Dr. Stephen R. Meyers
Assistant Professor
Paleoclimatology, Sedimentary Geochemisty, Stratigraphy, Geostatistics

Ph.D., Northwestern University, 2003

Download Curriculum Vitae

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UNC Chapel Hill, Winter 2007
(Photo © Gigi Cohen)

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The Astronomical Clock
Old Town Square, Prague, 2005
(Photo: S. Meyers)

THE LABORATORY FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION SEDIMENTARY
GEOCHEMISTRY (HSG-Lab)

The HSG-Lab is equipped to generate high-resolution chemical data for a range of geologic, biogeochemical, and paleoceanographic applications. The laboratory consists of an X-Ray fluorescence scanning facility and a wet chemistry facility, which permit characterization of major, minor and trace elements, inorganic and organic carbon, as well as phosphorus and iron phases.


X-ray Fluorescence Scanning Facility

The centerpiece of the HSG-Lab is an Avaatech X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Scanner, designed for the acquisition of high-resolution (millimeter scale) element abundance data. The scanning-XRF method is non-destructive and is ~40 times more rapid than traditional geochemical methods (e.g., sample crushing, digestion, and measurement via Ionically-Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy). The facility is equipped to process sediment and rock cores with diameters from 30 to 150 mm, as well as individual rock and sediment samples, sediment U-channels, powders, liquids, and XRF pellets.

RECENT ACTIVITY IN THE XRF-SCANNING FACILTY:

Gulf of Mexico: Late Pleistocene-Holocene sediment cores from the MC-118 gas hydrate field, to investigate gas hydrate stability, its impact on slope sedimentation, and potential linkages to climate change (UNC Ph.D. student Wes Ingram).

North Atlantic: Late Pleistocene-Holocene sediment cores from the Rockall Trough region, to investigate linkages between climate change and benthic biogeochemistry in the glacial/interglacial North Atlantic (UNC Ph.D. student Dylan Malynn).

West Virgina: Outcrop slabs of the Mississippian age Pride Shale, to investigate rhythmic sedimentation due to tidal forcing ("tidal rhythmites") (UNC M.S. student Kristin Larkins).

Burgandy, France: Sediment cores from mill ponds and reserviors, to reconstruct environmental and land use changes since 1200 AD in Burgandy (Univ. of Pittsburgh Ph.D. student Tamara Misner).

Cape Lookout Bight, North Carolina: Shallow sediment cores (diver-taken) to investigate biogeochemical changes associated with early diagenesis (UNC M.S. student Bo He).

Sierra Nevada, California: Polished slabs of modally layered granodiorite, to investigate potential mechanisms of formation (UNC M.S. student Emily Foley).