Dr Peter Wynn
Director of Natural Sciences, ReaderResearch Interests
Natural environmental isotopes are used as an advanced method for tracing the dynamics of solutes and nutrients within earth systems. Within glaciated environments, natural isotopes of 15N/14N, 18O/16O, 34S/32S and 13C/12C have been used to fingerprint sources and sinks of nutrients within High Arctic and Icelandic glaciers. Fluorescence of compounds within snow and ice is currently being used as a method for establishing the organic component of the glacial ecosystem. Within karst environments, sulphur isotopes are currently being used to identify causes of variations in the sulphur content of stalagmites over time. Identification of how sulphur is cycled through the overlying ecosystem and karst environment allows transfer functions between climate and speleothems to be quantified. Compound specific analysis of organic matter contained within speleothem calcite is currently being investigated as a biomarker of past anthropogenic activity.
Current research includes funding from NERC to address archives of sulphur contained within trees (‘Interrogating trees as archives of environmental Sulphur variability’). In collaboration with the University of Swansea and the University of Birmingham, we aim to produce a high resolution record of changes in sulphur concentration and isotopic composition and link these to speleothem records from the same region. P. Wynn is also co-investigator on NERC grant ‘The Svalbard Exemplar for Neoproterozoic glaciation’, led by the University of Birmingham. This project uses the geochemical composition of glacial lake carbonates from NE Svalbard to infer palaeo atmospheric conditions during the Cryogenian glaciations of the Neoproterozoic.
Current Teaching
3rd Year: 15 credit module - Glacial systems
3rd Year: 15 credit module – Landscape development in Northern Spain (field course)
2nd Year: 15 credit module – Earth Surface Processes
2nd Year: 15 credit module – Glacier-landscape interactions in Iceland (field course)
2nd Year: 30 credit module – Concepts in Geography
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01/10/2023 → 31/03/2027
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01/08/2023 → 01/08/2025
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01/08/2023 → 01/08/2025
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01/07/2023 → 30/06/2026
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01/01/2023 → 30/06/2024
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18/03/2021 → 18/03/2022
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01/11/2019 → 01/11/2022
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01/10/2013 → 30/09/2016
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30/09/2013 → 30/09/2016
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30/09/2012 → 30/09/2016
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01/01/2012 → …
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01/09/2010 → 30/03/2014
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01/04/2010 → 30/04/2014
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01/04/2008 → 01/04/2009
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01/10/2007 → 01/10/2008
Research
Invited talk
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Hosting an academic visitor
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Hosting an academic visitor
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Membership of committee
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Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
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Invited talk
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Oral presentation
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Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor
Membership of committee
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Publication peer-review
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Visiting an external academic institution
Visiting an external academic institution
Publication peer-review
Membership of committee
Publication peer-review
Publication peer-review
Membership of committee
Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor
School Engagement
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Publication peer-review
Publication peer-review
Invited talk
- Centre for Global Eco-innovation
- Earth Science
- Environmental and Biogeochemistry
- Understanding a changing planet