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Welcome to the Applied Geochemistry group Wiki.
The Applied Geochemistry group (AGg) in the Department of Geoscience employs a wide variety of physical, chemical, isotopic, and modeling techniques to study aspects of the water cycle and to trace the fate of anthropogenic carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur in surface and subsurface environments.
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Research
Current Research projects focus on environmental research, research related to sustainable energy supplies, and research at the interface between energy and the environment. :
- Energy-related Research
- Environmental Research
- Research at the Interface between Energy and the Environment
The goal of our research is to enhance sustainable practices in energy supply, forestry, and agriculture, while minimizing the impact on terrestrial and aquatic environments.
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News
- 2012-04-09 Dr. Veith Becker joined the AGg on April 9, 2012, as a PDF for 1 year".
- 2012-03-15 Bernadette Proemse successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Tracing Industrial Emissions in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region Using Stable Isotope Techniques".
- 2012-02-27 Veronique Fau has joined our research group as a co-supervised MSc student based at the University of Paris VI, France".
- 2012-01-09 Leslie Harker successfully defended her MSc thesis entitled "Assessing Solute Sources and Chemical Weathering Reactions in the Kettle River Basin, British Columbia".
- 2011-12-14 Dr. Jinsoo Park from Korea has joined us for a 6-month research associate appointment to work on applications of stable isotope techniques to environmental problems".
- 2011-11-27 Dr. Woo-Jin Shin has joined us as a postdoctoral fellow to work on biodegradation of organic contaminants under various redox conditions".
- 2011-11-14 Jack Goodwin has joined our research group as a Research Assistant".
- 2011-09-10 Chris Jackson has joined our research group as a MSc student".
- 2011-07-07 Norka Marcano successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Isotopic and molecular studies of biodegraded oils and the development of chemical proxies for monitoring in situ upgrading of bitumen".
- 2011-06-13 Norka Marcano's oral presentation entitled "Using Produced Oil Molecular Composition to Monitor In Situ Upgrading Operations in Oil Sands & Heavy Oil Reservoirs" was selected as the winner for the Best Student Oral Geology Presentation at the 2011 CSPG Convention".
- 2011-05-24 Bernadette Proemse received the Student Outstanding Research Award at the 43rd Annual Air Pollution Workshop 2011 held in Fort McMurray".
- 2011-02-24 June Chao defended her MSc thesis on "Major ion and stable isotope geochemistry of the Bow River, Alberta, Canada".
- 2010-10-12 Gareth Johnson has defended his Ph.D. thesis entitled "Stable isotope approaches to monitoring and verification of injected CO2 at the Pembina Cardium CO2 monitoring pilot, Alberta, Canada".
- 2010-08-12 Gareth Johnson received the award for Best Oral Presentation in the Division of Environmental Geosciences at the AAPG meeting in Orleans for his presentation "Application of Stable Isotope Techniques to Monitor CO2 Storage at the Pembina Cardium CO2 Monitoring Pilot, Alberta, Canada".
- 2010-10-07 Michael Nightingale has defended his M.Sc. thesis entitled "Water-CO2-rock Interactions at the Pembina Cardium CO2 monitoring pilot".
- 2010-05-18 The Government of Canada announced on Thursday, May 13 that Ben Cowie, a Ph.D. student in the Applied Geochemistry group, Department of Geoscience, was awarded the most prestigious graduate scholarship in Canada: the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Ben was selected as one of 57 recipients of the Vanier award in Natural Sciences and Engineering for his demonstrated leadership skills and high standard of scholarly achievement. Congratulations, Ben!
- 2010-05-01 The AGg welcomes Anita Gue as a new MSc student. Anita will be co-supervised by Dr. Steve Grasby from the Geological Survey of Canada.
- 2009-09-08 Katrina Cheung has defended her M.Sc. thesis entitled "The Geochemistry of Shallow Groundwater and Produced Fluids Associated with Coalbed Methane (CBM) Exploration in Alberta,Canada".
- 2009-09-01 The AGg welcomes three new M.Sc. students: Carmen Lam, Fiona Stanners, and Leslie Harker.
- 2009-08-31 Bernhard Mayer has received $160,000 from the CFI to purchase a new ICP-OES for trace analysis of metals in water and oils.
- 2009-07-13 Schlumberger Canada donated Petrel to the AGg, worth $1.66 Million! We thank Schlumberger for supporting our research!
- 2009-05-19 Bernhard Mayer has received the 2009 Faculty of Science Award of Excellence for consistently outstanding contributions in research.
- 2009-04-15 Our new Los Gatos Water Isotope Analyzer is now fully operational.
- 2009-04-13 Katie Hogue has successfully defended her MSc thesis on the isotope hydrology of snowpack and snowmelt in the headwaters of the South Saskatchewan River basin. Congratulations!
- 2009-04-01 Dr. Jang-Soon Kwon from Korea University has joined the AGg for a 1-year postdoctoral appointment. Welcome!
- 2009-01-10 Two new PhD students, Bernadette Proemse and Ben Cowie, have joined the AGg. Welcome!
- 2008-10-01 Our new Dionex ICS 2000 Ion Liquid Chromatographs have been installed and are fully operational.
- 2008-09-15 Our new Los Gatos Water Isotope Analyzer, purchased with NSERC RTI support, has arrived.
- 2008-09-07: The AG group investigates hydrological and biogeochemical processes in surface and subsurface environments. The 2008 AG group field trip on Sunday September 7 took the "subsurface" part literally. Guided by experts from Canmore Caverns Limited, group members explored the flow systems in the Paleozoic carbonates of Rat's Nest Cave near Canmore. Nine group members, some with company, spent more than 4 hours under ground squeezing through the "laundry chute" and crawling through the "tight squeeze" among other challenging sections. Besides providing deep insights into Paleozoic carbonates and revealing impressive carbonate deposits, the trip provided also an excellent team building experience.
- 2008-06-27 Mark Raistrick has completed his PhD thesis entitled "Using Chemical and Isotopic Data to Monitor Geological Carbon Dioxide Storage at the International Energy Agency Weyburn Carbon Dioxide Monitoring and Storage Project, Saskatchewan, Canada".
- 2008-06-19 Gareth Johnson's talk "Tracing the Fate of Injected CO2 during Enhanced Oil Recovery using Stable Isotope Techniques" at the 2008 C3Geo Convention received honourable mention in the Student Geological Oral Presentation category.
- 2008-06-03 Bernhard Mayer was a finalist for the 2008 Emerald Award in the category Research & Innovation.
- 2008-04-15 Sophie Reverte, an ERASMUS exchange student from the University of Marseille (France), has commenced a 3-month research stay with the Applied Geochemistry group.
- 2008-03-15 Jonathan Fennell has successfully completed his PhD project on "Effects of Aquifer Heating on Groundwater Chemistry".
- 2007-12-14 We congratulate Sarah Katvala to successfully defending her MSc thesis entitled the "Isotope Hydrology of the Upper Bow River Basin, Alberta, Canada".
- 2007-11-23 In 2008 the AGg will admit up to 3 new graduate students, see here for details.
- 2007-11-23 The AGg has updated its current list of recent publications.
- 2007-09-16: The AGg Group Annual Hike took place with beautiful weather and views enjoyed by all. The group started the waltz up the mountain with barely a drop of perspiration apparent on any of the participants brows and in such great mood that the passing of the McConnell fault went by completely unnoticed! After a grueling final 100 meters the group were met by an unidentified metal structure with some suggesting it may be the drive-in movie board and others expert judgment that it was a microwave relay station. A few meters away from the structure (in fear, no doubt, of any stray microwaves) lunch was eaten with views over the limestone cliffs above Barrier Lake. Later in the day, and after the hike, the group returned to a Mayer family hosted barbeque at the Kananaskis Field Station. The food and service was supreme as were the Austrian beverages. An impromptu game of volleyball was started where family rivalries started to show amongst the Mayers, with gleeful shouts of joy accompanying the winning shots, and after some haphazard Frisbee and football throwing the day was wrapped up. The group returned to Calgary, tired yet refreshed and eager in their anticipation for the next AGg group event.
Left: Lunch atop Praire View Lookout looking towards Mt. Baldy and beyond. Right: Mt. Yamnuska (and the McConnell fault!) as viewed from the hike.
- 2007-01-07 Gretchen Miles, a graduate student from the State University of New York, Syracuse, is visiting for two weeks to learn procedures for isotopic analyses of sulfate.
- 2007-01-01: Dr. Darla Zelenitsky has started her 1-year Killam postdoctoral fellowship on January 1, 2007.
- 2006-11-30: CFI funding announced
CFI has awarded infrastrucure funds for mass spectrometers and an ICP-OES to be installed in the Applied Geochemistry group in 2007.
- 2006-11-20: ES&T paper is now published
RAISTRICK, M., MAYER, B., PEREZ, R., SHEVALIER, M. HUTCHEON, I., PERKINS, E. & GUNTER, B. (2006): Using chemical and isotopic data to trace injected carbon dioxide and quantify ionic trapping in oilfield brines at Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada. –Environmental Science & Technology, 40(21): 6744-6749.
- 2006-09-20: Hot off the press:
The Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) Online News website published on September 20, 2006, features a cover story entitled “Tracking Buried CO2.” This story is based on an interview with Mark Raistrick and an article by Raistrick and colleagues from the Applied Geochemistry group on carbon isotope tracing of injected CO2 at the International Energy Agency Weyburn CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project, to be published in ES&T later this year. The weblink is: http://pubs.acs.org/journals/esthag/index.html Bernhard Mayer
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Getting started
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