Thomas Stachel

Professor, Faculty of Science - Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Admin

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Science - Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Admin
Email
tstachel@ualberta.ca
Phone
(780) 492-0865
Address
1-14 Earth Sciences Building
11223 Saskatchewan Drive NW
Edmonton AB
T6G 2E3

Overview

Research

Research area

Diamond Geology

Research interest

Thomas Stachel’s main research area is diamond geology. By studying the chemical and physical properties of diamonds (stable isotope composition, nitrogen contents and aggregation levels) and the geochemistry of their mineral inclusions, he seeks to define the conditions under which diamonds are formed and stored within the Earth’s mantle. Because diamonds form over a large depth interval extending from the deep lithosphere (>140 km depth) into the lower mantle (beneath the 660 km discontinuity), they provide a unique means of obtaining direct information on this otherwise inaccessible region of our planet

Research opportunity

PhD and MSc projects are currently available in the following fields

  • Systematic studies on diamonds and their mineral inclusions from mines in Canada and worldwide
  • The evolution of cratonic roots (the origin of cratonic peridotites, eclogites, and pyroxenites).
  • The mineralogy and geochemistry of the deep mantle (asthenosphere, transition zone and lower mantle)

Courses

EAS 232 - Mineralogy II

Optical techniques in determinative mineralogy with particular emphasis on transmitted-light microscopy and its application to common rock-forming minerals. Mineral associations, textures and elementary ideas on the origin of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Prerequisite: EAS 224. [Faculty of Science]


Browse more courses taught by Thomas Stachel

Publications

Carbon and nitrogen isotope systematics in diamond: Different sensitivities to isotopic fractionation or a decoupled origin?

Author(s): Hogberg K., Stachel T., Stern R.A.
Publication Date: 2016
Publication: Lithos
Volume: 265
Page Numbers: 16-30
External Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2016.06.020

Diamond formation — Where, when and how?

Author(s): Stachel T., Luth R.W.
Publication Date: 2015
Publication: Lithos
Volume: 220-223
Page Numbers: 200-220
External Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2015.01.028

Extreme 18O-enrichment in majorite constrains a crustal origin of transition zone diamonds

Author(s): Ickert R.B., Stachel T., Stern R.A., Harris J.W.
Publication Date: 2015
Publication: Geochemical Perspectives Letters
Volume: 1
Page Numbers: 65-74
External Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.1507