Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (15)

Validating the rhenium proxy for rock organic carbon oxidation using weathering profiles (2024)
Journal Article
Grant, K. E., Dellinger, M., Dickson, A. J., Ogric, M., Horan, K., Petsch, S., & Hilton, R. G. (2025). Validating the rhenium proxy for rock organic carbon oxidation using weathering profiles. Chemical Geology, 671, Article 122464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.122464

Chemical weathering over geological timescales acts as a source or sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), while influencing long-term redox cycling and atmospheric oxygen (O2) at Earth's surface. There is a growing recognition that the oxidative w... Read More about Validating the rhenium proxy for rock organic carbon oxidation using weathering profiles.

High rates of rock organic carbon oxidation sustained as Andean sediment transits the Amazon foreland-floodplain (2023)
Journal Article
Dellinger, M., Hilton, R. G., Baronas, J. J., Torres, M. A., Burt, E. I., Clark, K. E., …West, A. J. (2023). High rates of rock organic carbon oxidation sustained as Andean sediment transits the Amazon foreland-floodplain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(39), Article e2306343120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2306343120

The oxidation of organic carbon contained within sedimentary rocks (“petrogenic” carbon, or hereafter OCpetro) emits nearly as much CO2 as is released by volcanism, thereby playing a key role in the long-term global C budget. High erosion rates in mo... Read More about High rates of rock organic carbon oxidation sustained as Andean sediment transits the Amazon foreland-floodplain.

Hydrological control of river and seawater lithium isotopes (2022)
Journal Article
Zhang, F., Dellinger, M., Hilton, R. G., Yu, J., Allen, M. B., Densmore, A. L., Sun, H., & Jin, Z. (2022). Hydrological control of river and seawater lithium isotopes. Nature Communications, 13(1), Article 3359. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31076-y

Seawater lithium isotopes (δ7Li) record changes over Earth history, including a ∼9‰ increase during the Cenozoic interpreted as reflecting either a change in continental silicate weathering rate or weathering feedback strength, associated with tecton... Read More about Hydrological control of river and seawater lithium isotopes.

Concentration‐discharge relationships of dissolved rhenium in Alpine catchments reveal its use as a tracer of oxidative weathering (2021)
Journal Article
Hilton, R. G., Turowski, J. M., Winnick, M., Dellinger, M., Schleppi, P., Williams, K. H., Lawrence, C. R., Maher, K., West, M., & Hayton, A. (2021). Concentration‐discharge relationships of dissolved rhenium in Alpine catchments reveal its use as a tracer of oxidative weathering. Water Resources Research, 57(11), Article e2021WR029844. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021wr029844

Oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. Rhenium (Re) has been proposed as a tracer of rock organic carbon (OCpetro) oxidation. However, the sources of Re and its mobilization by hydrological proce... Read More about Concentration‐discharge relationships of dissolved rhenium in Alpine catchments reveal its use as a tracer of oxidative weathering.

Fractionation of rhenium isotopes in the Mackenzie River basin during oxidative weathering (2021)
Journal Article
Dellinger, M., Hilton, R. G., & Nowell, G. M. (2021). Fractionation of rhenium isotopes in the Mackenzie River basin during oxidative weathering. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 573, Article 117131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117131

Rhenium (Re) is a trace element whose redox chemistry makes it an ideal candidate to trace a range of geochemical processes. Here, we report the first rhenium isotopic measurements (Re) from river-borne materials to assess the influence of chemical w... Read More about Fractionation of rhenium isotopes in the Mackenzie River basin during oxidative weathering.

Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks (2021)
Journal Article
Soulet, G., Hilton, R. G., Garnett, M. H., Roylands, T., Klotz, S., Croissant, T., Dellinger, M., & Le Bouteiller, C. (2021). Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks. Nature Geoscience, 14(9), 665-671. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00805-1

Sedimentary rocks can release carbon dioxide (CO2) during the weathering of rock organic carbon and sulfide minerals. This sedimentary carbon could act as a feedback on Earth’s climate over millennial to geological timescales, yet the environmental c... Read More about Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks.

Constraints on the source of reactive phases in sediment from a major Arctic river using neodymium isotopes (2021)
Journal Article
Larkin, C. S., Piotrowski, A. M., Hindshaw, R. S., Bayon, G., Hilton, R. G., Baronas, J. J., …Tipper, E. T. (2021). Constraints on the source of reactive phases in sediment from a major Arctic river using neodymium isotopes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 565, Article 116933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116933

Riverine suspended particulate matter (SPM) is essential for the delivery of micronutrients such as iron (Fe) to the oceans. SPM is known to consist of multiple phases with differing reactivity, but their role in the delivery of elements to the ocean... Read More about Constraints on the source of reactive phases in sediment from a major Arctic river using neodymium isotopes.

Measurements of rhenium isotopic composition in low-abundance samples (2020)
Journal Article
Dellinger, M., Hilton, R. G., & Nowell, G. M. (2020). Measurements of rhenium isotopic composition in low-abundance samples. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 35(2), 377-387. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ja00288j

Rhenium (Re) is a trace element whose redox chemistry makes it an ideal candidate to trace a range of geochemical processes. In particular, fractionation of its isotopes 187Re (62.6% abundance) and 185Re (37.4%) may be used to improve our understandi... Read More about Measurements of rhenium isotopic composition in low-abundance samples.

Preservation of organic carbon during active fluvial transport and particle abrasion (2019)
Journal Article
Scheingross, J., Hovius, N., Dellinger, M., Hilton, R., Repasch, M., Sachse, D., Gröcke, D., Vieth-Hillebrand, A., & Turowski, J. (2019). Preservation of organic carbon during active fluvial transport and particle abrasion. Geology, 47(10), 958-962. https://doi.org/10.1130/g46442.1

Oxidation of particulate organic carbon (POC) during fluvial transit releases CO2 to the atmosphere and can influence global climate. Field data show large POC oxidation fluxes in lowland rivers; however, it is unclear if POC losses occur predominant... Read More about Preservation of organic carbon during active fluvial transport and particle abrasion.

Carbon dioxide emissions by rock organic carbon oxidation and the net geochemical carbon budget of the Mackenzie River Basin (2019)
Journal Article
Horan, K., Hilton, R., Dellinger, M., Tipper, E., Galy, V., Calmels, D., Selby, D., Gaillardet, J., Ottley, C., Parsons, D., & Burton, K. (2019). Carbon dioxide emissions by rock organic carbon oxidation and the net geochemical carbon budget of the Mackenzie River Basin. American journal of science (1880), 319(6), 473-499. https://doi.org/10.2475/06.2019.02

The exposure of organic carbon in rocks to oxidative weathering can release carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere and consume atmospheric oxygen. Alongside volcanism, metamorphism, and the weathering of carbonate minerals by sulfuric acid, this is a... Read More about Carbon dioxide emissions by rock organic carbon oxidation and the net geochemical carbon budget of the Mackenzie River Basin.

Tracing the impact of coastal water geochemistry on the Re-Os systematics of macroalgae: Insights from the basaltic terrain of Iceland (2018)
Journal Article
Sproson, A. D., Selby, D., Gannoun, A., Burton, K. W., Dellinger, M., & Lloyd, J. M. (2018). Tracing the impact of coastal water geochemistry on the Re-Os systematics of macroalgae: Insights from the basaltic terrain of Iceland. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 123(9), 2791-2806. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004492

This study presents rhenium (Re) and osmium (Os) elemental and isotope data for macroalgae, dissolved load and bed load from Icelandic coastal and/or river waters, an environment adjacent to predominantly basaltic terrains, ranging in age from histor... Read More about Tracing the impact of coastal water geochemistry on the Re-Os systematics of macroalgae: Insights from the basaltic terrain of Iceland.

Technical note: in situ measurement of flux and isotopic composition of CO2 released during oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks (2018)
Journal Article
Soulet, G., Hilton, R., Garnett, M., Dellinger, M., Croissant, T., Ogrič, M., & Klotz, S. (2018). Technical note: in situ measurement of flux and isotopic composition of CO2 released during oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks. Biogeosciences, 15(13), 4087-4102. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4087-2018

Oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks can release carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere and is an important natural CO2 emission. Two mechanisms operate – the oxidation of sedimentary organic matter and the dissolution of carbonate minerals by s... Read More about Technical note: in situ measurement of flux and isotopic composition of CO2 released during oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks.

Erosion of organic carbon in the Arctic as a geological carbon dioxide sink (2015)
Journal Article
Hilton, R., Galy, V., Gaillardet, J., Dellinger, M., Bryant, C., O’Regan, M., …Calmels, D. (2015). Erosion of organic carbon in the Arctic as a geological carbon dioxide sink. Nature, 524(7563), 84-87. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14653

Soils of the northern high latitudes store carbon over millennial timescales (thousands of years) and contain approximately double the carbon stock of the atmosphere1, 2, 3. Warming and associated permafrost thaw can expose soil organic carbon and re... Read More about Erosion of organic carbon in the Arctic as a geological carbon dioxide sink.

Lithium isotopes in large rivers reveal the cannibalistic nature of modern continental weathering and erosion (2014)
Journal Article
Dellinger, M., Gaillardet, J., Bouchez, J., Calmels, D., Galy, V., Hilton, R., …France-Lanord, C. (2014). Lithium isotopes in large rivers reveal the cannibalistic nature of modern continental weathering and erosion. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 401, 359-372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.061

The erosion of major mountain ranges is thought to be largely cannibalistic, recycling sediments that were deposited in the ocean or on the continents prior to mountain uplift. Despite this recognition, it has not yet been possible to quantify the am... Read More about Lithium isotopes in large rivers reveal the cannibalistic nature of modern continental weathering and erosion.