Oliver Shorttle

Planetary geochemistry, how the mantle, atmosphere, and oceans of Earth co-evolve.

Research Area

I work in both the Department of Earth Sciences and Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge investigating the origin of Earth’s habitability and the conditions that allowed life to emerge on it.  These insights from studying Earth form the basis for our search for life on the solar system planets and exoplanets. 

I investigate processes from Earth’s mantle through to its crust, oceans, and atmosphere.  Looking inside the planet, I research what the Earth’s mantle is made from, how it is structured, and what information it contains on how the Earth formed.  By investigating the composition of the continents, I seek to understand when they grew and how they have evolved over Earth history.  Through studying the long-term evolution of the oceans and atmosphere, my research constrains how volcanism and weathering have imprinted the composition of Earth’s interior on its surface environment.

My research is highly multi-disciplinary, making use of fieldwork, data science, theory, geochemical analysis, petrological observations, and experiment. 

Planetary Chemistry – University of Cambridge | Oliver Shorttle 

Project Interests

I would be excited to develop projects with students in any area of planetary geochemistry.  Examples of my current research that would provide excellent opportunities for new students to engage with include: finding how volcanoes degas their carbon dioxide, and where that carbon comes from, using carbon isotopes; identifying how strong Earth’s continents are by applying machine learning approaches to identify their mineralogy from petrographic images; and, tracking the temperature of Earth’s oceans through the phanerozoic using the oxygen isotope composition of ancient brachiopods.