My research explores the interface of geology, analytical chemistry and materials science to improve understanding of the rock record of Earth and other planetary bodies. This work aims to elucidate the fundamental processes and timescales of tectonics, ore formation, hypervelocity impact events and crustal evolution.

Evolution of planetary crusts

• Microstructural geochronology of magmatic, crustal and impact processes on the Moon, Mars, differentiated asteroids and early Earth.
• Shock metamorphism and its effects on key chemical records of planetary evolution, including the isotopic systematics of volatile and moderately volatile elements
• The formation and differentiation of hypervelocity impact melt sheets, and the effects of impact bombardment
• Origin and evolution of Earth's early crust, through study of sites such as the >3.8 billion year old Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt, Superior Province, Canada

Advances in micro- to nano-scale geochemical measurements

• Novel techniques for in-situ geochemical and isotopic measurements by atom probe tomography (APT), femtosecond laser ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass-spectrometry (fs-LA-ICP-MS) and integrate laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), and multi-collector ICP-MS
• Integration with electron microscopy techniques, including electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and quantitative energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS)

Mineral systems research

• Geology, geochemistry and geochronology of ore-deposits, focusing on linkages with tectonics and major crustal processes. This has included magmatic sulfide, a range of magmatic-hydrothermal, and rare earth element ore systems
• Novel approaches to the characterisation of ores, mine waste and recycling products; e.g. lithium characterisation by fs-LA-LIBS