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Stuart Black

Stuart Black portrait
  • School Director of Teaching and Learning
  • Associate Professor in Isotope Geochemistry

Areas of interest

  • Isotope Geochemistry and its applications to past and present climate and environments
  • Geochronology (U-Series isotopes)
  • Isotopes ecology to source and provenance plants and animals for interpretation of past environments
  • Isotopes in forensic science

Postgraduate supervision

Stuart is currently lead supervisor for a number of postgraduate students:

  • Ayla Paul: Provenance, Authenticity & Traceability of UK Honey: Enhancing consumer confidence for a sustainable industry. Funding: NERC QMEE CDT CASE with British Honey Company.
  • Quantifying responses to abrupt climate change in the Andes, South America: Empirical data and model synergies. Funding: NERC SCENARIO DTP CASE with BGS.

He is co-supervisor for the following student projects:

  • Millennial-scale history of Amazon forest dynamics Funding: NERC SCENARIO DTP. Lead supervisor: Frank Mayle (GES)
  • Trace-element incorporation into stalagmite calcite as a paleo-volcanic record: a chemical perspective: Funding: NERC SCENARIO DTP. Lead supervisor: Ricardo Grau-Crespo (Chemistry).
  • Isotope reconstruction of Middle East palaeoenvironments using speleothems. Funding: FoS (50%)/SAGES (50%). Lead supervisor: Dominik Fleitmann (Archaeology)
  • Isotope investigation of birds to interpret diet habits. Funding: Malaysian Government. Lead supervisor: Mark Fellowes (Biological Science)

Stuart has successfully supervised 28 previous PhD students on a range of topics using isotope approaches to climate and environmental reconstruction, isotope provenancing and sourcing, geochronology (U-Series) and isotope ecology.

He is keen to discuss proposals for research on any aspect of using isotope geochemistry and its application to past and present climate and environments including ecology. Potential projects are available with fieldwork in South America, the Mediterranean, Middle East and Northern Europe.

Research centres and groups

Walker Institute

Background

Dr Stuart Black is an Associate Professor in Isotope Geochemistry. He has a BSc (Hons) in Geology and Mineralogy from University of Aberdeen and a PhD in Isotope Geochemistry from the Department of Environmental Science, Lancaster University where he applied U-Series isotopes to volcanic rocks from the Kenya Rift valley to establish a chronology of magma residence times.

He is a Fellow of the Geological Society and an associate of the Walker Institute for Climate Systems Research and Soil Research Centre. Stuart is also currently a member of the NERC Peer Review College (2017-2021).

He currently has several major research interests:

  • climate and environmental change and human responses to these changes in the Peruvian Andes and the Mediterranean
  • Quaternary climate change of the Middle East
  • isotope geochemistry of carbonates to interpret climate and environmental signals
  • U-Series chronology of Quaternary carbonate deposits
  • chronology of climate change in Peru using compound specific 14C dating
  • isotope ecology including isotope provenance of key ecological predators (lions, raptors)
  • provenance of honey and beeswax products and medieval beeswax seals
  • establishing innovative approaches to the analysis of archaeological materials.

Earlier publications

Panagiotopoulos, F., Shahgedanova, M. and Stephenson, D.B. (2002) A Review of Northern Hemisphere Winter-time Teleconnection Patterns. Journal de Physique IV France, 12: Pr 10-27 - Pr 10-47.

Shahgedanova, M. (2002) Air Pollution. In: The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia: Russia and Neighbouring States. Shahgedanova, M (ed). Oxford University Press, Oxford, 476-496.

Shahgedanova, M. (2002) Climate at Present and in the Historical Past. In: The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia: Russia and Neighbouring States. Shahgedanova, M. (Ed). Oxford University Press, 70-102.

Shahgedanova, M. 'Air Pollution' (2002). In: The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia: Russia and Neighbouring States. Shahgedanova, M.(Ed). Oxford University Press. 476-496.

Shahgedanova, M., Perov, A and Mudrov, Y.. (2002) Mountains of Northern Russia. In: The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia: Russia and Neighbouring States. Shahgedanova, M. (ed). Oxford University Press, Oxford, 284-313.

Shahgedanova, M., Mikhailov, V.N., Larin, S. and Bredikhin, A. (2002) Mountains of Southern Siberia. In: The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia: Russia and Neighbouring States. Shahgedanova, M. (ed). Oxford University Press, Oxford, 314-349.

Shahgedanova, M. and Kuznetsov, M. (2002) The Arctic Environments. In: The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia: Russia and Neighbouring States. Shahgedanova, M. (ed). Oxford University Press, Oxford, 191-217.

Shahgedanova, M. (ed) (2000) Contemporary Environmental Politics and Issues in Transitional Economies. Special Issue of Environment and Planning B, 27 (3).

Shahgedanova, M. (2000) Environment in Transition: Better or Different? Environment and Planning B, 27 (3): 325-330.

Shahgedanova, M., Burt, T.P. and T.D. Davies. (1999) 'Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Oxides Air Pollution in Moscow'. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 112: 107-131.

Shahgedanova, M., Burt, T.P. and T.D. Davies (1998). Synoptic Climatology of Air Quality in Moscow. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 61: 85-102.

Burt, T.P. and M. Shahgedanova (1998). 'An Historical Record of Evaporation Losses since 1815 Calculated Using Long-term Observations from the Radcliffe Meteorological Station, Oxford, England'. Journal of Hydrology, 205: 101-111.

Shahgedanova, M., Burt, T.P. and T.D. Davies (1997) Some Aspects of the Three-Dimensional Heat Island in Moscow. International Journal of Climatology, 17: 1451-1465.

Shahgedanova, M. and T.P. Burt (1994). 'New Data on Air Pollution in the Former USSR'. Global Environmental Change, 4 (3): 201-227.

Shahgedanova, M. and Burt, T.P (1993). 'Air Pollution Management in the Former USSR'. Perspectives on the Environment. J. Holder (Ed). Avebury, 167-179.

Publications

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