Spatio-Temporal Isotope Analytics Lab
The SPATIAL group combines stable isotope techniques with field and laboratory data, modeling, and statistical/data science tools to tackle big-picture problems in the Earth and environmental sciences.
Our team embraces diversity of backgrounds, identities, perspectives, and disciplines to forge new approaches to long-standing natural and applied science problems and identify new challenges to be solved. We are always looking for curious problem solvers who want to collaborate in this work.
Our research is currently structured around four main themes
Paleoclimate
Hydrology
Forensics and Movement Ecology
Informatics and Data Science
Recent Highlights
Gabe is a native of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and graduate of the University of Michigan (B.S. in Geology, 1999) and University of California, Santa Cruz (Ph.D. in Earth Sciences, 2003). He spent two years as a postdoc at the University of Utah (Dept. of Biology, 2004-2005) before taking a faculty position in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN). At Purdue he helped develop the Purdue Stable Isotope Facility, launch a new research community focused on spatial analytics using isotope data, and initiate a program to develop cyber-GIS infrastructure for the environmental isotope community.
In the summer of 2012 Gabe re-joined the University of Utah as a faculty member in the Department of Geology and Geophysics and founded the Spatio-Temporal Isotope Analytics Lab (SPATIAL) group. The group leverages the outstanding infrastructure at the U, including the SIRFER lab and the Center for High-Performance Computing, and has developed a new lab facility focused on mobile and high-throughput laser spectroscopy for environmental isotope analysis.
Gabe's research interests span the fields of biology and geology, and this is reflected in the breadth of ongoing research in the SPATIAL group. The central focus of this work is on humankind’s impacts on and relationships with Earth’s environment, particularly those that promise to have immediate and important consequences for our continued survival and comfort as a species. The wide-ranging, large-scale changes we are causing in the global water cycle represent one such set of impacts, and have developed as a central theme in many of our research projects. This work focuses on (1) understanding natural environmental change, through study of the geological record, as a baseline or analogue for human-induced changes, and (2) observation and modeling of the current state of the environment and changes therein. Members of the SPATIAL group apply a wide range of tools in their research, including stable isotope ratio analysis, geochemical modeling, and statistical and data science methods.
Sagarika has a BS degree in Genetics from Bangalore University, India. She completed two Master’s degrees in Biotechnology and Plant/Soil sciences in India and at the University of Kentucky, respectively. Her graduate research involved livestock antibiotics effects on soil biogeochemical cycling. Her principal research interests revolve around the intersection between plant ecology, soil biogeochemistry, stable isotope, and global environmental change. After moving from Kentucky, she started working in the University of Utah Biology Department as a lab technician. She joined the SPATIAL group as Lab Coordinator in 2015.
Stephannie has a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah and Master's from UC Berkeley. Her previous work included using isotopes to map dietary differences among socioeconomic groups within the Salt Lake Valley. She serves as the study coordinator for the FIND-EM project.
Dustin received a BS in Earth Sciences from UC San Diego in 2010. He first got involved in geochemical proxies of paleoenvironments, including applications of stable isotopes and trace/minor elements in carbonates, while completing his MS in Earth Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (2012). He received his PhD in Earth Sciences from UC Santa Cruz in 2018. His dissertation focused on numerical simulations and marine proxy-based reconstructions of shifts in mid latitude climate, the hydrological cycle, and ocean pH (acidification) associated with increased atmospheric CO2 levels during the Paleocene-Eocene. Following his PhD, he worked as a postdoc at the University of Kansas on terrestrial paleoclimate and atmospheric CO2 reconstructions during the mid Cretaceous. He has done field work in the Tasman and Norwegian Seas, sailing twice on International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) expeditions (371 and 396). Going forward, Dustin will be involved with the CO2PIP project within SPATIAL, helping to build CO2 proxy models and update Phanerozoic atmospheric CO2 reconstructions.
Sarah explores how Pleistocene humans responded to climate change and seeks to improve how we generate palaeoclimatic data for the archaeological record using stable isotope and biomarker methods.
Sarah began working with stable isotope proxies of past ecologies and environments during her BSc (2014) and MA (2016), which she completed at the University of Kiel, Germany. She then moved to the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where she used multi-stable isotope analyses of faunal remains to explore the climatic drivers of Homo sapiens dispersals and Neanderthal ecology during the Late Pleistocene as part of her PhD (2016-2020) and a 1-year follow-up postdoc.
During a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship (2022-2024) at the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, she expanded her work into lipid biomarker analysis and developed multi-proxy approaches to better characterize climate-driven site occupation patterns of Late Pleistocene humans.
Sarah joined the SPATIAL group as a member of the California fire project, where she is building a speleothem proxy system model for stable isotope, trace element, and biomarker proxies of palaeoclimate and wildfire history. One of her favorite parts of her job is R programming and she regularly teaches beginner and advanced workshops.
In her free time Sarah rock climbs, plays D&D, and works on improving her Spanish.
Chris is interested in placing past peoples in their physical and social environments using stable isotope analysis. Originally from Alabama, she got her BA in Anthropology at Auburn University before heading to the UK to get her MSc in Paleopathology at Durham University. Deciding that wasn’t far enough, she got her PhD at the University of Otago in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Interested more in the applications of this method rather than a specific region, culture, or time period, her work has included sites from ancient Egypt, tropical Polynesia, and the Andes. Now, she’s working on Project FIND-EM to improve oxygen stable isotope methodologies to help return POW/MIA service members’ remains.
Kirsten has a BA in Anthropology and minor in Studio Art from Baylor University and an MA in Anthropology from University of Texas San Antonio. Her Master's thesis focused on using hair to reconstruct diet from a unique naturally mummified individual from the Lower Pecos region of Texas. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeological and Forensic Sciences from the University of South Florida. Kirsten's dissertation focused on using stable isotopes to reconstruct weaning patterns and understand childhood in two different cultural groups living in the same region of Hungary during the Migration Period. She has worked at several different laboratories using both stable and heavy isotopic analysis of human and animal teeth, bone, hair, nail and skin to study climate, diet, disease, and geographic origins for both archaeological and forensic applications. Her work at SPATIAL is focused on the FIND-EM project and using oxygen isotopes to aid in provenancing and identification of unknown service members remains.
Paige attended UC Irvine where she studied public policy and physical sciences. She has worked for multiple universities on projects ranging from whole ecosystem biogeophysics to soil microbial ecology. These projects have included forest fire dynamics, plant physiological ecology and ecohydrology. She also worked for USGS where she studied forest demographics, dry land biogeochemistry and restoration. Paige had the opportunity to work with students in an internship program where they combined education and outreach with plant physiological ecology and restoration while engaging with local community partners. She recently worked in the regulatory sector where she focused on grants and incentives, instrumentation and dry land stabilization. Paige has joined the SPATIAL Lab as part of a continental-scale evapotranspiration project.
Kyle Brennan is a Salt Lake City local. With the Wasatch mountains as his playground, he naturally gravitated towards studying Geoscience at the University of Utah where he earned his B.Sc. He then moved to Germany to receive his Masters in Geology at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München where his research focused on characterizing the geochemical remagnetization of the Northern Calcareous Alps. Now he is back and excited to join SPATIAL, where his work is focused on contributing powerful Sr isotope biogeochemical tools to understand, track, and manage the last productive wild salmon stocks of North America. He is also interested in building models to quantify how interactions between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems affect (i) transport of organic carbon and inorganic nutrients in rivers, (ii) hydrological connectivity and evaporation across river basins, and (iii) controls on spatial variability in bioavailable contaminants across river basins due to anthropogenic activities.
Rylie was raised in the small town of Chester, New Hampshire and is attending the University of Utah to study Environmental Geoscience. As a junior, she joined the SPATIAL group to work on the NEON plant and soil project. She is currently working on organizing incoming samples from terrestrial sites and analyzing their water isotope data to observe cross-ecosystem patterns of transpiration. Post-undergrad she hopes to attend a graduate program in Oceanography.
Peyton grew up in Price, UT before coming to school at the U. He is pursing a degree in Geology with a minor in Environmental and Sustainability Studies. After graduating, Peyton plans on pursing a graduate degree to pursue geological research. He started with SPATIAL during Summer of 2021 and assists with sample preparation and lab research for the FIND-EM project.
Carly is working toward a BS in Anthropology with an emphasis in Archaeological Sciences and a certification in GIS. She plans to work as a bioarchaeologist specializing in human remains. Carly joined the University of Utah as a Junior in 2022 after obtaining an Associate’s in Anthropology and Criminal Justice at Salt Lake Community College. She gained experience working with human remains at a field school in Lobor, Croatia. She hopes to utilize this in her work at SPATIAL as she sterilizes, prepares, and assists in the analysis of teeth samples for project FIND-EM.
Hannah was raised in the small town of Loomis in Northern California. She is attending the University of Utah to study Environmental Studies with a minor in Earth Science and a certificate in GIS. For her post-undergrad, she hopes to participate in a graduate program in Environmental Science. Hannah was hired in the spring of my junior year with the SPATIAL group to work on the NEON plant and soil project. She is working on extracting water samples to identify cross-ecosystem transpiration trends, categorizing incoming samples from terrestrial sites, and analyzing their water isotope data.
Ben was born in Salt Lake City and spent most of his youth living in the Salt Lake Valley. His family has a rich history at the University of Utah, with family members having occupied both faculty and administrative positions. Because of this, from the time he was a child his dream was to one day attend school at the U. Now, as an undergrad majoring in Geology, that dream is being realized. Ben started working in the SPATIAL lab in the summer of 2022, and is primarily contributing to sample preparation for the FIND-EM project.
Each summer since 2013 a dozen faculty and 20 students from around the globe gather in Salt Lake City for this intensive, interdisciplinary training experience. Click the photo to learn about the course and the community that it nurtures.
The SPATIAL group is collaborating with U.S. government agencies to develop new isotope-based approaches supporting the identification and repatriation of remains of service members lost overseas. Click the flag and visit the FIND-EM website to learn more about the project and how you can help.
Geological evidence strongly suggests that major changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations have occurred throughout Earth's history, but quantitatively reconstructing these changes is a major challenge. Click the logo to learn about our community-engaged project to transform paleo-CO2 reconstruction, or watch some videos introducing the effort.
Sharing data makes science easier, better, and more valuable. For researchers using stable isotope data, the near-universal need to interpret new measurements in the context of existing ones amplifies the importance of archiving and sharing high-quality data. Click the logo to visit the global Waterisotopes Database, or check out the multi-disciplinary IsoBank project.
About 70% of continental precipitation returns to the atmosphere as evapotranspiration, but the physical and ecological controls on this flux are poorly understood. Click the figure to learn how we are using data from the National Ecological Observatory Network to quantify evapotranspiration processes, or read a related study led by our partners at Oregon State University.
