Our group focuses on the study of continental crust development with an emphasis on tectonics, petrology and geochronology of ancient and young urogens, and Provence studies on land and sea. The research is based on observations and sampling of selected sites in the field (in Israel and abroad) and laboratory research with an emphasis on micro-analysis of rocks and minerals using advanced analytical instrumentation. 

Our recent research focuses on the study of the Precambrian basemente in the Eilat area, the sources of the clastic sediments penetrated by deep sea drilling in the Levant basin, the development of the Alpine orogen of the Kyrenia Range in Northern Cyprus, the structure of the Alanya Complex in southern Turkey, and the geology of Europe as reflected in the geochronology of detrital minerals in the large rivers.

Research Methods

 

At the Institute of Earth Sciences, we established a laboratory for mineral separation (Yona Geller is a laboratory director) in which various minerals are extracted and separated (usually uranium-bearing and dateable, such as zircon and rutile). For separation we use the Institute's rock laboratory and then, in the mineral separation laboratory, we use a wilfly table, magnetic separator, heavy liquids, optical binoculars and a polarizing microscope. We use the electron microprobe laboratory at the Institute for petrologic research, and the cathodoluminescence laboratory at the Nanoscience Center of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Analytical research is carried out using state of the art analytical instrumentation that enables high-resolution geochemical and isotopic analysis of individual mineral crystals. We perform the isotopic measurements at the Laser Ablation MC-ICP-MS laboratory at Goethe University Frankfurt (FIERCE - Frankfurt Isotope & Element Research Center at Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany).

 

Research Students

Adar Glazer (PhD student)

 

Chen Vardi (Master's student) 

 

Contact Us

 

Researcher: dov.avigad@mail.huji.ac.il

Lab Manager: yona.geller@mail.huji.ac.il, 

 

I'm interested in the interactions among Earth internal processes (tectonic and magmatic), surface processes (erosion and weathering), and their role in the rock cycle, global climate, and the emergence and evolution of life. Over geological time, variations in the style and rate of tectonic activity, climate and ecology alter the compositions of rocks, ocean and atmosphere, and may register as variations in the texture and composition of sedimentary rocks and minerals. In recent years, my research has been focused on the development of new approaches to translate measured geochemical signals in such materials (e.g., clumped-isotope signals measured in carbonate minerals) to quantitative constraints on thermal, compositional and deformational histories of surface, sedimentary basins and metamorphic environments. I have been applying these approaches to study open and closed system reactions during the exhumation of the metamorphic core complex in Naxos (Greece), reconstruct the oxygen isotope composition of the Phanerozoic Ocean, constrain the uplift and exhumation history of the Colorado Plateau, and study the relationship between uplift and exhumation of the Himalaya and the Indian Monsoon intensity, and its potential effect on global climate.

Ongoing and future projects:

The Precambrian growth and stabilization of the continental lithosphere and its hypothetical role in the Oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere, global climate, and evolution of life.

Reconstructing the oxygen isotope composition of the Precambrian Ocean as a proxy for the proportions of weathering and hydrothermal alteration reactions in deep-time. 

Developing new carbonate clumped-isotope based analytical and modeling tools aimed to refine thermal compositional and deformational histories of sedimentary basins and metamorphic environments.

Test alternative hypotheses for the ‘Dolomite-Problem’ and the study the relationship between dolomitization and the Ocean Mg/Ca ratio in the geological past.

Test various hypotheses linking tectonic uplift and exhumation of the Himalayas to the Indian Monsoon intensity and Cenozoic global cooling.

Research Studants

Nathalie Neagu (PhD)

Shlomit Frumkin (MSc)

Daniel Freedberg (MSc)

Contact Information 

Uri Ryb | uri.ryb@mail.huji.ac.il | 972-2-6584668+