Barbara Sherwood Lollar
Professor and CRC in Isotopes of the Earth and Environment
University of Toronto

I specialize in environmental biogeoscience and carbon isotope geochemistry, specifically applied to two major research areas – groundwater investigations related to contaminant remediation and carbon capture and storage; and investigation of the source and fate of deep crustal gases (CO₂, CH₄, H₂) and their role in supporting the deep microbial biosphere.

My research focuses on the use of compound specific stable isotope techniques to track the source and fate of organic contaminants in groundwater, the investigation of the source and fate of CO₂ in sedimentary basins and natural carbon sequestration analog settings, and the identification of subsurface gases (methane and hydrogen) in deep (2-3 km) groundwaters in the oldest rocks on earth and the biogeochemical cycling by deep subsurface microbial communities.

Applications of my work include the development of new techniques for using stable isotope tracers to determine the fate and distribution of organic contaminants in near surface groundwaters and the effectiveness of groundwater remediation systems in cleaning up contaminated sites.

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