Dr Peter Wynn

Senior Lecturer

Research Interests

Natural environmental isotopes are used as an advanced method for tracing the dynamics of solutes and nutrients within earth systems. Within glaciated environments, natural isotopes of 15N/14N, 18O/16O, 34S/32S and 13C/12C have been used to fingerprint sources and sinks of nutrients within High Arctic and Icelandic glaciers. Fluorescence of compounds within snow and ice is currently being used as a method for establishing the organic component of the glacial ecosystem. Within karst environments, sulphur isotopes are currently being used to identify causes of variations in the sulphur content of stalagmites over time. Identification of how sulphur is cycled through the overlying ecosystem and karst environment allows transfer functions between climate and speleothems to be quantified. Compound specific analysis of organic matter contained within speleothem calcite is currently being investigated as a biomarker of past anthropogenic activity.

Current research includes funding from NERC to address archives of sulphur contained within trees (‘Interrogating trees as archives of environmental Sulphur variability’). In collaboration with the University of Swansea and the University of Birmingham, we aim to produce a high resolution record of changes in sulphur concentration and isotopic composition and link these to speleothem records from the same region. P. Wynn is also co-investigator on NERC grant ‘The Svalbard Exemplar for Neoproterozoic glaciation’, led by the University of Birmingham. This project uses the geochemical composition of glacial lake carbonates from NE Svalbard to infer palaeo atmospheric conditions during the Cryogenian glaciations of the Neoproterozoic.

www.gees.bham.ac.uk/research/clusters/geosystems/gains2010who.shtml

Brittle-ductile magma deformation and explosive-effusive behaviour: insight from Icelandic rhyolitic dykes
McGowan, E., Tuffen, H., James, M., Wynn, P. 22/07/2015
Poster

Seasonal release of anoxic geothermal meltwater from the Katla volcanic system at Sólheimajökull, Iceland
Wynn, P., Morrell, D., Tuffen, H., Barker, P., Tweed, F., Burns, R. 9/03/2015 In: Chemical Geology. 396, p. 228-238. 11 p.
Journal article

Synchrotron X-ray distinction of seasonal hydrological and temperature patterns in speleothem carbonate
Wynn, P., Fairchild, I.J., Spötl, C., Hartland, A., Mattey, D., Fayard, B., Cotte, M. 30/01/2014 In: Environmental Chemistry. 11, 1, p. 28-36. 9 p.
Journal article

Biogeochemical cycling of sulphur in karst and transfer into speleothem archives at Grotta di Ernesto, Italy
Wynn, P., Borsato, A., Baker, A., Frisia, S., Miorandi, R., Fairchild, I.J. 07/2013 In: Biogeochemistry. 114, 1-3, p. 255-267. 13 p.
Journal article

Carbon cycling within an East African lake revealed by the carbon isotope composition of diatom silica: a 25-ka record from Lake Challa, Mt. Kilimanjaro
Barker, P., Hurrell, E., Leng, M., Plessen, B., Wolff, C., Conley, D., Keppens, E., Milne, I., Cumming, B., Laird, K., Kendrick, C., Wynn, P., Verschuren, D. 15/04/2013 In: Quaternary Science Reviews. 66, p. 55-63. 9 p.
Journal article

Natural and anthropogenic factors which influence aerosol distribution in Ingleborough Show Cave, UK
Smith, A.C., Wynn, P.M., Barker, P.A. 2013 In: International Journal of Speleology. 42, 1, p. 49-56. 8 p.
Journal article

Developing a methodology for carbon isotope analysis of lacustrine diatoms
Hurrell, E.R., Barker, P.A., Leng, M.J., Vane, C.H., Wynn, P., Kendrick, C.P., Verschuren, D., Street-Perrott, F.A. 15/06/2011 In: Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 25, 11, p. 1567-1574. 8 p.
Journal article

Biogeochemical weathering under ice: Size matters
Wadham, J.L., Tranter, M., Skidmore, M., Hodson, A.J., Priscu, J., Lyons, W.B., Sharp, M., Jackson, M., Wynn, P. 23/09/2010 In: Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 24, p. -. 11 p.
Journal article

High-resolution sulphur isotope analysis of speleothem carbonate by secondary ionisation mass spectrometry
Wynn, P.M., Fairchild, I.J., Frisia, S., Spoetl, C., Baker, A., Borsato, A., EIMF 30/03/2010 In: Chemical Geology. 271, 3-4, p. 101-107. 7 p.
Journal article

High resolution ion microprobe analysis of sulphur isotopes in speleothem carbonate.
Wynn, P.M., Fairchild, I.J., Baker, A., Frisia, S.R., Borsato, A., Miorandi, R., Spotl, C. 2010 In: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 70, 18 Sup, p. A710-A710.
Journal article

Petrology and geochemistry of annually laminated stalagmites from an Alpine cave (Obir, Austria) : seasonal cave physiology.
Fairchild, I.J., Spotl, C., Frisia, S., Borsato, A., Susini, J., Wynn, P.M., Cauzid, J. 2010 In: Geological Society Special Publications. 336, p. 295-321. 27 p.
Journal article

Sulfur fixation in wood mapped by synchrotron X-ray studies: implications for environmental archives
Fairchild, I.I., Loader, N.J., Wynn, P.M., Frisia, S., Thomas, P.A., Lageard, J.G.A., De Momi, A., Hartland, A., Borsato, A., La Porta, N., Susini, J. 1/03/2009 In: Environmental Science and Technology. 43, 5, p. 1310-1315. 6 p.
Journal article

Chronology-building using objective identification of annual signals in trace element profiles of stalagmites.
Smith, C., Fairchild, I.J., Spötl, C., Frisia, S., Borsato, A., Moreton, S.G., Wynn, P.M. 02/2009 In: Quaternary Geochronology. 4, 1, p. 11-21. 11 p.
Journal article

Stretching the envelope of past surface environments : Neoproterozoic glacial lakes from Svalbard.
Bao, H., Fairchild, I.J., Wynn, P.M., Spotl, C. 2/01/2009 In: Science. 323, 5910, p. 119-122. 4 p.
Journal article

Isotopic archives of sulphate in speleothems.
Wynn, P.M., Fairchild, I.J., Baker, A., Baldini, J.U.L., McDermott, F. 15/05/2008 In: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 72, 10, p. 2465-2477. 13 p.
Journal article

Nitrate production beneath a High Arctic glacier, Svalbard.
Wynn, P.M., Hodson, A.J., Heaton, T.H.E., Chenery, S.R. 30/09/2007 In: Chemical Geology. 244, 1-2, p. 88-102. 15 p.
Journal article

Analysis of the climate signal contained within d18O and growth rate parameters in two Ethiopian stalagmites.
Baker, A., Asrat, A., Fairchild, I.J., Leng, M.J., Wynn, P.M., Bryant, C., Genty, D., Umer, M. 15/06/2007 In: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 71, 12, p. 2975-2988. 14 p.
Journal article

Atmospheric forcing of sulphate in speleothem carbonate.
Wynn, P.M., Fairchild, I.J., Baker, A., Frisia, S.R., Borsato, A., Miorandi, R. 08/2006 In: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 70, 18 Sup, p. A710-A710.
Journal article

Chemical and isotopic switching within the subglacial environment of a high Arctic glacier.
Wynn, P.M., Hodson, A., Heaton, T.H.E. 2006 In: Biogeochemistry. 78, 2, p. 173-193. 21 p.
Journal article

Multi-year water and surface energy budget of a high-latitude polythermal glacier : evidence for overwinter water storage in a dynamic subglacial reservoir.
Hodson, A.J., Kohler, J., Brinkhaus, M., Wynn, P.M. 08/2005 In: Annals of Glaciology. 42, 1, p. 42-46. 5 p.
Journal article

The High Arctic glacial ecosystem : new insights from nutrient budgets
Hodson, A.J., Mumford, P., Kohler, J., Wynn, P.M. 02/2005 In: Biogeochemistry. 72, 2, p. 233-256. 24 p.
Journal article

Low 15N/14N ratios for nitrate in snow in the High Arctic (791N).
Heaton, T.H.E., Wynn, P.M., Tye, A.M. 10/2004 In: Atmospheric Environment. 38, 33, p. 5611-5621. 11 p.
Journal article