Dr. Alan Jay Kaufman
Assistant Professor of Geology
Department of Geology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4211
Office: (301) 405-0395
Fax: (301) 314-9661
kaufman@geol.umd.edu
My research has focused on the determination of
changes in the isotopic composition of the oceans through time, by the
analysis of stragraphic suites of little-altered carbonate rocks.
Thus far, most of these studies have centered around Neoproterozoic (ca.
1000-544 million-year-old) sedimentary successions in Svalbard/East Greenland,
Namibia, arctic Canada and Alaska, India, and
the western USA. Temporal variations in C and Sr isotopes can be
used as stratigraphic tools within and between basins, and through detailed
correlations allow us to order key tectonic, biogeochemical, and paleoenvironmental
events in Earth history.