Abstract

Carbonate minerals are ubiquitous in many sedimentary rocks, and their geochemical composition can unlock a diverse range of insights into Earth history, seawater chemistry, and the evolution of sedimentary basins. Dr. McCormick’s research integrates the field- and laboratory-based evaluation of carbonate minerals, with particular emphasis on dolomite [CaMg(CO₃)₂]. His work addresses three principal questions: (i) can carbonate minerals serve as archives of the geochemical evolution of Earth’s oceans, (ii) what processes can overprint the geochemical composition of carbonate rocks, and (iii) can the understanding of these diagenetic processes lead to better constraints on the evolution of pore-fluids in sedimentary basins (e.g., pressure, temperature, and fluid composition). By integrating petrography, isotope geochemistry, and laboratory experiments, this presentation will highlight how dolomite can be used as a predictive archive of fluid-rock interaction in sedimentary basins, with direct implications for reconstructing seawater chemistry, predicting reservoir quality for energy development and carbon storage, and assessing carbonate-hosted ore deposits.

Biography

Cole McCormick is a low-temperature geochemist whose research evaluates diagenetic processes in carbonate sedimentary rocks. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Alberta and completed his Ph.D. at The University of Manchester in 2023. As a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State, he conducts laboratory-based dolomitization experiments to study the partitioning and isotopic fractionation of trace elements in dolomite. His work provides novel insights into the processes that shape the geochemical signature of carbonate rocks and the use of geochemical proxies to constrain the evolution of pore fluids in sedimentary basins.