Nathaniel R Miller
Lecturer, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
Mailcode: C1100
I am a research scientist in the Department of Geological Sciences specializing in laser ablation and quadrupole ICP-MS. My principal research interests lie in the fields of global change and sedimentary geochemistry as applied to modern and ancient depositional settings, and include chronostratigraphy, carbonate geochemistry, and paleoceanography. I am particularly interested in organic-rich sequences in space and time, and the impact of life processes (including anthropogenic effects) on the stratigraphic record. I utilize geochemical, isotopic, and GIS techniques, in addition to good old-fashioned field geology and petrography.
Projects of active and ongoing interest include: (1) Evaluating Neoproterozoic climate change (in Northern Ethiopia, Middle East) and its relationship to the Snowball Earth Hypothesis; (2) Discerning controls of REE distributions in organic carbon rich depositional systems; (3) Deciphering controls of microbial dolomite occurrence in organic rich depositional settings; (4) Determination of high-resolution chemostratigraphies in environmentally sensitive growth-banded sedimentary records (speleothems, microbialites, cements, cap carbonates); (5) Use of C, O, S, & Sr isotopic tracers in defining natural solute origins in the Red River system.
I have taught a diversity of Earth Science courses since 1995 and previously worked in the energy industry (ARCO/Mobil) in hydrocarbon exploration, reservoir characterization and development, and delineation of petroleum source rock systems. I currently teach courses in inorganic mass spectrometry (GEO 391, 390S).
Areas of Expertise
Sedimentary geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, Earth system evolution, Q-ICP-MS, microanalytics, GIS, Neoproterozoic climate [link: http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2018/05/new-research-suggests-that-dawn-of-plate-tectonics-could-have-turned-earth-into-snowball/]
Research Locations
Organizer, Organizing and Scientific Committee Member, North American Workshop on Laser Ablation (2017)
Founding member, Organizing and Scientific Committees, North American Workshop on Laser Ablation (2015)
Participant, Teaching and Learning Activities in Geochemistry: Examples and Applications, Goldschmidt Workshop (2014)
Member, European Association of Geochemistry (2013 - Present)
Participant, On the Cutting Edge Workshop, Teaching Mineralogy, Petrology, and Geochemistry (2011)
Invited Facilitator, Sponsored workshop: On the Cutting Edge: Designing Innovative and Effective Courses in Geosciences, NAGT/NSF (2006 - 2007)
Member, Geological Society of America (2006 - Present)
Member, American Geophysical Union (1987 - Present)
Member, Society for Sedimentary Geology (1985 - Present)
Member, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (1985 - Present)
Graduate Students
Kylie Wright, M.S., 2017 (Committee Member)
Christina James, M.S., 2017 (Committee Member)
Susana Hinojosa, M.S.
(Committee Member)
Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon
Visiting scholar in chemistry during Fall 2017. MS project: Evaluation of Pt, Pd and Rh in particulate matter and urban dust from high traffic avenues in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area, Mexico
Invited co-keynote (with Jay Banner): Integrating Texas Speleothem Proxies Constraints from Monitoring and Imaging Studies, NSF-sponsored High Resolution Proxies of Paleoclimate workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2013)
Invited keynote speaker - Expressions of Neoproterozoic Icehouse Earth in the Arabian-Nubian Shield, 33rd IGC, Oslo, Norway - August (2008)
Invited Participant/Speaker - 1st international conference on Snowball Earth, Organization name needed, Ascona, Switzerland - July (2006)
| Year | Semester | Course | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Fall | GEO 392F | Fundmtls/Applctns Of Icp-Ms |
| 2023 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2022 | Fall | GEO 392F | Fundmtls/Applctns Of Icp-Ms |
| 2022 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2021 | Fall | GEO 392F | Fundmtls/Applctns Of Icp-Ms |
| 2021 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2020 | Fall | GEO 392F | Fundmtls/Applctns Of Icp-Ms |
| 2020 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2019 | Fall | GEO 392F | Fundmtls/Applctns Of Icp-Ms |
| 2019 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2019 | Spring | GEO 291 | Geochem Prob Solv Ion/Atoms |
| 2019 | Spring | GEO 271T | Geochem Prob Solv Ion/Atoms |
| 2018 | Fall | GEO 391 | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2018 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2017 | Fall | GEO 391 | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2017 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2016 | Fall | GEO 391 | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2016 | Fall | GEO 343Q | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2016 | Spring | GEO 391 | Geoch Prob Solv With Ion/Atom |
| 2016 | Spring | GEO 371T | Geoch Prob Solv With Ion/Atom |
| 2015 | Fall | GEO 391 | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2015 | Fall | GEO 371T | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2014 | Fall | GEO 391 | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2014 | Fall | GEO 371T | Fundamentals/Applic Of Icp-Ms |
| 2014 | Spring | GEO 390S | Anlyt Meths: Mass Spectrometry |