Fred Longstaffe

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Dr. Fred J. Longstaffe Ph.D., FRSC is the Provost and VP Academic at the University of Western Ontario. He is a highly regarded leader in Earth Science research. His current focus is on applying knowledge of stable isotopes to various fields of study.

Longstaffe earned a BSc (Hon) from the University of Windsor and a PhD in Geology from McMaster University. In 1978, he attended the University of Alberta as a Killam Post-Doctoral Scholar. After that he joined that university’s faculty in the Department of Geology. In 1987, Longstaffe moved to the University of Western as a full professor in Geology and opened the Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science. The labs principal research areas are environmental geochemistry and clastic diagenesis, with special emphasis on the application of stable isotopes and other biogeochemical methods to studies of the environment and climate change. The Departments of Geology and Geophysics were merged in 1993. He became the Chair of the newly formed Department of Earth Sciences. Dr. Longstaffe gave up that position in 1999 to take on the larger role of Dean of the Faculty of Science. In July of 2005, Longstaffe became the university’s Provost and VP Academic.

Dr. Longstaffe’s research has attracted substantial funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Social Science and Humanities Research Council and Canada Foundation for Innovation. His current research focuses on the use of stable isotopes to study earth and environmental science, ecosystems, oil sands, and anthropology.

Longstaffe has served as President of the Geological Association of Canada. He has frequently served on Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Royal Society of Canada committees.

[edit] Awards

1993- Awarded Past President’s Award by Geological Association of Canada for outstanding research by a younger scientist
1994- Named Distinguished Fellow of the Geological Association of Canada
Between 1995 and 2005- Named to the University Students’ Council Teaching Honor Role six times
1997- Named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
1998- Awarded the Mineralogical Association of Canada‘s Past-President’s Medal for Research
2003- Awarded Geological Association of Canada’s highest honor, the Logan Medal

[edit] Publications

Bennett, P.J., Longstaffe, F.J. and Rowe, R.K. (2000) The stability of dolomite in landfill leachate collection systems. The Canadian Geotechnical Journal, v. 37, p. 371-378.
Barriga, F.J.A.S., Mateus, A., Ribeiro, A., Fyfe, W.S. and Longstaffe, F.J. (1995) Metallogenetic potential of the Vilariça strike-slip fault at Quintela de Lampaças (Bragança, Portugal). In: IV Congresso Nacional de Geologia (Porto, Dexembro 95), Memória n°4, Univ. Porto - Fac. Ciências, Museu e Lab. Min. e Geol., F. Sodré Borges & M.M. Marques, eds., p. 527-532.
de Caritat, P., Bloch, J., Hutcheon, I., Longstaffe, F.J. and Abercrombie, H.J. (1997) Comparison of the mineralogical and chemical composition of 2 shales from the western Canada sedimentary basin and the U.S. Gulf Coast. Clays and Clay Minerals, v.45, p. 327-332.
Ensign, K.L., Webb, E.A. and Longstaffe F.J. (in press) Microenvironmental variations in soil-water content of the unsaturated zone of a sand dune system at Pinery Provincial Park. Submitted to Geoderma, January 2005, revised May 2006.
Hornibrook, E.R.C., Longstaffe, F.J. and Fyfe, W.S. (2000) Factors influencing stable-isotope ratios in CH4 and CO2 within subenvironments of freshwater wetlands: implications for d-signatures of emissions. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies, v. 36, p. 151-176.
Hornibrook, E.R.C., Longstaffe, F.J. and Fyfe, W.S. (2000) Evolution of stable carbon-isotope compositions for methane and carbon dioxide in freshwater wetlands and other anaerobic environments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 64, p. 1013-1027.
Hornibrook, E.R.C., Longstaffe, F.J., Fyfe, W.S. and Bloom, Y. (2000) Carbon-isotope ratios and carbon, nitrogen and sulfur abundances in flora and soil organic matter from a temperate-zone bog and marsh. Geochemica Journal, v. 34, p. 237-245.
Léveillé, R., Longstaffe, F.J. and Fyfe, W.S. (2002) Kerolite in carbonate-rich speleothems and microbial deposits from basaltic caves, Kauai, Hawaii. Clays and Clay Minerals, v. 50, p. 514-524.
Léveillé, R. J., Fyfe, W.S. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2000) Unusual secondary Ca-Mg carbonate-kerolite deposits in basaltic caves, Kauai, Hawaii. Journal of Geology, v. 108, p. 613-621.
Léveillé, R. J., Fyfe, W.S. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2000) Geomicrobiology of carbonate-silicate microbialites from Hawaiian basaltic sea caves. Chemical Geology, v. 169, p. 339-355.
Longstaffe, F.J., Calvo, R., Ayalon, A. and Donaldson W.S. (2003) Stable isotope evidence for multiple fluid regimes during carbonate cementation of the Upper Tertiary Hazeva Formation, Dead Sea Graben, southern Israel. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 4114, p. 1-20.
Longstaffe, F.J. (2000) Chapter 6. An introduction to stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes and their use as fluid tracers in sedimentary systems. In: Fluids and Basin Evolution. Edited by T.K. Kyser. Mineralogical Association of Canada Short Course Series, v. 28, p. 115-162.
McKay, J. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2003) Sulphur isotope geochemistry of pyrite from the Upper Cretaceous Marshybank Formation, Western Interior Basin. Sedimentary Geology, v. 157, p. 175-195.
Owen, J.V., Longstaffe, F.J. and Greenough, J.D. (2003) Petrology of sapphirine granulite and associated sodic gneisses from the Indian Head Range, Newfoundland. Lithos, v. 68, p. 91-114.
Rowe, R.K., Fleming, I.R., Rittman, B.R., Longstaffe, F.J., Cullimore, D.R., McIsaac, R., Bennet, P., Cooke, A.J., Armstrong, M.D. and VanGulck, J. (2000) Multidisciplinary study of clogging of leachate drains. Sixth Canadian Environmental engineering Specialty conference, London, Jun 2000, p. 57-65.
Spötl, C., Unterwurzacher, M., Mangini, A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2002) Carbonate speleothems in the dry, inneralpine Vinschgau Valley, northernmost Italy: Witnesses of changes in climate and hydrology since the Late Glacial Maximum. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 72, p. 793-808.
Vitali, F., Longstaffe, F.J., Bird, M.I. and Caldwell, W.G.E. (2000) Oxygen-isotope fractionation between aluminum-hydroxide phases and water at <60°C: results of decade-long synthesis experiments. Clays and Clay Minerals, v. 48, p. 230-237.
Vitali, F. Longstaffe, F.J., McCarthy, P.J., Plint, A.G., and Caldwell, W.G.E. (2002) Stable isotopic investigation of clay minerals and pedogenesis in an interfluve paleosol from the Cenomanian Dunvegan Formation, NE British Columbia, Canada. Chemical Geology, v. 192, p. 269-287.
Vitali, F., Longstaffe, F.J., Bird, M.I., Gage, K.L., and Caldwell, W.G.E.(2001) Hydrogen-isotope fractionation in aluminum hydroxides: Synthesis products versus natural samples from bauxites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 65, p. 1391-1398.
Webb, E.A., Schwarcz H.P., Jensen C.T., Terry R.E., Moriarty M.D. and Emery K.F. (in press) Stable carbon isotope signature of ancient maize agriculture in the soils of Motul de San José, Guatemala. In: Advances in Archaeological Approaches to Soil Chemistry (eds. C. Wells and R.E. Terry). Submitted to Geoarchaeology, June 2004.
Webb, E.A. and Longstaffe F.J. (2006) Identifying the d18O signature of precipitation in grass cellulose and phytoliths: refining the paleoclimate model. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70, 2417-2426. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2006.02.024
Webb, E.A., Schwarcz H.P. and Healy P.F. (2004) Detection of ancient maize in lowland Maya soils using stable carbon isotopes: evidence from Caracol, Belize. Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 1039-1052.
Webb, E.A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2003) The relationship between phytolith- and plant-water d18O values in grasses. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 67, p. 1437-1449.
Webb, E.A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2002) Climatic influences on the oxygen isotopic composition of biogenic silica deposited in prairie grass. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 66, p. 1891-1904.
Webb, E.A. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2000) The oxygen isotopic compositions of silica phytoliths and plant water in grasses: implications for the study of paleoclimate. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 64, p. 767-780.
Whalen, J.B., Percival, J.A., McNicoll, V.J. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2002) A mainly crustal origin for tonalitic granitoid rocks, Superior Province, Canada: Implications for late Archean tectonomagmatic processes. Journal of Petrology, v. 43, p. 1551-1570.
White, C.D., Spence, M.W., Longstaffe, F.J., Stuart-Williams, H. and Law, K.R. (2002) Geographic identities of the sacrificial victims from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan: Implications for the nature of state power. Latin American Antiquity, v. 13, p. 217-236.
White, C.D., Longstaffe, F.J. and Law, K.R. (2001) Revisiting the Teotihuacan connection at Altun Ha: Oxygen-isotope analysis of Tomb F-8/1. Ancient Mesoamerica, p. 65-72.
White, C.D., Pendergast, D.M., Longstaffe, F.J. and Law, K.R. (2001) Social complexity and food systems at Altun Ha, Belize: the isotopic evidence. Latin American Antiquity, v. 12, p. 371-393.
White, C.D., Pohl, M.E.D., Schwarcz, H.P. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2001) Isotopic evidence for Maya patterns of deer and dog use at Preclassic Colha. Journal of Archaeological Science, v. 28, p. 89-107.
White, C.D., Longstaffe, F.J., Spence, M.W., and Law, K.R. (2000) Testing the nature of Teotihuacán imperialism at Kaminaljuyú using phosphate oxygen-isotope ratios. Journal of Anthropological Research, v. 36, p. 535-558.
Ziegler, K. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2000) Multiple episodes of clay alteration at the Precambrian/Paleozoic unconformity, Appalachian basin: isotopic evidence for long-distance and local fluid migrations. Clays and Clay Minerals, v. 48, p. 474-493.
Ziegler, K. and Longstaffe, F.J. (2000) Clay mineral authigenesis along a mid-continental scale fluid-conduit in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks from southern Ontario, Canada. Clay Minerals, v. 35, p. 243-264.