Research Group

 

Overview

Dr. Kendall is a geochemist who uses the elemental concentrations and isotope compositions of geological materials to:

• Develop and use novel isotopic techniques to reconstruct the history of atmosphere and ocean oxygenation through time and its cause and effect relationships with biological evolution, seawater chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, and natural resource deposits 

• Develop innovative geochemical methods that can serve as process tracers for energy and mineral resources, thereby improving genetic models of resource formation as well as exploration strategies for these important resources

 

Specific research themes:

• Development and application of the molybdenum, uranium, thallium, rhenium, and osmium isotope systems and redox-sensitive metal concentrations as tracers for local and global ocean redox conditions, and oxidative continental weathering and seafloor hydrothermal fluxes of metals (including bioessential metals) to the Precambrian and early Phanerozoic oceans

• Reconstruction of sedimentary environments using inorganic geochemistry (trace element concentrations and metal isotope compositions) of conventional and unconventional petroleum source rocks, and inferring the economic and environmental implications for energy resources

• Elemental geochemistry, metal isotope geochemistry, and geochronology of ore deposits and the implications for ore formation and exploration

 

Current PhD Students (sole-supervised)

Ivan Edgeworth

Alexandra Kunert

 

Current MSc Students (sole-supervised)

Brianna Miller

Holly Grierson (starting Fall 2024)

 

Laboratory Technician

Natasha Bell

 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Isabella Ruppert

 

Completed PhD Theses

Xinze Lu, 2022
Early Paleozoic ocean redox dynamics: Perspectives from uranium isotopes of sedimentary rocks

 

Completed MSc Theses

Natasha Bell, 2023
Comparing thallium isotopes to paleosalinity and Mo-U isotope paleoredox proxies: A case study of the Upper Devonian Kettle Point Formation, Ontario

Alexandra Kunert, 2020
Reconstruction of local and global marine paleoredox conditions for the northeast-Panthalassan (British Columbia, Canada) expression of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event using a multi-proxy approach

Shuai Yang, 2019
Reconstruction of local and global marine paleoredox conditions during deposition of the Devonian-Mississippian Exshaw Formation (Black Shale Member) and the evaluation of hydrocarbon maturation effects

Waleed Gusti, 2018
(co-supervised with Dr. Orfan Shouakar-Stash, IT2 Isotope Tracer Technologies Inc.)
The effectiveness of persulfate and hydrogen peroxide on the oxidation of hydrocarbon contaminants at 30 C: A study with focus on the performance of compound specific isotope analysis

Su Wang, 2018
Development of Mo isotopes as petroleum tracers: the Phosphoria petroleum system, Bighorn Basin, U.S.A.

Alysa Segato, 2018
Mo isotope variations in molybdenites at single-crystal, ore deposit, and global scales: Implications for Mo source fluid, transport, fractionation mechanisms, and molybdenite mineralization

Yan Zhang, 2017
Experimental determination of the extent of Fe(III) reduction and Fe isotope fractionation during microbial reduction of ferrihydrite in freshwater systems by sulfate-reducing bacteria

Ahmad Abuharara, 2017
(co-supervised with Dr. Orfan Shouakar-Stash, IT2 Isotope Tracer Technologies Inc.)
Using isotopes to understand the origin of water and the effect of reinjection in the Los Azufers geothermal field in Mexico

Jieying Wang, 2016
Uranium and molybdenum isotope constraints on ocean redox conditions during deposition of the upper Devonian Kettle Point Formation, Ontario

Xinze Lu, 2016
Reconstruction of local and global marine redox conditions during deposition of Late Ordovician and Early Silurian organic-rich mudrocks in the Siljan ring district, central Sweden

Benoit Charette, 2016 
(co-supervised with Dr. Carl Guilmette, Laval)
Long-lived anatexis in the exhumed middle crust from the Torngat Orogen and eastern Core Zone: Constraints from geochronology, petrochronology, and phase equilibria modeling

Aaron Bustard, 2016
(co-supervised with Dr. Martin Ross, Waterloo)
Fingerprinting and tracing the signature of basement-hosted unconformity-type uranium alteration through thick Quaternary tills: An example from the Thelon Basin, Nunavut


Completed MSc Course-Based Students

Chuqi Zhou, 2021

Zisen Ma, 2018

Wanzhen Lin, 2017

 

BSc Honors Thesis Students

Isabella Ruppert, current

Kien McGarvey, current

Alexander Jaszczur, 2024

Sara McDuff, 2024

Jananee Sriharan, 2023

Kirstin Cadera, 2022

Madison Foster, 2022

Annika Kjerulf, 2022

Joel Rocan, 2022

Jessica Verschoor, 2021

Sterling Whittaker Hawkins, 2021

Natasha Bell, 2019

Mitchell Jones, 2019

Benjamin Hartwell, 2018

Xuxin Hu, 2018

Yinuo Li, 2018

Sarah Matthews, 2018

Zhaochen Xiang, 2017

Congxi Zhu, 2017

Jian Liu, 2017

Chi Zhang, 2017

Di Zhao, 2017

Alexandra Kunert, 2016

Shuai Yang, 2016

Xuange Sun, 2016

Zhaoyu Huang, 2016

Hakyung Choi, 2016

Patrick Brunet, 2015

Wenyue Zuo, 2015

Su Wang, 2015

Shuo Liang, 2015

Caroline Thompson, 2015

Derek Piitz, 2014

Cynthia Davis, 2014

Ryan Truong, 2014

Fengzhou Wang, 2014

Alex Sheen, 2014

Nengzhao Yan, 2013

Sinong Lin, 2013

Zhixiang Jia, 2013

Christopher Scholz, 2013

Xinze Lu, 2013

Alysa Segato, 2013

 

Former Research Staff

Sarah McCaugherty, 2020-2021

Dr. Liyan Xing, 2015-2017

 

Former Undergraduate Co-op Students and Research Assistants

Annika Kjerulf, 2021 (co-op, NSERC USRA)

Johnathan Clarke, 2020 and 2021 (co-op)

Gavin MacDougall, 2020 (co-op)

Isabella Bowman, 2019 (research assistant)

Michelle Wong, 2016 (co-op)

Alex Sheen, 2013 (NSERC USRA)