Cosmochemistry and early evolution of the Earth

• Dating core formation and silicate differentiation in early solar system objects and planets, using long and short lived radioactive decay systems (Hf-W, Nb-Zr, Lu-Hf).
• Search for nucleosynthetic anomalies in meteorites.
• Behaviour of trace elements during silicate differentiation on the Moon and on small asteroids.
• The Pb isotope evolution of the Earth.

High Temperature geochemistry

• Early crustal differentiation processes (e.g., 3.8Ga to 2.8 Ga crustal evolution in Greenland).
• Subduction zone processes (Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kamchatka, Tonga Kermadec, New Zealand, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Greece).
• Mid ocean ridge volcanism and ophiolites (Mid Atlantic Ridge, Cyprus).
• Intraplate volcanism (New Zealand, Siebengebirge).
• Global mass budget of the extended high field strength element group in igneous systems.
• Lu-Hf geochronology.

Low Temperature geochemistry

• Lu-Hf dating of biogenic phosphates
• Bone diagenesis
• Fe isotope fractionation in soils
• Mass budget of high field strength elements in aqueous systems

Method developments - Mass Spectrometry

• Development of new techniques for chromatographic trace element separation for isotope ratio measurements.
• Development of new techniques in ICP mass spectrometry with an emphasis on Multicollector ICPMS.
• High precision trace element measurements by isotope dilution (e.g., Nb/Ta, ZrHf and Ta/W measurements).

• Introduction to geochemistry (2nd year)
• Introduction to isotope geochemistry (3rd to 4th year)
• Geodynamics, magmatism and metamorphism (1st year)
• Introductory Lecture "The Earth" (1st year) (Topics: Early solar system evolution, mantle dynamics, volcanism and plate tectonics)
• Igneous Petrology
• Practicals in trace element and isotope geochemistry (3rd to 6th year)
• Volcanological and petrological field trips (Eifel, Siebengebirge, Canary Island, Cyprus, Cyclades, Zermatt) (all levels)