Jan Veizer

 

 

Distinguished University Professor (Emeritus)

PhD (1968), Slovak Academy of Sciences
PhD (1971), Australian National University

Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa
140 Louis Pasteur
Ottawa, Canada K1N 6N5
Tel.: (613) 562-5800 ext.6461
Fax: (613) 562-5192


E-mail: jveizer@uottawa.ca

 

Short curriculum vitae:

Dr. Jan Veizer is a “Distinguished University Professor” of Geology at the University of Ottawa (Emeritus since April 2004) where he held the NSERC/Noranda/CIAR Research Chair in Earth Systems, and, from 1992 to 2004, concurrently served as the Director of the “Earth System Evolution Program” of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR). He recently retired also from the Chair of Sedimentary and Isotope Geology at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. He has drawn on the principles of geology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and biology to paint a picture of the Earth as a dynamic, “living” entity. This complex and innovative framework may afford us a glimpse of the future of our planet and help us to understand the impact mankind has had.

He received his formal education in his native Slovakia (then Czechoslovakia) that culminated with doctorates in sedimentology and structural geology at Comenius University and the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. Subsequently, turning his interest to geochemistry, he went to Australian National University where he obtained a Ph.D. in isotope geology in 1971. After short teaching and research stints at the University of California in Los Angeles, and the Universities of Göttingen and Tübingen, he arrived in 1973 at the University of Ottawa, his family base ever since.

Dr. Veizer has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Killam Award (Canada Council, 1986), the Past President Medal (Geological Association of Canada, 1987), the Willet G. Miller Medal (Royal Society of Canada, 1991), the G.W. Leibniz Prize, the highest award of the German Research Foundation (1992), the Logan Medal, the most prestigious honour granted by the Geological Association of Canada (1995), the Bancroft Medal (Royal Society of Canada, 2000) and the Gold Medal (Slovak Geological Survey). In 1986, he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada.

In his latest research he has concentrated on two fundamental issues:

·         the isotopic evolution of past sea water as a proxy signal for the past state of planetary surficial environments, and

·         the environmental issues of large riverine ecosystems, particularly the nature of the riverine carbon cycle and climate.

Research Interests and Research Projects:

The major contributions of my work in the last decade have been in four directions:

(1) theoretical and practical development of chemical and isotopic techniques for studies of diagenesis in carbonates,

(2) development of isotopic curves (Sr, C, O, and to a degree S) for past seawater, and

(3) development of the quantitative concepts of recycling for the terrestrial exogenic system, including continental crust and mineralization.

(4) quantification of biogeochemical cycles in riverine systems.

Student or PDF Positions

In one of the following topics:

Ø     chemical and isotopic evolution of sea water over geologic history;

Ø     biogeochemical cycles in aquatic systems, particularly rivers, with emphasis on isotopic techniques (C, O, H, S, N);

Ø    isotope geochemistry of carbonate rocks and fossils (Proterozoic and Phanerozoic);

If interested please contact me by email

Recent Graduate Theses:

Paul Ferguson (Ph.D.). 2007. Aqueous and isotope geochemistry of the Fly River, Papua New Guinea: coupling of the water and carbon cycles in tropical rainforest biomes.

Juraj Farkas (Ph.D.). 2007. Calcium and boron isotope variations in marine biogenic carbonates: implications for chemical evolution of seawater during the Phanerozoic.

Kelli Powis (Ph.D.). 2006. Stable isotope geochemistry of the Neoproterozoic Bambui Group at Serra do Ramalho, Bahia, Brazil.

Kristal Guckert-Dubois (Ph.D.). 2006. Carbon cycling in northern temperate lakes.

Frank Frauenstein (RNDr). 2005. Geochemistry of carbonates at the Archean/Proterozoic transition: Pretoria-Postmasburg Group, South Africa. Ruhr University (in German).

My Graduate Students and Postdocs:

Currently I have three graduate students and one postdoc in Ottawa:

Steven Wickson (M.Sc.) Carbonate isotope geochemistry.

Kern Lee (Ph.D.) Stable isotope studies for regional carbon balance, peninsular Malaysia.

Muhammad Izzudin Syakir (Ph.D.) Stable isotope studies for regional water balance, peninsular Malaysia.

Kristal Dubois (PDF) Carbon cycling in aquatic systems.

Email addresses can be found here

Selection from Recent Publications:

§         Dubois, K.D., Lee, D., and Veizer, J., (2010). Isotopic Constraints on Carbon Fluxes in the Mississippi River. Journal of Geophysical Research, in press.

§         Frauenstein, F., Veizer, J., Beukes, N., Niekerk, H.S. and Coetze, L.L. (2009). Transvaal Supergroup carbonates: implications for Paleoproterozoic d18O and d13C records. Precambrian Research, 175, 149-160.

§         Brunet, F., Dubois, K., Veizer, J., Nkoue Ndondo, G.R., Ndam Ngoupayou, J.R., Boeglin, J.L. and Probst, J.L. (2009). An isotopic approach to trace the carbon budget of a tropical watershed: Nyong basin, Cameroon. Chemical Geology, 265, 563-572.

§         Dubois, K., Carignan, R. and Veizer, J. (2009). Can pelagic net heterotrophy account for carbon fluxes from eastern Canadian lakes? Applied Geochemistry, 24, 988-998.

§         Korte, C., Jones, P.J., Brand, U., Mertmann, D. and Veizer, J. (2008). Oxygen isotope values from high latitudes: clues for Permian sea-surface temperature gradients and Late Paleozoic deglaciation. Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 269, 1-16.

§         Kouchinsky, A., Bengtson, S., Gallet, Y., Korovnikov, I., Pavlov, V., Runnegar, B., Shields, G., Veizer, J., Young, E. and Ziegler, K. (2008). The SPICE carbon isotope excursion in Siberia: a combined study of the upper Middle Cambrian – lowermost Ordovician Kulyumbe River section, northwestern siberian platform. Geological Magazine, 145, 609-622.

§         Veizer, J. (2008). Climate, water and CO2: a geological perspective. Geological Magazine, 72, 297-298.

§         Kouchinsky, A., Bengtson, S., Gallet, Y., Korovnikov, I., Pavlov, V., Runnegar, B., Shields, G., Veizer, J., Young, E. and Ziegler, K. (2008). Geological investigation of a section at Kulyumbe River in Siberia. Pangea, doi:10.1594/PANGEA.687608.

§         Karim, A., Veizer, J. and Barth, J. (2007). Net Ecosystem Production in the Great Lakes Basin and its implications for the North American missing carbon sink: A hydrologic and stable isotope approach. Global and Planetary Change, 61, 15-27.

§         Freitag, H., Ferguson, P.R., Dubois, K., Hayford, E.K., von Vorztzogbe, V. and Veizer, J. (2007). Water and carbon fluxes from savanna ecosystems of Volta River watershed, West Africa. Global and Planetary Change, 61, 3-14.

§         Prokoph, A., Shields, G.A. and Veizer, J. (2008). Compilation and time-series analysis of marine carbonate d18O, d13C, 87Sr/86Sr and d34S databases through Earth history. Earth Science Reviews, 87, 113-134.

§         Farkas, J., Bohm, F., Wallmann, K., Blenkinsop, J., Eisenhauer, A., van Geldern, R., Munnecke, A., Voigt, S. and Veizer, J. (2007). Calcium isotope budget of Phanerozoic oceans: implications for chemical evolution of seawater and its causative mechanisms. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 71, 5117-5134.

§         Wotte, T., Alvaro, J.-J., Shields, G.A., Brown, B., Brasier, M. and Veizer, J. (2007). High resolution C-, O- and Sr-isotope stratigraphy across the Lower-Middle Cambrian transition of the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain) and the Montagne Noire (France), west Gondwana. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 256, 47-70.

§         Ferguson, P.R., Weinrauch, N., Wassenaar, L.I., Mayer, B. and Veizer, J. (2007). Partitioning regional evaporation and transpiration water vapor fluxes in the northern Great Plains of North America. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 21, GB2023, doi:10.1029/2006GB002702.

§         Ferguson, P.R. and Veizer, J. (2007). The coupling of water and carbon fluxes via the terrestrial biosphere and its significance to the Earth’s climate system. Journal Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, 112, D24S06, doi:10.1029/2007JD008431.

§         Came, R.E., Eiler, J.M., Veizer, J., Azmy, K., Brand, U. and Weidman, C.R. (2007). Coupling of surface temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the Paleozoic era. Nature, 449, doi:10.1038/nature06085.

§         Farkaš, J., Buhl, D., Blenkinsop, J. and Veizer, J. (2007). Evolution of the oceanic calcium cycle during the late Mesozoic: Evidence from d44/40Ca of marine skeletal carbonates. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 253, 96-111.

§         Misi, A., Kaufman, A.J., Veizer, J., Powis, K., Azmy, K., Boggiani, C.P., Gaucher, C., Teixera, J.B.G., Sanches, A.L. and Iyer, S.S.S. (2007). Chemostratigraphic correlation of Neoproterozoic successions in South America. Chemical Geology, 237, 161-185.

§         Scherer, K., Fichtner, H., Borrmann, T., Beer, J., Desorgher, L., Flückiger, E., Fahr, H.-J., Ferreira, S.E.S., Langner, U., Potgieter, M.S., Heber, B., Masarik, J., Shaviv, N. and Veizer, J. (2006). Erratum: Interstellar-terrestrial relations: the variable cosmic environments, the dynamic heliosphere, and their imprints on terrestrial archives. Space Science Reviews, 127/1-4, 467.

§         Scherer, K., Fichtner, H., Borrmann, T., Beer, J., Desorgher, L., Flückiger, E., Fahr, H.-J., Ferreira, S.E.S., Langner, U., Potgieter, M.S., Heber, B., Masarik, J., Shaviv, N. and Veizer, J. (2006). Interstellar-terrestrial relations: the variable cosmic environments, the dynamic heliosphere, and their imprints on terrestrial archives. Space Science Reviews, 127/1-4, 327-465.

§         Kasting, J., Howard, M.T., Wallmann, K., Veizer, J., Shields, G. and Jaffrés, J. (2006). Paleoclimates, ocean depth, and the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 252, 82-93.

§         Brand, U., Azmy, K. and Veizer, J. (2006). Evaluation of the Salinic I tectonic, Cancaniri glacial and Ireviken biotic events: biochemostratigraphy of the lower Silurian succession in the Niagara Gorge area, Canada and U.S.A. Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 241, 192-213.

§         Korte, C., Jasper, T., Kozur, H.W. and Veizer, J. (2006). 87Sr/86Sr record of Permian seawater. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 240, 89-107.

§         Azmy, K., Veizer, J., Jin, J., Copper, P. and Brand, U., (2006). Paleobathymetry of a Silurian shelf based on brachiopod assemblages: an oxygen isotope test. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 43, 281-293.

§         Bruhn, F., Veizer, J., Buhl, D. and Meijer, J. (2005). Diagenetic history of Korallenoolith (Malm) of northwestern Germany: implications for in-situ trace element and isotopic studies. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physical Research, B231, 518-523.

§         Korte, C., Kozur, H.W. and Veizer, J. (2005). δ13C and δ18O values of Triassic brachiopods and carbonate rocks as proxies for coeval seawater and paleotemperature. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 226, 287-306.

§         Chakrapani, C.J. and Veizer, J. (2005). Dissolved inorganic carbon composition in the Upstream Ganga River in the Himalayas. Current Science, 89, 553-556.

§         Korte, C., Jasper, T., Kozur, H.W. and Veizer, J., (2005). δ 18O and δ 13C of Permian brachiopods: a record of seawater evolution and continental glaciation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 224, 333-351.

§         Veizer, J. (2005). Celestial climate driver: a perspective from four billion years of the carbon cycle. Geoscience Canada, 32, 13-28.

§         Korte, C., Kozur, H.W., Joachimski, M.M., Strauss, H., Veizer, J. and Schwark, L. (2004). Carbon, sulfur, oxygen and strontium isotope records, organic geochemistry and biostratigraphy across the Permian/Triassic boundary in Abadeh, Iran. Int. J. Earth Sciences, 93, 565-581.

§         Shaviv, N. and Veizer, J. (2004). Comment. EOS, 85/48, 510.

§         Shaviv, N. and Veizer, J. (2004). Comment on “CO2 as a primary driver of Phanerozoic climate” by Royer et al. GSA Today, 14/17, 18.

§         Barth, J. and Veizer, J. (2004). Three-component water balance to enable protection of ecologically important ecosystems: an example from the St. Lawrence River. Applied Geochemistry, 19, 1637-1641.

§         Pichler, T. and Veizer, J. (2004). The precipitation of aragonite from shallow-water hydrothermal fluids in a coral reef, Tutum Bay, Ambitle Island, Papua New Guinea. Chemical Geology, 207, 31-45.

§         Fauville, A., Mayer, B., Frömmichen, R., Friese, K. and Veizer, J. (2004). Chemical and isotopic evidence for accelerated bacterial sulfate reduction in acid mining lakes after addition of organic carbon: laboratory batch experiment. Chemical Geology, 204, 325-344.

§         Knöller, K., Fauville, A., Mayer, B., Strauch, G., Friese, K. and Veizer, J. (2004). Sulfur cycling in an acid mining lake and its vicinity in Lusatia, Germany. Chemical Geology, 204, 303-324.

§         Wang, X. and Veizer, J. (2004). Erratum to “Respiration/photosynthesis balance of terrestrial aquatic ecosystems, Ottawa area, Canada. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 68, 933-934.

§         Ray, J.S. and Veizer J. (2004b). Reply to comments by Kumar S. on “C, O, Sr and Pb isotope systematics of carbonate sequences of the Vindhyan Supergroup, India: age, diagenesis, correlations and implications for global events”. Precambrian Research, 129, 195-196.

§         Ray, J.S. and Veizer J. (2004a). Reply to comments by Chakraborty P.P. and Sarkar A. on “C, O, Sr and Pb isotope systematics of carbonate sequences of the Vindhyan Supergroup, India: age, diagenesis, correlations and implications for global events”. Precambrian Research, 129, 189-190.

Books and Book Chapters

§         Veizer, J. (2008). Carbon isotope variations over geologic time. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments (editor V. Gornitz). Springer, 128-133. (Invited contribution)

§         Strauss, H. and Veizer, J. (2008). Sulfur isotopes. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments (editor V. Gornitz). Springer, 926-929. (Invited contribution)

§         Veizer, J. (2008). Strontium isotopes. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments (editor V. Gornitz). Springer, 923-926. (Invited contribution)

§         Robb, L.J., Knoll, A.H., Plumb, K.A., Shields, G.A., Strauss, H. and Veizer, J. (2004). The Precambrian: the Archean and Proterozoic Eons. In A geologic Time Scale 2004 (editors F.M. Gradstein, J.G. Ogg and A.G. Smith), Cambridge University Press, 129-140. (Invited contribution)

§         Shields, G.A. and Veizer, J. (2004). Isotopic signatures. In The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (editors B. Webby, M. Droser, F. Paris and I. Percival), Columbia University Press, New York, 68-71. (Invited contribution)

§         Veizer, J. and Mackenzie, F.T. (2004). Evolution of sedimentary rocks. In Treatise on Geochemistry (editors H.D. Holland and K.K. Turekian). Elsevier, vol. 7, 369-407. (Invited contribution)

Geological Websites of Interest

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Phanerozoic and Precambrian Isotope Databases

 

 

 

 


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