Environmental Science
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Dr Robert Sparkes
Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science
Organic geochemist tracking carbon from rivers to oceans
My profile
Biography
I am a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, with research and teaching interests spanning Geography, Geology, Chemistry, Material Science and Environmental Science.
I research many aspects of the global carbon system, from the continent scale to the molecular scale, and from the deep sea to meteorites.
I have expertise in a broad range of chemistry techinques, including chromatography, spectroscopy, and elemental/isopic analysis.
I collaborate with collegues at MMU and with academics around the world, and am always keen to form new partnerships.
I work with and consult for businesses, undertaking joint projects and contract research.
I supervise and publish with research students across multiple disciplines.
I enjoy teaching our students the practical and academic skills required to become future leaders in the Natural Sciences.
Interests and expertise
I am an organic geochemist, using natural molecules, isotopes and analytical chemistry to trace carbon as it moves around our planet. I am particularly interested in working out how burying carbon in coastal sediments can help mitigate climate change.
Research focus:
- Burial of carbon in newly-created saltmarshes through the process of Managed Realignment, and the potential for climate mitigation
- Export of organic carbon from Siberian permafrost, via major rivers and coastal erosion, into the Arctic Ocean
- Erosion of particulate organic carbon from mountain belts, its transport through river, delta and submarine canyon systems, and its burial in deep-sea sediments
- Identifying and charactersing carbon particles in a range of locations, from deep sea sediments to chondrite meteorites
- Identifying biomarker molecules in soils, rivers, lakes and oceans, and using these to investigate ecosystems and environmental change
Analytical techniques:
- Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS)
- Raman Spectroscopy
- Elemental Analysis
- Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)
- Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry
Projects
Research projects include:
Enhancing Climate Resilience on the Somerset Coast
A £1.5M collaboration with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, investigating carbon burial and gas release on the Steart Marshes nature reserve. This site was created in 2014 by flooding low-lying farmland and allowing carbon-rich sediment to wash in. These days there is a vibrant bird reserve on the site, whilst the newly forming saltmarsh buries large quantities of organic carbon
Developing a UK Carbon Saltmarsh Code
A collaboration with Jacobs engineering consultancy, working for the Environment Agency to measure carbon burial in saltmarshes across each region of the UK. The results showed rapid burial of organic matter in newly created saltmarsh environments, providing strong evidence for their potential as climate change mitigation sites.
Teaching
I teach students from the Environmental Science, Geography and Chemistry undergraduate degree programmes, and from the Masters in Environmental Practice postgraduate degree. My teaching focuses on building academic knowledge and understanding via hands-on laboratory experience in the various teaching spaces at MMU, as well as encouraging questioning and problem solving in lectures, seminars and workshops.
I supervise student research projects across a wide range of fields, including Arctic climate history, soil and water pollution studies, and carbon burial.
First year courses:
- Investigating the Environment
Second year courses:
- Environmental Pollution
- Earth System Science
- Analytical Chemistry Labs
Third year courses
- Coastal and Marine Pollution
Masters courses
- Soil and Water Quality
Chemistry
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Supervision
Current PhD students (2): Saule Akhmetkaliyeva (2017-), Kate Irvin (2020-)
PhD completions (1): Emmelianna Kumar (2021)
Current post-doctoral researchers (2): Stuart Rae, Saule Akhmetkaliyeva
Research outputs
I have published on a wide range of subjects, focussed on analysing and characterising organic carbon in many forms and locations. These works center on understanding the carbon cycle, especially transport of carbon from land to ocean and long-term storage of carbon in marine sediments. However, my research activity has allowed me to develop expertise in Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry which has led to papers on topics ranging from PVC manufacture to meteorites.
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Chapters in books
Mossman, H., Sullivan, M., Dunk, R., Pemberton, R., Rae, S., Tempest, J., Pontee, N. (2022) 'Created coastal wetlands as carbon stores: potential challenges and opportunities.' In Humphreys, J., Little, S. (ed.) Challenges in Estuarine and Coastal Science: Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association 50th Anniversary Volume. Pelagic Publishing, pp. 146-159.
Hiscock, K., Sparkes, R.B., Hodgson, A. (2011) 'Evaluation of future climate change impacts on European groundwater resources.' Climate Change Effects on Groundwater Resources A Global Synthesis of Findings and Recommendations. CRC Press,
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Journal articles
Mossman, H.L., Pontee, N., Born, K., Hill, C., Lawrence, P.J., Rae, S., Scott, J., Serato, B., Sparkes, R.B., Sullivan, M.J.P., Dunk, R.M. (2022) 'Rapid carbon accumulation at a saltmarsh restored by managed realignment exceeded carbon emitted in direct site construction.' PLoS One, 17(11) pp. e0259033-e0259033.
O'Beirne, M.D., Sparkes, R., Hamilton, T.L., Dongen, B.E.V., Gilhooly, W.P., Werne, J.P. (2022) 'Characterization of diverse bacteriohopanepolyols in a permanently stratified, hyper-euxinic lake.' Organic Geochemistry, 168pp. 104431-104431.
Irvin, K.S., Potgieter, J.H., Liauw, C., Sparkes, R., Potgieter-Vermaak, S. (2022) 'The quantification of di-octyl terephthalate and calcium carbonate in polyvinyl chloride using Fourier transform-infrared and Raman spectroscopy.' Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 139(24) pp. 52372-52372.
Pytlak, A., Sparkes, R., Goraj, W., Szafranek-Nakonieczna, A., Banach, A., Akhmetkaliyeva, S., Słowakiewicz, M. (2021) 'Methanotroph-derived bacteriohopanepolyol signatures in sediments covering Miocene brown coal deposits.' International Journal of Coal Geology, 242pp. 103759-103759.
Mahmood, H., Pemberton, R. (2021) 'Spatio-temporal analysis of the potential toxicological burden of pollutants in a fluvial system, the River Irwell, Manchester, through anthropogenic activities (present and historical) and natural mechanisms.' North West Geography, 21(1)
Lindgren, P., Lee, M.R., Sparkes, R., Greenwood, R.C., Hanna, R.D., Franchi, I.A., King, A.J., Floyd, C., Martin, P.E., Hamilton, V.E., Haberle, C. (2020) 'Signatures of the post-hydration heating of highly aqueously altered CM carbonaceous chondrites and implications for interpreting asteroid sample returns.' Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 289pp. 69-92.
Sparkes, R.B., Hovius, N., Galy, A., Liu, J.T. (2019) 'Survival of graphitized petrogenic organic carbon through multiple erosional cycles.' Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 531pp. 115992-115992.
Sparkes, R.B., Maher, M., Blewett, J., Selver, A.O., Gustafsson, O., Semiletov, I.P., Van Dongen, B.E. (2018) 'Carbonaceous material export from Siberian permafrost tracked across the Arctic Shelf using Raman spectroscopy.' Cryosphere, 12(10) pp. 3293-3309.
Sparkes, R.B., Doğrul Selver, A., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Haghipour, N., Wacker, L., Eglinton, T.I., Talbot, H.M., van Dongen, B.E. (2016) 'Macromolecular composition of terrestrial and marine organic matter in sediments across the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.' The Cryosphere, 10pp. 2485-2500.
Bischoff, J., Sparkes, R.B., Selver, A.D., Spencer, R.G.M., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Dudarev, O.V., Wagner, D., Rivkina, E., Van Dongen, B.E., Talbot, H.M. (2016) 'Source, transport and fate of soil organic matter inferred from microbial biomarker lipids on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.' Biogeosciences, 13(17) pp. 4899-4914.
Sparkes, R.B., Dogrul Selver, A., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Haghipour, N., Wacker, L., Eglinton, T.I., Talbot, H.M., van Dongen, B.E. (2016) 'Macromolecular composition of terrestrial and marine organic matter in sediments across the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.' The Cryosphere Discussions, 2016pp. 1-26.
Lee, M.R., Lindgren, P., King, A.J., Greenwood, R.C., Franchi, I.A., Sparkes, R. (2016) 'Elephant Moraine 96029, a very mildly aqueously altered and heated CM carbonaceous chondrite: Implications for the drivers of parent body processing.' Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 187pp. 237-259.
Bischoff, J., Sparkes, R.B., Doğrul Selver, A., Spencer, R.G.M., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Dudarev, O.V., Wagner, D., Rivkina, E., van Dongen, B.E., Talbot, H.M. (2016) 'Source, transport and fate of soil organic matter inferred from microbial biomarker lipids on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.' Biogeosciences Discussions, pp. 1-27.
Turowski, J.M., Hilton, R.G., Sparkes, R. (2016) 'Decadal carbon discharge by a mountain stream is dominated by coarse organic matter.' Geology, 44
Sparkes, R.B., Doʇrul Selver, A., Bischoff, J., Talbot, H.M., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Dudarev, O.V., Van Dongen, B.E. (2015) 'GDGT distributions on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf: Implications for organic carbon export, burial and degradation.' Biogeosciences, 12(12) pp. 3753-3768.
Doğrul Selver, A., Sparkes, R.B., Bischoff, J., Talbot, H.M., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Dudarev, O.V., Boult, S., van Dongen, B.E. (2015) 'Distributions of bacterial and archaeal membrane lipids in surface sediments reflect differences in input and loss of terrestrial organic carbon along a cross-shelf Arctic transect.' Organic Geochemistry, 83-84
Sparkes, R.B., Lin, I.T., Hovius, N., Galy, A., Liu, J.T., Xu, X., Yang, R. (2015) 'Redistribution of multi-phase particulate organic carbon in a marine shelf and canyon system during an exceptional river flood: Effects of Typhoon Morakot on the Gaoping River–Canyon system.' Marine Geology, 363
Kao, S.J., Hilton, R.G., Selvaraj, K., Dai, M., Zehetner, F., Huang, J.C., Hsu, S.C., Sparkes, R., Liu, J.T., Lee, T.Y., Yang, J.Y.T., Galy, A., Xu, X., Hovius, N. (2014) 'Preservation of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments offshore Taiwan: Mountain building and atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration.' Earth Surface Dynamics, 2(1) pp. 127-139.
Sparkes, R., Hovius, N., Galy, A., Kumar, R.V., Liu, J.T. (2013) 'Automated analysis of carbon in powdered geological and environmental samples by Raman spectroscopy..' Applied Spectroscopy, 67
Hovius, N., Galy, A., Hilton, R.G., Sparkes, R., Smith, J., Shuh-Ji, K., Hongey, C., In-Tian, L., Joshua West, A. (2011) 'Erosion-driven drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide: The organic pathway.' Applied Geochemistry, 26(SUPPL.)
West, A.J., Lin, C.W., Lin, T.C., Hilton, R.G., Liu, S.H., Chang, C.T., Lin, K.C., Galy, A., Sparkes, R.B., Hovius, N. (2011) 'Mobilization and transport of coarse woody debris to the oceans triggered by an extreme tropical storm.' Limnology and Oceanography, 56
Sparkes, R., Tilmann, F., Hovius, N., Hillier, J. (2010) 'Subducted seafloor relief stops rupture in South American great earthquakes: implications for rupture behaviour in the 2010 Maule, Chile earthquake.' Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 298(1-2) pp. 89-94.
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Non-peer reviewed articles / reviews
Sparkes, R. (2020) Review of Guo et al.
Sparkes, R. (2017) Review of Sun et al.
Sparkes, R. (2016) Review of Warden et al., Provenance of branched GDGTs in the Tagus River drainage basin and its outflow in the Atlantic Ocean over the Holocene.
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Conference papers
Akhmetkaliyeva, S. (2020) 'Quantifying and characterising organic carbon and microbes in newly developed soils following glacier retreat in northern latitudes.'
Burns, E., Wolff, G., Jeffreys, R., Sparkes, R., Guustafsson, O., Wild, B., Semiletov, I., Van Dongen, B. (2019) 'Fate of terrigenous nitrogen in East Siberian Arctic shelf sediments.' In Proceedings: 29th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, IMOG 2019. Gothenburg, Sweden, 1/9/2019 - 6/9/2019. European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers,
Burns, E., Wolff, G., Jeffreys, R., Sparkes, R., Guustafsson, O., Wild, B., Semiletov, I., Van Dongen, B. (2019) 'Fate of terrigenous nitrogen in East Siberian Arctic shelf sediments.'
Burns, E., Wolff, G., Jeffreys, R., Sparkes, R., Guustafsson, O., Wild, B., Semiletov, I., Van Dongen, B. (2019) 'Fate of terrigenous nitrogen in East Siberian Arctic shelf sediments.'
Lindgren, P., Andreassen, A.M., Lee, M.R., Sparkes, R., Greenwood, R.C., Franchi, I.A. (2016) 'EXPLORING THERMAL SIGNATURES IN THE EXPERIMENTALLY HEATED CM CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITE ALLAN HILLS 83100.' In 79th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical-Society. 51. Berlin, GERMANY, 7/8/2016 - 12/8/2016. WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. A415-A415.
Potgieter-Vermaak, S., Maledi, N., Potgieter, J.H., Sparkes, R., Wagner, N. (2016) 'Organic and inorganic characterisation of different coals by single particle analysis.' 2016-August.
Lindgren, P., Sparkes, R., Quirico, E., Lee, M.R. (2015) 'EXPLORING THERMAL PROCESSING OF THE MILDLY AQUEOUSLY ALTERED CM2 EET 96029 USING SULPHIDE MINERALOGY AND CARBON STRUCTURE..' In 78th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical-Society. 50. Berkeley, CA, 27/7/2015 - 31/7/2015. WILEY,
Hovius, N., Galy, A., Calmels, D., Meunier, P., Hilton, R.H., Bickle, M.J., West, A.J., Chen, H., Sparkes, R.B. (2009) 'Erosion and weathering in Taiwan.' In 19th Annual VM Goldschmidt Conference. 73. Davos, Switzerland, 21/6/2009 - 26/6/2009. Elsevier, pp. A554-A554.
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Other
Sparkes, R. (2018) Response to Reviewer 1.
Sparkes, R. (2018) Response to Reviewer 2.
Sparkes, R.B., Maher, M., Blewett, J., Dogrul Selver, A., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., van Dongen, B.E. (2018) Supplementary material to "Carbonaceous material export from Siberian permafrost tracked across the Arctic Shelf using Raman spectroscopy".
Sparkes, R. (2016) Response to Reviewer #2.
Sparkes, R. (2016) Response to Reviewer #1.
Sparkes, R.B., Dogrul Selver, A., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Haghipour, N., Wacker, L., Eglinton, T.I., Talbot, H.M., van Dongen, B.E. (2016) Supplementary material to "Macromolecular composition of terrestrial and marine organic matter in sediments across the East Siberian Arctic Shelf".
Bischoff, J., Sparkes, R.B., Doğrul Selver, A., Spencer, R.G.M., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Dudarev, O.V., Wagner, D., Rivkina, E., van Dongen, B.E., Talbot, H.M. (2016) Supplementary material to "Source, transport and fate of soil organic matter inferred from microbial biomarker lipids on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf".
Sparkes, R.B., Doğrul Selver, A., Bischoff, J., Talbot, H.M., Gustafsson, Ö., Semiletov, I.P., Dudarev, O.V., van Dongen, B.E. (2015) Supplementary material to GDGT distributions in the East Siberian Sea: implications for organic carbon export, burial and degradation.
Kao, S.J., Hilton, R.G., Selvaraj, K., Dai, M., Zehetner, F., Huang, J.C., Hsu, S.C., Sparkes, R., Liu, J.T., Lee, T.Y., Yang, J.Y.T., Galy, A., Xu, X., Hovius, N. (2014) Supplementary material to Preservation of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments off shore Taiwan: mountain building and atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration.
Career history
2017-
Senior Lecturer, MMU
2016-2017
Lecturer, MMU
2015
Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Manchester
EPSRC funded research with Prof. Alice Larkin
2012-2015
Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Manchester
NERC funded research with Prof. Bart van Dongen
2008-2012
PhD, Earth Sciences + Materials Science, University of Cambridge
Title: Marine Sequestration of Particulate Organic Carbon from Mountain Belts
Supervisors: Niels Hovius, Vasant Kumar, Albert Galy
2004-2008
BA + MSci, Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge, 1st Class