[Sulfate triple oxygen isotope signatures in Messinian evaporite and barite] - Sulfate triple oxygen isotope signatures in Messinian evaporite and barite from cores collected (Collaborative Research: Development of a novel way for understanding ancient Earth atmospheres and marine sulfate using the stable isotope of Oxygen (17O) in marine barite.)

Samples were collected from outcrop (Messinian evaporite from the Caltanissetta and Sorbas Basins) as well as from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) cores (evaporite from the Tyrrhenian Basin, and all barite). Instruments used to measure the oxygen isotope compositions included a High Temperature Conversion Elemental Analyzer (TC/EA) coupled to a Delta V Plus Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) and a custom built laser fluorination line coupled to a 253 Plus IRMS, in the Johnston lab at Harvard University.

These measurements contributed to our understanding of how closely marine evaporite sulfate records reflect ancient seawater sulfate isotope composition and the degree to which sulfate within an evaporite basin is microbially cycled. Anna Waldeck and Haley Olson, both students in David Johnston's lab, measured the oxygen isotope compositions.