Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre
The internationally recognised research within the Centre focuses around 4 main themes
- Petroleum (Exploration)
- Paleoenvironment (climate change and mass extinction events)
- Provenancing (Forensic Science, Water Chemistry, Extant Studies) and
- Pollution (Environmental).
The stable isotopic composition of organic matter is determined by its genetic origin. The elements hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen are basic constituents of organic matter and play key roles in biochemistry, ecology, and climate change, hydrologic and atmospheric processes. Therefore stable isotopic compositions preserved in organic matter can provide powerful insights into sources and processes.
Compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) is important for determining the stable isotopic compositions of individual organic components in complex mixtures (e.g., petroleum, natural gases, sediments, soils, groundwater, potable waters and extracts from plants and other media). The group is applying this technique (carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen) to infer genetic relationships between components so that their origins and formation pathways can be established.