Dr Christopher Coath
B.A.(Cantab.), Ph.D.(Cantab.)
Expertise
Isotope measurements by MC-ICPMS. Mass spectrometry hardware and technique development. Numerical methods and uncertainties especially in relation to isotope ratio measurements.
Current positions
Senior Research Fellow
School of Earth Sciences
Contact
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Research interests
I study the evolution of the early solar system. Isotopic characterisation of primitive meteorites provides insights into stellar inputs to the proto-solar nebula and hence the astrophysical context in which the solar system formed.
Short-lived radio nuclides, extant in the early solar system, can provide constraints on the timing of formation and differentiation of the earliest solids in the solar system and constrain nebula heterogeneity.
Central to my interest in this work is the development of new techniques and instrumentation to advance the field such as the collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific to build 'Proteus', a collision-cell multicollector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Current technique development includes a novel 'double-spike' method for making accurate isotope ratio measurements on 3-isotope systems such as magnesium and silicon.
Positions
University of Bristol positions
Senior Research Fellow
School of Earth Sciences
Projects and supervisions
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
11/03/2020Primordial formation of major silicates in a protoplanetary disc with homogeneous 26Al/27Al
Science Advances
Bulk chondrite variability in mass independent magnesium isotope compositions – Implications for initial solar system 26Al/27Al and the timing of terrestrial accretion
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Obtaining Accurate Isotopic Compositions with the Double Spike Technique
Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research
Silicon isotopes of deep-sea sponges
Biogeosciences
Chronology of formation of early solar system solids from bulk Mg isotope analyses of CV3 chondrules
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta