Dr Peter Wynn
ReaderResearch Interests
Natural environmental isotopes are used as an advanced method for tracing the dynamics of solutes and nutrients within earth systems. Within glaciated environments, natural isotopes of 15N/14N, 18O/16O, 34S/32S and 13C/12C have been used to fingerprint sources and sinks of nutrients within High Arctic and Icelandic glaciers. Fluorescence of compounds within snow and ice is currently being used as a method for establishing the organic component of the glacial ecosystem. Within karst environments, sulphur isotopes are currently being used to identify causes of variations in the sulphur content of stalagmites over time. Identification of how sulphur is cycled through the overlying ecosystem and karst environment allows transfer functions between climate and speleothems to be quantified. Compound specific analysis of organic matter contained within speleothem calcite is currently being investigated as a biomarker of past anthropogenic activity.
Current research includes funding from NERC to address archives of sulphur contained within trees (‘Interrogating trees as archives of environmental Sulphur variability’). In collaboration with the University of Swansea and the University of Birmingham, we aim to produce a high resolution record of changes in sulphur concentration and isotopic composition and link these to speleothem records from the same region. P. Wynn is also co-investigator on NERC grant ‘The Svalbard Exemplar for Neoproterozoic glaciation’, led by the University of Birmingham. This project uses the geochemical composition of glacial lake carbonates from NE Svalbard to infer palaeo atmospheric conditions during the Cryogenian glaciations of the Neoproterozoic.
www.gees.bham.ac.uk/research/clusters/geosystems/gains2010who.shtml
Current Teaching
3rd Year: 15 credit module - Glacial systems
3rd Year: 15 credit module – Landscape development in Northern Spain (field course)
2nd Year: 15 credit module – Earth Surface Processes
2nd Year: 15 credit module – Glacier-landscape interactions in Iceland (field course)
2nd Year: 30 credit module – Concepts in Geography
Groundwater nitrogen capture in the stalagmite record
01/11/2019 → 31/10/2021
Research
Controls on Soil Carbon Export revealed by Novel Tracers on multiple timescales
01/10/2013 → 30/09/2016
Other
Quantifying the methane flux from beneath an Icelandic glacier
30/09/2013 → 30/09/2016
Research
An informatics based approach to monitoring glacier movement
01/01/2012 → …
Research
High resolution isotope analysis of Iberian speleothem deposits
01/09/2010 → 30/03/2014
Research
The Svalbard Exemplar of neoproterozoic glaciation
01/04/2010 → 30/04/2014
Research
The origin of sulphur isotopic variations in coral
01/04/2008 → 01/04/2009
Research
Compound specific organic matter and the speleothem record
01/10/2007 → 01/10/2008
Research
Establishing a new palaeothermometer from the speleothem archive of phosphate oxygen isotopes
01/01/1900 → …
Research
Goldschmidt Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Hosting visiting scientist
Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor
Edinburgh Ion Microprobe Facility (External organisation)
Membership of committee
the European Geosciences Union General Assembly
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
International cave monitoring wor
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Earth and Planetary Science Letters (Journal)
Publication peer-review
The Karst Record (VI) June 2011
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometer U
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
University of Durham
Visiting an external academic institution
North West Regional Studies Group
Visiting an external academic institution
Journal of Glaciology (Journal)
Publication peer-review
National Science Foundation (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Journal of Hydrology (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Chemical Geology (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Academic host to PhD student from China University of Geosciences
Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor
School
School Engagement
33rd International Geological congress
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Holocene (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Geochemical Journal (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Invited speaker to seminar series
Invited talk
Sustainable Catchments
- Centre for Global Eco-innovation
- Environmental and Biogeochemistry
- Understanding a changing planet