Biography

Aalto graduated from Brown University in 2021 with an ScB in Geology-Chemistry and History. His undergraduate research background in stable isotope geochemistry includes operating an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) to determine the stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in foraminifera from deep-sea core sections as part of an NSF project. His undergraduate thesis, “New Geochemical Constraints on Provenance, Mixing, and Discharge of Particulate Organic Carbon from the Largest Sediment Supplier to the Amazon,” uses stable carbon ratios to demonstrate that ENSO modulates the flux and character of particulate organic carbon discharge from the River Beni into the Amazon mainstem. 

As a PhD student in the Jackson School of Geosciences, Aalto works with Professor Daniel Breecker to develop a soil CO₂ proxy that uses stable isotopes of boron in soil carbonates. In addition, Aalto is using the stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in snail shells from archaeological collections to map the distribution of paleovegetation in the early Holocene across the wide aridity gradient of Texas. Aalto plans to apply his undergraduate and graduate backgrounds in organic chemistry and stable isotope geochemistry, as well his growing experience with LA-ICP-MS, to develop the proposed method.