Welcome to Bao Group

Our research and educational activities are relevant to energy, environment, and human well-being.

Huiming Bao (CV) Charles L. Jones Professor in Geology & Geophysics at Louisiana State University PhD: Princeton University, 1998 Stable isotope geochemistry bao@lsu.edu; (225) 578-3419 (office)

LSU Oxy-Anion Stable Isotope Consortium (OASIC) One of Bao field camps (2011)

Research:

(Google Citation Indices)

A common thread of our research has been the use of high-dimensional stable isotope systems to "read" geological, biological, and environmental records, with a special interest in the history of our evolving atmosphere.

The tools that we use include gas-source isotopic ratio mass spectrometry (dual-inlet and conflo), laser-fluorination systems, vacuum lines, GC, IC, ICP-ES, SEM, XRD, and wet- and photo-chemistry lab facilities. My students and I have built up a unique stable isotope laboratory that is specialized in the isotope-ratio measurements of most elements in water-soluble oxy-anions such as sulfate, nitrate, perchlorate, phosphate, and hydroxide. The Oxy-Anion Stable Isotope Consortium (OASIC) is capable of chemical preparation and measurement of δD, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ¹⁷O, δ³⁴S, δ³³S, and δ³⁶S values of SO₄^2-, NO₃^-, ClO₄^-, and PO₄^3-with the best precisions in the community.

Group members are trained to walk on "four legs": (1) Field observation/sampling, (2) laboratory experiments, (3) modeling, and (4) theoretical analysis. We demand solid physical-chemistry background and quantitative skills. Our active fieldwork sites are all over the world, including Antarctic Dry Valleys, Australia, China, Chile, South Africa, Europe, and USA.

Active Research Projects

I.  Stable Isotope Kinetics

II. Atmosphere-Biosphere condition associated with Neoproterozoic global glaciations

III. Sulfur oxidation and sulfate reduction

          IV. Atmospheric deposition and post-depositional migration of ions in hyperarid deserts

          V.  Antarctica, Early Earth, and Mars

Teaching:

I teach introductory-level Physical Geology (Geol-1001) and Historical Geology (Geol-1003) for majors and non-majors.  My upper-level graduate courses include "Geol7081-- Stable Isotope Geochemistry", "Carbonates: Geochemistry, petrology, & sedimentology", and "Advanced Topics in Stable Isotope Geochemistry".

Selected Publications:

(Click here for publications listed per topical areas)

Cao*, Xiaobin, Huiming Bao, Yongbo Peng, 2019, A kinetic model for isotopologue signatures of methane generated by biotic and abiotic CO₂ methanation, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 249: 59-75.

Killingsworth*, Bryan, Bao, Huiming, and Kohl, Issaku*, 2018, Assessing Pyrite-Derived Sulfate in the Mississippi River with Four Years of Sulfur and Triple-Oxygen Isotope Data, Environmental Sciences & Technology. 52: 6126-6136.

Reich, M., Bao, H, 2018, Nitrate Deposits of the Atacama Desert: A Marker of Long-Term Hyperaridity, Elements, 14(4): 251-256.

Benjamin L. Byerly, Keena Kareem, Huiming Bao, Gary R. Byerly, 2017, Early Earth mantle heterogeneity revealed by light oxygen isotopes of Archaean komatiites. Nature Geosciences, v. 10, 871-876.

Cao, Xiaobin*, and Bao, Huiming, 2017, Redefining the utility of the three-isotope method: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 212, p. 16-32, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2017.05.028.

Hayles, J.A.*, Cao, Xiaobin*, Bao, Huiming, 2017, The statistical mechanical basis of the triple isotope fractionation relationship, Geochemical Perspective Letter. 3:1-11, doi: 10.7185/geochemlet.1701.

Bao, Huiming, Cao, Xiaobin*, and Hayles, A. J. *, 2016, Triple Oxygen Isotopes: Principle and Applications, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 44:463-92.

Bao, Huiming, Cao, Xiaobin*, and Hayles, A. Justin*, 2015, The confines of triple oxygen isotope exponents in elemental and complex mass-dependent processes. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 170:39-50.

Douglas I. Benn, Yannick Donnadieu, Huiming Bao, Christian Dumas, Edward J. Fleming, Michael J. Hambrey, Guillaume Le Hir, Emily A. McMillan, Michael S. Petronis, Gilles Ramstein, Carl T.E. Stevenson, Peter M. Wynn, Ian J. Fairchild, Orbitally Forced Climatic Fluctuations in Snowball Earth. 2015, Nature Geosciences, v. 8(9).

Sun, Tao*, Richard A. Socki, David L. Bish, Ralph P. Harvey, Huiming Bao, Paul Niles, Ricardo Cavicchioli, Eric Tonui, Lost cold deserts in the Antarctica interior inferred from unusual sulfate deposits and multiple isotope signatures. Nature Communications, June 29 (2015), DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8579.

Killingsworth, A. Bryan*, Bao, Huiming, 2015, Significant human impact on the flux and δ³⁴S of sulfate from the largest river in North America. Environmental Sciences & Technology, Vol.49 (8) p. 4851-4860.

Li, P., Yan, R., Yu, S., Wang, S., Liu, W., Bao, Huiming, 2015, Reinstate regional transport of PM2.5 as a major cause of severe haze in Beijing. PNAS. 10.1073/pnas.1502596112. May 26, 2015, vol. 112(21), E2739-E2740.

Bao, Huiming, 2015, Sulfate: A time capsule for Earth's O₂, O₃, and H₂O, Chemical Geology, 395, 108-118.

Cao, Xiaobin* and Bao, Huiming, 2013, Dynamic model constraints on oxygen-17 depletion in atmospheric O2 after a snowball Earth. PNAS, July 2013; www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1302972110.

Bryan A. Killingsworth*, Justin A. Hayles*, Chuanming Zhou, and Huiming Bao, 2013, Sedimentary Constraints on the Duration of the Marinoan Oxygen-17 Depletion (MOSD) Event. PNAS, Feb. 6, 2013

Bao, Huiming, Yu, Shaocai, and Tong, Daniel Q., 2010, Massive volcanic SO₂ oxidation and sulphate aerosol deposition in Cenozoic North America. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature09100

Bao, Huiming, Ian J. Fairchild, Peter M. Wynn, and Christoph Spotl, 2009, Stretching the Envelope of Past Surface Environments: Neoproterozoic Glacial Lakes from Svalbard, Science, 323, 119-122; DOI: 10.1126/science.1165373

Bao, Huiming, Jim Lyons, and Chuanming Zhou, May 2008, Triple oxygen isotope evidence for elevated CO₂ levels after a Neoproterozoic glaciation, Nature, 453 (7194), 504-506; DOI: 10.1038/nature06959.

Bao, Huiming, Sun, T., Kohl, I., and Peng, Y.-P., 2008, Comments on "Early Archaean microorganisms preferred elemental sulfur, not sulfate", Science, v. 319 (5868), p. 1336.

Bao, Huiming and Gu, Baohua, 2004, Natural perchlorate has a unique oxygen isotope signature. Environmental Science and Technology, 38(19): 5073-5077.; 10.1021/es049516z

Bao Huiming, Douglas A. Campbell, James G. Bockheim, Mark H. Thiemens, 2000, Origin of sulfate in Antarctic Dry Valley soils as deduced from anomalous ¹⁷O compositions. Nature 407, 499-502.

Bao, Huiming et al. 2000, Anomalous ¹⁷O compositions in massive sulphate deposits on the Earth. Nature 406, 176-178.

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Selected photos of fieldwork from 2001-2012

2001: The Atacama Desert, Northern Chile (2001) (2007-1)
2001: Xinjiang, northwestern China (2001) (2002)
2002: Nebraska, USA (-1, -2)
2002: The Antarctic Dry Valleys (2002-1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6)
2005: Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, USA (-1,-2, -3, -4)
2006: Nebraska, Wyoming, USA (1) and northern China (-1, -2)
2007: southern China (-1, -2, -3)

2008: southern China (-1, -2)

2009: southern China (-1, -2, -3, -4)

2010: Western Australia (-1, -2, -3)

2011: southern China (-1, -2, -3, -4)

2012: north-central China (-1, -2); Nebraska, Texas, and Nevada, USA (-1, -2, -3,-4)

2013: northwestern China (-1, ), Brazil (-1, )

2014: East Finnmark (1, 2, 3)

2015: Ermeishan LIPs, Guizhou, China (1, 2)

2016: Institute of Geochemistry, CAS (1)

2017: South China (1, 2)

In my previous life (1, 2)

International Symposium on Isotopomers (ISI 2018)

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.A.

March 25-28, 2018

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