We focus in particular on warm periods of earth history, those lacking any evidence of polar ice, as these may be relevant to today’s rapidly warming world.

Our group at RPI focuses on long-term changes in atmospheric composition and its influence on deep-time paleoclimate and the evolution of complex life. We use stable isotope and fluid inclusion geochemistry, from both continental and marine sediments, to study mass extinctions, global-scale volcanic eruptions like Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), extraterrestrial impacts, and other major events as components of an evolving Earth system.