Biogeochemistry is the exploration of biotic/abiotic factors and mechanisms responsible for spatiotemporal variations in the ecosystem structure as well as geochemical/isotope compositions of different materials in earth surface systems. We measure elemental abundances and isotope ratios of geological and environmental samples, and use the data to explore various modern/historic earth surface processes and the human impact on natural biogeochemical cycles.
Particularly, we focus on the measurement of radiogenic Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes, and non-traditional stable isotopes of B, Si, Ba, Cu, Cd and Zn.
Our main objective is to explore the potential of traditional as well as non-traditional element/isotope tracers in solving explicitly problems related to:
- partitioning of anthropogenic from natural processes
- provenance tracing of continental materials
- quantification of particulate derived elemental fluxes to hydrosphere
- quantification of groundwater loss to oceans
- crustal evolution
- reconstructions of paleo-climatic/environmental conditions and abundances of
different chemical constituents in earth system components
The use of ultra-pure chemicals during sample processing in our ultra-clean laboratory at IISER Bhopal, and the state of the art analytical techniques (like multiple isotope dilution, standard-sample-standard bracketing, internal standardization) and modern instruments
(Q-ICPMS, MC-ICPMS) have enabled us to produce very precise and accurate elemental/isotope data in natural materials, which help to achieve our objectives confidently.