukon were paleogeographically, and how close they were to the continental margin during this time.
Elizabeth Sullivan (Ph.D. candidate). My work is focused on understanding the start of the colloquially named ‘boring billion’. My project is applying a suite of redox and nutrient proxies to the Pethei Group of NWT to better understand this time in Earth’s past.
Michelle Stevens (M.Sc. candidate). I am currently working on carbonate geochemistry in the Paleoproterozoic and researching the carbon cycle in the aftermath of the Great Oxidation Event. I am focusing on the Lomagundi Jatuli Excursion and its implications for biospheric evolution
Derek Wilson (M.Sc. candidate). I completed my B.Sc. in Earth Sciences at Carleton where I used isotopes to investigate how the diet and migratory behaviour of caribou has shifted since the Late Pleistocene in Canada. My current research uses various isotope systems to better understand the migration patterns and diet of narwhal, in response to climate shifts in the Canadian Arctic.
Brynja Chleirich (M.Sc. Candidate). My research focuses on evaporite deposits ranging in age from the Paleoproterozoic (~2.4 billion years ago) to the present. By combining trace element geochemistry with oxygen and sulfur isotope analyses, I aim to distinguish whether these evaporite samples formed in marine or non-marine depositional environments. This work will provide new insights into how evaporites record changes in ancient water chemistry, climate, and basin evolution through Earth’s history.
Sarah Sleigh (BSc. Hons.) My research is focused on wolverine dietary changes from the late Pleistocene to today in Yukon, Canada, as a potential mechanism for their survival of the Megafaunal Mammal Extinction and their persistence to today.
Alumni
Dr. Nabil Shawwa (post-doc): Nabil has recently finished his MITACS and NSERC PDF’s and is now an Assistant Professor at Laurentian University.
Rizzi Balestra (BSc. Hons). Rizzi is now pursuing his MSc. (NSERC CGS Scholarship) at the University of Victoria with Jon Husson and Ann Sophie Ahm.
Jack McPhee (BSc. Hons). Jack is now working in industry.
Anna Junek. Anna is finishing up her 3rd year and will be pursuing an Honors project in the Rizo lab.