Fred J. Longstaffe, FRSC

Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science

Distinguished University Professor
Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Stable Isotope Science
Director, Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science
P.Geol.
Ph.D. McMaster University, 1978
Office: Rm. 1023 Bio. & Geo. Bldg.
Phone: 1-519-661-2111 x.83177
Fax: 1-519-661-3198
Email: flongsta@uwo.ca
Lab Website

Research Interests

Stable isotope science across the atmosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere-lithosphere (rock, soil) continuum (earth-systems science); Stable isotope proxies for paleoclimate reconstruction in continental and lacustrine systems; Stable isotope systematics of Pleistocene and Holocene ecosystems and associated megafauna; Stable isotopic analysis of anthropological materials and its applications to environment and climate reconstruction; Stable isotope systematics of hydrous minerals; Triple oxygen-isotope systematics in meteorites; Oil sands; Diagenesis of clastic sedimentary systems; Clay mineralogy; Rock-water interaction in hydrothermal systems and mineralization.

Selected Publications

Dahal, K., Kane. K., Gadapati, W., Webb, E.A., Savitch, L.V., Singh, J., Sharma, P., Sarhan, F., Longstaffe, F.J., GrodzinskI, B. and Hüner, N.P.A. (in press) The effects of phenotypic plasticity on photosynthetic performance in winter rye, winter wheat and Brassica napus. Physiologia Plantarum.

Potter, J., Longstaffe, F.J. and Barr, S.M. (in press) Fluid-rock interactions in ¹⁸O-depleted Neoproterozoic rocks of the Mira terrane, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia: A fluid inclusion and stable isotope study of vein assemblages. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

Webb, E.C., White, C.D. and Longstaffe, F.J. (in press) Exploring geographic origins at Cahuachi using stable isotopic analysis of archaeological human tissues and modern environmental waters. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, published on-line. doi: 10.1002/oa.1298

Chapligin, B., Leng, M.J., Webb, E.A., Alexandre, A., Dodd, J.D., Ijiri, A., Lücke, A., Shemesh, A., Abelmann, A., Herzschuh, U., Longstaffe, F.J., Meyer, H., Moschen, R., Okazaki, Y., Rees, N., Sharp, Z.D., Sloane, H.J., Sonzogni, C., Swann, G.E.A., Sylvestre, F., Tyler, J.J. and Yam, R.(2011) Inter-laboratory comparison of oxygen isotopes from biogenic silica. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 75, 7242-7256.

Hyodo A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2011a) The chronostratigraphy of Holocene sediments from four Lake Superior basins. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 48, 1581-1599.

Hyodo, A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2011b) Variations in the oxygen-isotope composition of ancient Lake Superior between 11,000 and 8,800 cal BP. Journal of Paleolimnology, published on line, September 23, 2011. doi: 10.1007/s/0937-011-9552-7

Hyodo A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2011c) The paleoproductivity of ancient Lake Superior. Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 30, p. 2988-3000 (+on-line supplemental material). doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.07.004

Marsh J.H., Gerbi, C.C., Culshaw, N.G., Potter, J., Longstaffe, F.J. and Johnson, S.E. (2011) Initiation and development of the Twelve Mile Bay shear zone: The low viscosity sole of a granulite nappe. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, v. 29, p. 167-191.

Metcalfe, J.Z., Longstaffe, F.J., Ballenger, J., and Haynes, C.V., Jr. (2011) Isotopic paleoecology of Clovis mammoths from Arizona. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 108(44), p. 17,916-17,920 + supplemental material.

Miller, J.F., Millar, J.S. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2011) Stable nitrogen and carbon isotope discrimination between juveniles and adults in an income breeding small mammal (Peromyscus maniculatus). Mammalian Biology 76, 563-569.

Watts, C.M. White, C.D. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2011) Childhood diet and Western Basin tradition foodways at the Krieger site, southwestern Ontario, Canada. American Antiquity, v. 76, 446-472.

Williams, L.J., White, C.D. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2011) Improving stable isotopic interpretations made from human hair through reduction of growth-cycle error. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, v. 145, 125-136.

Metcalfe, J.Z., Longstaffe, F.J. and Zazula, G.D. (2010) Nursing, weaning, and tooth development in woolly mammoths: implications for Pleistocene extinctions. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 298, p. 257-270.

Russell, S.D.J., Longstaffe, F.J., King, P. and Larson, T.E. (2010) The oxygen-isotope composition of olivine and chondrules from the Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 74, p. 2484-2499.

Webb, E.A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2010) Limitations on environmental signals in the d¹³C values of phytoliths from a North American C₄ prairie grass. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 74, p. 3041-3050.

Metcalfe, J.Z., Longstaffe, F.J., and White, C.D. (2009) Method-dependent variations in the oxygen isotope composition of structural carbonate in bone bioapatite. Journal of Archeological Science, v. 36, p. 110-121.

Courses Taught

On Sabbatical Leave (July 2011 – June 2012)

Students

Avner Ayalon, Visiting Scientist
Stable isotope systematics of precipitation from the Great Lakes area

Natalie St. Amour, PDF (Earth Sciences)
Past and present isotope hydroclimatology and hydrology, Great Lakes region

Nadia Dildar, PDF (Earth Sciences)
Compound-specific C- and N-isotope tracers in sediments and megafaunal remains

Joanne Potter, Research Associate (Earth Sciences)
Carbonic gases, mineral-fluid interactions, and their origin and evolution in geological systems such as mineralized and unmineralized Neoproterozoic terranes of North America, Britain and Wales, and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of SW Ontario

Emily Webb, PDF (Anthropology/Earth Sciences) (Joint with C. White)
Archaeological hair and mummified tissues as proxies for human-environment interaction and mobility in Peru; Physiological and metabolic considerations for mammalian carbonate-oxygen and phosphate-oxygen isotopic compositions

Scott Colborne, PhD candidate (Biology) (Joint with B. Neff)
Isotopic investigation of foraging polymorphisms and assortative mating in sunfish sympatric speciation

Alicia Donis, PhD candidate (Anthropology) (Joint with C. White)
Tracing the movement of people at Lamanai through time using stable isotopes

Erin Fraser, PhD candidate (Biology) (Joint with B. Fenton)
Stable isotopes in bat fur: applications for investigating bat migration

Ryan Hladyniuk, PhD candidate (Earth Sciences)
The evolution of Lake Ontario: a paleolimnological study using stable isotopes

Reba Macdonald, PhD candidate (Earth Sciences)
Isotopic investigations of the Late Quaternary histories of Lakes Huron and Michigan

Zoe Morris, PhD candidate (Anthropology) (Joint with C. White)
Stable isotopic investigation of Late Woodland (AD 1000-1600) SW Ontario deer, dog and wild turkey from Iroquoian and Western Basin sites

Karyn Olsen, PhD candidate (Anthropology) (Joint with C. White)
The effects of disease on human bone collagen nitrogen-isotope compositions

Carlie Pennycook, PhD candidate (Anthropoogy) (Joint with C. White)
Palaeodiet and health in the Pre-Columbian Quito Basin, Ecuador

Duane Petts, PhD candidate (Earth Sciences) (Joint with D. Moser)
Evolution of the lower crust beneath portions of the western Churchill province

Sam Russell, PhD candidate (Earth Sciences)
The nitrogen and oxygen isotope ratios of dissolved nitrate in Pinery Provincial Park

Deana Schwarz, PhD candidate (Earth Sciences)
Stable isotope composition of modern pollen and its relationship to environment

Rachel Schwartz-Narbonne, PhD candidate (Earth Sciences)
Reconstructing North American Pleistocene ecosystems by stable isotope analysis

Paul Szpak, PhD candidate (Anthropology) (Joint with C. White)
South American camelids in Prehispanic Peru: Perspectives from stable isotope analysis

Farnoush Tahmasebi, PhD candidate (Earth Sciences)
Stable isotope analysis of soils and plants of mammoth steppe ecosystems

Nicolle Bellissimo, MSc candidate (Earth Sciences)
Stable isotope investigation of bioapatite from modern and Late Pleistocene horses

Laura Booth, MA candidate (Anthropology) (Joint with C. White)
Stable isotope analysis of faunal remains from Iroquoian archaeological sites

Natasha Bumstead, MSc candidate (Earth Sciences)
The paleolimnology of Lake Simcoe using stable isotopes and other proxies

Leslie Erdman, MSc candidate (Biology) (Joint with B. Fenton)
Assessing trophic level effects on the stable hydrogen isotope composition of bat fur

Candace Freckelton, MSc candidate (Earth Sciences)
Geochemical characterization of groundwater in SW Ontario’s breathing well region

Meredith Masoner, MA candidate (Anthropology) (Joint with C. White)
Isotopic analysis of faunal material from Banks Island, Northwest Territories

Mitchell Skuce, MSc candidate (Earth Sciences)
The geochemical characterization of deep groundwaters in southwestern Ontario

Lindsey Valliant, MSc candidate (Biology) (Joint with J. Millar)
The effect of overwintering diet quality on the timing of spring breeding in the deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus

Emily Wells, MA candidate (Anthropology) (Joint with C. White)
Stable isotope analysis of a 19^thcentury Catholic cemetery population, Ingersoll, ON

Giuseppe Deagazio, BSc candidate (Earth Sciences)
Stable isotope investigations of Silurian graptolites

Available Graduate Research Projects

Researchers in the Longstaffe group measure oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopic variations to address one or more of the following general questions:

1. What is the distribution of heavy versus light isotopes of the same element among Earth materials, and what does it tells us about Earth systems?

2. What is the environmental significance of isotopic signatures recorded by ‘proxy’ materials from lacustrine sediments and terrestrial soils and sediments? ‘Proxies’ include – but are not limited to – ostracodes, clams, gastropods, bulk organic matter, pollen and other palynomorphs, plant macromolecules (e.g., cellulose), biogenic silica (phytoliths, diatoms), bone, teeth, hair, feathers, antler, tusk, and fur.

3. How do we read and what can we learn from past and present isotopic records of ecological, environmental and climate change? Can we use the light stable isotopes to go “back to the future”?

Specific research projects are currently available within the following topic areas:

Climatic and environmental change in the Great Lakes region since ~12,000 BP (isotopic limnology/paleolimnology, isotopic studies of ancient soils/paleosols)
Stable isotopic studies of Pleistocene to modern faunal and megafaunal tissues as environmental proxies (bioapatite, collagen, non-collagenous proteins, keratin)
Climatic controls on hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of water vapour, precipitation, surface and soil water, deep and shallow groundwater, and sedimentary porewater in the Great Lakes region
Triple O and N isotopic investigations of atmospheric nitrate deposition in the Great Lakes Basin
Stable isotopic fingerprinting of hydrocarbon leakage from abandoned wells
Controls on the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of ancient and modern plant tissues
Stable isotope bioarchaeology (with C. White)
Hydrothermal fluid-rock interaction in Neoproterozoic terranes and its implications for metallogeny
Stable isotope crystal chemistry of clay minerals
The sources of allochthonous clays, carbonates and quartz in Pleistocene to Holocene sediments of the Great Lakes and their implications for the timing and origin of glacial meltwater floods