PCIGR provides analytical services that can be applied to research on geochemical tracers.
Radiogenic isotopic compositions (e.g., Pb-Sr-Nd-Hf) are extremely powerful tools for identifying the sources and components involved in the genesis of solid earth materials and for placing quantitative constraints on the movement of material between the major reservoirs of the planet (e.g., mantle-crust, asthenosphere-lithosphere).
Analytical data from geochemical tracers have been used in the following applications:
- Modelling the geochemical and isotopic heterogeneity of the Earth’s mantle through comparative study of basaltic lavas from oceanic plateaus, hotspot tracks and other large igneous provinces.
- Using granites for probing the age and extent of crystalline basement structure in the Canadian Cordillera of British Columbia and the Yukon.
- Constraining the amount and composition of sediment and slab input to volcanoes of the northern Cascade Arc.
- Defining isotopic heterogeneity in mafic layered intrusions.
- Identifying ancient landscape use by investigating the geographic sources of archaeological stone tools, based on Indigenous-led research initiatives.
Click on the Science Snapshots below to see details of how analyses performed by PCIGR have benefitted research of geochemical tracers.
