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Dr Bob Jamieson

Dr Bob Jamieson

  • Position: Stable Isotope Experimental Officer and Field Equipment Manager
  • Areas of expertise: geochemistry; stable isotopes; palaeoclimatology; climate proxies; speleothem science
  • Email: R.A.Jamieson@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 9.128 Maths/Earth and Environment Building
  • Website: Googlescholar | Researchgate | ORCID

Profile

My broad research interests are the limitations and complexities of high resolution proxies, particularly around issues of seasonality, sample heterogeneity, and interpreting proxies which integrate multiple environmental signals. I work with trace element concentrations and stable isotopes in a variety of archives, including sedimentary material, speleothems and paleontological material.

I work on samples from throughout geological time, but am particularly interested in working with modern samples which can be compared directly with environmental records.

  • Stable Isotope Geochemistry – My position at Leeds involves maintaining and running both of the Stable Isotope lab IRMS instruments. This includes analysis of a variety of materials using an Elemental Analyser coupled to a continuous flow IRMS for C, N, S, and O isotopes, as well as small quantities of carbonate materials via Dual Inlet IRMS for δ13C and δ18O.
  • Trace Element Geochemistry – One of the key foci of my PhD thesis was the application of trace element geochemistry in speleothems for paleoclimate reconstruction. I have experience with both solution and laser-ablation ICP-MS analysis, and have used these techniques to produce records of volcanic ash deposition over cave sites as well as more traditional climatological proxy reconstructions. This included developing a new proxy for qualitatively examining paleorainfall recorded in aragonitic speleothems by varying prior aragonite precipitation influencing U/Ca.
  • Organic Geochemistry and Biomarkers – My undergraduate work in the Glasgow Molecular Organic Geochemistry Laboratory (GMOL) involved working with biomarker proxies in both lake and ocean sediment archives. I have experience in performing chemical extractions, concentration measurement and compound identification (GC-FID and GC-MS).
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • PhD, Geology, Durham University
  • MSc, Geochemistry, University of Leeds
  • BSc, Earth Science, University of Glasgow

Student education

I focus almost entirely on field teaching whenever possible, as I consider field based teaching to be the area in which the Earth Sciences excels.

Currently at Leeds I teach on the 1st and 2nd year field skills and field mapping courses.

Research groups and institutes

  • Cohen Geochemistry
  • Earth Surface Science Institute
  • Palaeo@Leeds