The Isotope Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry group is part of the Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. It encompasses three research teams that use fundamental chemical and isotopic techniques to understand natural processes on a range of temporal and spatial scales, including the formation of the Solar System and its planets and the evolution of the ocean chemistry and the weathering processes on Earth.
This team, led by Prof. Maria Schönbächler, investigates the origin and the evolution of our Solar System and its planets with particular focus on, in particular our planet Earth. This includes the formation of the Moon, the Earth’s core and the first continents. Read on
The Earth’s surface geochemistry team, led by Prof. Derek Vance, pursues dynamic research programs that focus on the characterisation of the processes involved in the evolution of the Earth’s surface, its environment, climate and biosphere. Read on
The group, led by Prof. Henner Busemann, studies processes ranging from stellar nucleosynthesis and the chemistry of the interstellar medium to planet formation, cometary volatile delivery, transport of meteorites, chronology and landscape evolution, using the specific properties of noble gases. Read on
Working with us
Are you interested in a job, a doctorate or an internship? By joining our group, you will have the opportunity to work on a variety of interesting projects in an international environment. Several people have left our labs for careers in and outside academia over the past decade, helped by the skills and experiences gained in our group.
It might be that what set prebiotic chemistry in motion and kept it going in the early days of the Earth was dust from outer space accumulating in holes melted into ice sheets. Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Cambridge have used a computer model to test this scenario.
Anna Mittelholz and Simon Stähler from the Department of Earth Sciences, together with Hendrik Kolvenbach from D-MAVT, are leading an international team that is proposing a cost-effective method for exploring lava tubes on the Moon.
Hardly any gemstone is more difficult to find than diamonds. Geologists from ETH Zurich and the University of Melbourne have now established a link between their occurrence and the mineral olivine. This could make the search for diamonds easier in the future.
