steveg | Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Dr. Steven L. Goldstein

Professor

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Geochemistry

Chair

Earth and Environmental Sciences

213 Comer

61 Route 9W - PO Box 1000

Palisades

10964-8000

Phone:

(845) 365-8787

View Website

Fields of interest:

Isotope Geology

The Earth is a dynamic planet. Throughout its four and a half billion year history, magmas generated in the mantle have created the crust, which in turn has been mixed back into the mantle by subduction. The decay of radioactive elements in rocks imparts fingerprints that we use to understand how these processes work, and to determine the timing of events.

These fingerprints are among the most versatile geological tracers. Their applicability extends across the spectrum of the Earth sciences and is limited only by our creativity and imagination. Among the most exciting aspects of isotope geochemistry is that we are neither "hard-" nor "soft" rockers, neither "Quaternary-" nor "Archean" geologists.

At Lamont, we are using isotopic tracers in studies ranging from deep Earth processes and evolution to Quaternary climate change. Our igneous studies include the history of continental growth as well magma formation processes at ocean ridges, ocean islands, and island arcs. Low-temperature studies include tracing element fluxes in the present-day oceans and through time, and quantifying the timing of climate change through dating of sediments only thousands of years old. The next decade promises to be the most exciting yet as new analytical techniques will extend our arsenal of isotopic tracers.

I found Lamont to be an amazingly exciting place to be a Ph.D. student, and this is why I returned as a faculty member when the opportunity arose. Its combination of great intellectual breadth and range of resources and friendliness make a great environment for research and education.

Currently Funded Projects ( details )

Education

Ph.D.

Columbia University

1986

Harvard University

1978

Columbia University

1976

Honors & Awards:

Excellence in Teaching Award (!), Grad. Student Council, Dept. Earth & Env. Sci. 2005

Educational Activities:

Congratulations to Alex Piotrowski and Bill Thompson for Student Poster Awards at the International Conference of Paleoceanography (ICP8), Biarritz, Sept. 2004

Congratulations to Kyla Simons for Honorable Mention for the 2004 Margins Prize at Fall 2004 AGU

Congratulations to Anna Cipriani for the Student Research Award at the 2006 Polar Ridges Meeting in Sestri Levante, Italy

Congratulations to Laura Mori, a visiting student from UNAM (Mexico), for an Outstanding Student Paper Award at the Spring 2007 AGU Meeting

Lamont Projects:

Isotope Geochemistry Lab

Selected Publications:

Origin of a 'Southern Hemisphere' geochemical signature in the Arctic upper mantle, Goldstein, S. L.; Soffer, G.; Langmuir, C. H.; Lehnert, K. A.; Graham, D. W.; Michael, P. J. , Nature, May 1, Volume 453, Issue 7191, p.89-U5, (2008), Doi 10.1038/Nature06919

Global neodymium-hafnium isotope systematics - revisited, van de Flierdt, T.; Goldstein, S. L.; Hemming, S. R.; Roy, M.; Frank, M.; Halliday, A. N. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Jul 30, Volume 259, Issue 3-4, p.432-441, (2007), DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.05.003

Late Quaternary changes in desert dust inputs to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios in deep-sea cores, Stein, M.; Almogi-Labin, A.; Goldstein, S. L.; Hemleben, C.; Starinsky, A. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Sep 15, Volume 261, Issue 1-2, p.104-119, (2007), DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.008

Strontium isotope tracing of terrigenous sediment dispersal in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: Implications for constraining frontal positions, Hemming, S. R.; van de Flierdt, T.; Goldstein, S. L.; Franzese, A. M.; Roy, M.; Gastineau, G.; Landrot, G. , Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, Jun 13, Volume 8, p.-, (2007), Doi 10.1029/2006gc001441

The co-evolution of Black Sea level and composition through the last deglaciation and its paleoclimatic significance, Major, C. O.; Goldstein, S. L.; Ryan, W. B. F.; Lericolais, G.; Piotrowski, A. M.; Hajdas, I. , Quaternary Science Reviews, Sep, Volume 25, Issue 17-18, p.2031-2047, (2006), DOI 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.01.032

Radiogenic isotope fingerprint of Wilkes Land - Adelie Coast Bottom Water in the circum-Antarctic Ocean, van de Flierdt, T.; Hemming, S. R.; Goldstein, S. L.; Abouchami, W. , Geophysical Research Letters, Jun 24, Volume 33, Issue 12, p.-, (2006), Doi 10.1029/2006gl026020

A radiometric calibration of the SPECMAP timescale, Thompson, W. G.; Goldstein, S. L. , Quaternary Science Reviews, Dec, Volume 25, Issue 23-24, p.3207-3215, (2006), DOI 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.02.007

Reduced Agulhas Leakage during the Last Glacial Maximum inferred from an integrated provenance and flux study, Franzese, A. M.; Hemming, S. R.; Goldstein, S. L.; Anderson, R. F. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Oct 15, Volume 250, Issue 1-2, p.72-88, (2006), DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2006.07.002

Temporal stability of the neodymium isotope signature of the Holocene to glacial North Atlantic, van de Flierdt, T.; Robinson, L. F.; Adkins, J. F.; Hemming, S. R.; Goldstein, S. L. , Paleoceanography, Nov 25, Volume 21, Issue 4, p.-, (2006), Doi 10.1029/2006pa001294

Evolution of helium isotopes in the Earth's mantle, Class, C.; Goldstein, S. L. , Nature, Aug 25, Volume 436, Issue 7054, p.1107-1112, (2005), Doi 10.1038/Nature03930

Open-system coral ages reveal persistent suborbital sea-level cycles, Thompson, W. G.; Goldstein, S. L. , Science, Apr 15, Volume 308, Issue 5720, p.401-404, (2005), DOI 10.1126/science.1104035

Sr isotope evidence for sources of terrigenous sediment in the southeast Atlantic Ocean: Is there increased available Fe for enhanced glacial productivity?, Rutberg, R. L.; Goldstein, S. L.; Hemming, S. R.; Anderson, R. F. , Paleoceanography, Mar 30, Volume 20, Issue 1, p.-, (2005), Doi 10.1029/2003pa000999

Temporal relationships of carbon cycling and ocean circulation at glacial boundaries, Piotrowski, A. M.; Goldstein, S. L.; Hemming, S. R.; Fairbanks, R. G. , Science, Mar 25, Volume 307, Issue 5717, p.1933-1938, (2005), DOI 10.1126/science.1104883

Intensification and variability of ocean thermohaline circulation through the last deglaciation, Piotrowski, A. M.; Goldstein, S. L.; Hemming, S. R.; Fairbanks, R. G. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Aug 30, Volume 225, Issue 1-2, p.205-220, (2004), DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2004.06.002

Origin of enriched ocean ridge basalts and implications for mantle dynamics, Donnelly, K. E.; Goldstein, S. L.; Langmuir, C. H.; Spiegelman, M. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Oct 15, Volume 226, Issue 3-4, p.347-366, (2004), DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2004.07.019

U-Th dating of Lake Lisan (late Pleistocene Dead Sea) aragonite and implications for glacial East Mediterranean climate change, Haase-Schramm, A.; Goldstein, S. L.; Stein, M. , Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, Mar, Volume 68, Issue 5, p.985-1005, (2004)

Catastrophic arid episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean linked with the North Atlantic Heinrich events, Bartov, Y.; Goldstein, S. L.; Stein, M.; Enzel, Y. , Geology, May, Volume 31, Issue 5, p.439-442, (2003)

Catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea, Ryan, W. B. F.; Major, C. O.; Lericolais, G.; Goldstein, S. L. , Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Volume 31, p.525-554, (2003), DOI 10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.141249

Magmatic and amagmatic seafloor generation at the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge, Arctic Ocean, Michael, P. J.; Langmuir, C. H.; Dick, H. J. B.; Snow, J. E.; Goldstein, S. L.; Graham, D. W.; Lehnert, K.; Kurras, G.; Jokat, W.; Muhe, R.; Edmonds, H. N. , Nature, Jun 26, Volume 423, Issue 6943, p.956-U1, (2003), Doi 10.1038/Nature01704

An open-system model for U-series age determinations of fossil corals, Thompson, W. G.; Spiegelman, M. W.; Goldstein, S. L.; Speed, R. C. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, May 15, Volume 210, Issue 1-2, p.365-381, (2003), Doi 10.1016/S0012-821x(03)00121-3

The control of lithium budgets in island arcs, Tomascak, P. B.; Widom, E.; Benton, L. D.; Goldstein, S. L.; Ryan, J. G. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Mar 15, Volume 196, Issue 3-4, p.227-238, (2002), Pii S0012-821x(01)00614-8

Calibration of the C-14 time scale to > 40 ka by U-234-Th-230 dating of Lake Lisan sediments (last glacial Dead Sea), Schramm, A.; Stein, M.; Goldstein, S. L. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Jan 30, Volume 175, Issue 1-2, p.27-40, (2000)

Reduced North Atlantic Deep Water flux to the glacial Southern Ocean inferred from neodymium isotope ratios, Rutberg, R. L.; Hemming, S. R.; Goldstein, S. L. , Nature, Jun 22, Volume 405, Issue 6789, p.935-938, (2000)

Distinguishing melt and fluid subduction components in Umnak volcanics, Aleutian Arc, Class, C.; Miller, D. M.; Goldstein, S. L.; Langmuir, C. H. , Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, Volume 1, Issue 6, (2000), 10.1029/1999GC000010

The process of plume-lithosphere interactions in the ocean basins - the case of Grande Comore, Class, C.; Goldstein, S. L.; Altherr, R.; Bachelery, P. , Journal of Petrology, May, Volume 39, Issue 5, p.881-903, (1998)

Plume-lithosphere interactions in the ocean basins: constraints from the source mineralogy, Class, C.; Goldstein, S. L. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Aug, Volume 150, Issue 3-4, p.245-260, (1997)

Cerium Lead and Lead-Isotope Ratios in Arc Magmas and the Enrichment of Lead in the Continents, Miller, D. M.; Goldstein, S. L.; Langmuir, C. H. , Nature, Apr 7, Volume 368, Issue 6471, p.514-520, (1994)

A Sm-Nd Isotopic Study of Atmospheric Dusts and Particulates from Major River Systems, Goldstein, S. L.; Onions, R. K.; Hamilton, P. J. , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 70, Issue 2, p.221-236, (1984)

Nd and Sr Isotopic Relationships in Pelagic Clays and Ferromanganese Deposits, Goldstein, S. L.; Onions, R. K. , Nature, Volume 292, Issue 5821, p.324-327, (1981)