Dr. Alan Rooney
(photo credit: Mauricio Ibanez-Mejia)
I am interested in understanding the interactions between tectonics, climatic processes, and geochemical cycles on a range of time scales. I use radiogenic isotope geochemistry, in particularly, the rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) geochronometer and samarium-neodymium (Sm-Nd) isotopes, combined with field-based mapping, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and mineralogy to interrogate the rock record of critical transitions in Earth history.
Publications can be found on Google Scholar
Dr. Jonathon Toma, Post Doc.
Dr. Jonathan Toma is an isotope geochemist with a BSc in Geology from the University of Saskatchewan (2016) and an MSc (2019) and PhD (2023) in Geology from the University of Alberta. Academic pursuits include investigating Precambrian atmospheric oxidative histories (Toma et al., 2019), calibrating Phanerozoic timescales (Toma et al., 2020), exploring critical mineral formation (Toma et al., 2022), and studying element cycling in subduction zones (Toma and Creaser, 2023) and mountain belts (Toma, 2023). Current research focuses on further elucidating pathways and rates of critical mineral concentration, particularly graphite, within the Earth’s crust during pivotal points in the deep geologic past, such as those associated with supercontinent assembly and enhanced organic carbon burial.
Graduate Students
Sam Shipman, Ph.D. Candidate
Sam is interested in constraining the timing and causal mechanisms of major climatic and biological events throughout the Proterozoic and Paleozoic. His current focus is using Re-Os geochronology and Os, Nd, and Sr isotopes to produce novel age constraints and paleoweathering profiles surrounding the Snowball Earth glaciations and Tonian carbon isotope excursions.
Gryphen Goss, Ph.D. Candidate
Gryphen's research investigates how ice sheets behaved during glacial-interglacial cycles of the Mid-Pleistocene. She utilizes radiogenic Os isotope geochemistry to reconstruct glacial weathering fluxes that represent iceberg release events and melting due to warming.
Website: gryphengoss.com
Carey Ciaburri, Ph.D. Student
Carey's research interests include isotope geochemistry, geochronology, mineralogy, materials science, and materials characterization. Currently, she is working on a project using the rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) chronometer to constrain the timing of graphite mineralization within type IAB iron meteorites. Using this technique, she strives to understand the Re-Os systematics and chronology of graphite nodules within type IAB iron meteorites, as well as uncover new insights pertaining to the origin and formation of this unusual meteorite group.
Postgraduates and Undergraduates
Evelyn Larson, Postgraduate
Evelyn Larson is a postgraduate associate in the Rooney Lab. She graduated from Yale in 2023 with a B.S. in Earth and Planetary Sciences. For her senior thesis, Evelyn worked on Neoproterozoic deposits to constrain the timing of the Shuram carbon isotope excursion and is continuing this work as a postgraduate. Additionally, she is curating the 2,000+ sample meteorite research collection of the Planetary Studies Foundation at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Evelyn also serves as the Assistant Curator of the Planetary Studies Foundation.
Dana Polomski, Undergraduate
Dana is a senior undergraduate, majoring in Earth & Planetary Sciences. She comes to Yale after completing Associate degrees in Math, Computer Science, and Physics at Santa Barbara City College. Broadly, she is interested in refining our understanding of major climatic and tectonic events in the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic through a multidisciplinary lens that integrates geochronology, geochemistry, paleomagnetism, and field observations.
Our laboratory manager is Sierra Anseeuw.
She manages the day-to-day lab operations in the Rooney Lab. She received her B.Sc. in Environmental Geology from Beloit College and her M.Sc. in Geology from the University of Buffalo. Her research background is in isotope geochemistry and contaminant hydrogeology.
Prospective Students: I will not be taking
any new students for Fall 2024