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Martin Whitehouse
Professor, Senior researcher,
Manager of NordSIMS
Contact
Phone:+46 (0)8 519 551 69 / 67
E-mail: martin.whitehouse@nrm.se
Billing and mailing address:
See the Staff and Contact page
Education
- B.A., University of Cambridge, UK, 1983
- Dr.Phil., University of Oxford, UK, 1987
Responsibilities
I am primarily responsible for the ion microprobe facility, NordSIMS, which operates a large geometry CAMECA ims1280 instrument as a joint Nordic infrastructure between the museum, the Swedish Research Council and the University of Iceland. This role involves coordinating the facility staff resources, evaluation (together with the steering committee) and implementation of external projects, methodological development, and quality control, as well as reporting to the funding organisations and obtaining operating funds.
I am also involved in some teaching at undergraduate and master’s level at Stockholm University.
Research interests
My primary research interests are in applying radiogenic and stable isotopes to the evolution of the terrestrial planets, including the Earth. Specific questions that I am addressing include (1) the earliest evolution of the Earth-Moon system and development of major isotopic and geochemical reservoirs in the first few million years after planetary accretion; (2) the origin and nature of early crusts on the terrestrial planets and, specifically on Earth, the transition from such protocrust to modern-style plate-tectonic recycling; (3) the nature and evolution of the early surface reservoirs (atmosphere, hydrosphere); (4) evidence for early biogenic activity on Earth. These investigations are largely conducted using in situ microanalysis of both radiogenic and stable isotopes with the ion microprobe coupled with other in situ and bulk analytical methods.
In the more recent geological record, I am interested in the Neoarchean evolution of the North Atlantic Craton, primarily in Labrador, Greenland and Scotland as well as the Neoproterozoic evolution of the Arabian-Nubian Shield, one of the largest regions of juvenile crustal growth on the planet. I am also active in developing novel ion microprobe methods applied to modern ecology as well as nuclear safeguards and forensics.
My research is currently funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Swedish Radiological Protection Board.
Research projects
- Early Planetary Evolution – a microanalytical perspective
- Determining the ages of Earth’s impact structures
- Evolution of the North Atlantic Craton
- Neoproterozoic crustal growth in the Arabian Nubian Shield
Other Professional Roles
- Advisory Board member and deputy chair, Heidelberg HR Ion Microprobe (HIP), 2014 -
- Steering Committee member, Centre for Advanced Surface Analysis (CASA), University of Lausanne/Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, 2013 – 2017
- Steering Committee member, Natural Environment Research Council (UK) Isotope Geoscience Facilities, 1994-1998 and 2011-2015.
- Member, Crafoord Prize committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2012 –
- Member, Aminoff Prize committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2017 –
- Subject Editor, Journal of the Geological Society of London, 1999 – 2016
- Editorial Board member, Chemical Geology, 2003 -
Awards
- Foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- A.E. Phaup Award, Geological Society of Zimbabwe (jointly with H.R.Rollinson) - 2011
- Assar Haddings Prize, Royal Physiographical Society, Lund (jointly with S. Claesson) - 2016
