Curriculum vitae (pdf)
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For her PhD, Regina used isotopes (O, Sr) and trace elements in unusually well-preserved Miocene corals to decipher magnitudes and rates of environmental change in the eastern Mediterranean prior to the formation of Earth’s late Neogene and Pleistocene northern hemisphere ice sheets. As a post-doc at the Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie at Mainz (MPI) she developed new instrumental methods for the in-situ determination of Th-U isotope ratios using laser ablation ICP mass spectrometry.
She joined the Berkeley Geochronology Center (BGC) in March 2011 as a post-doc where she is developing analytical methods for U-Th-Pb and U-series dating using BGC’s new multi-collector ICP-MS and laser ablation facilities (Thermo Neptune Plus and PhotonMachines 193 nm laser system) and applying them to neotectonic and paleoenvironmental studies.
Regina received the International Association of Geoanalysts Early Career Researcher Award in 2010 for her work on laser ablation analyses at the MPI.
Mertz-Kraus R, Jochum KP, Sharp WD, Stoll B, Weis U, Andreae MO (2010) In situ 230Th-232Th-234U-238U analysis of silicate glasses and carbonates using laser ablation single-collector sector-field ICP-MS. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 25, 1895–1904, doi:10.1039/C0JA00004C.
Mertz-Kraus R, Brachert TC, Jochum KP, Reuter M, Stoll B (2009) LA-ICP-MS analyses on coral growth increments reveal heavy winter rain in the Eastern Mediterranean at 9 Ma. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 273, 25–40, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.11.015.
Mertz-Kraus R, Brachert TC, Reuter M, Galer SJG, Fassoulas C, Iliopoulos, G (2009) Late Miocene sea surface salinity variability in the Eastern Mediterranean inferred from coral aragonite δ18O (Crete, Greece). Chemical Geology, 262, 202–216, doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2009.01.010.
Mertz-Kraus R, Brachert TC, Reuter M (2008) Tarbellastraea (Scleractinia): A new stable isotope archive for Late Miocene paleoenvironments in the Mediterranean. Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeogeography, 257, 294–307, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.10.023.