Professor Ian Fairchild PhD CGeol

Professor Ian Fairchild

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Emeritus Professor

Contact details

Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Ian Fairchild is a geoscientist with broad interests in the geochemistry of the Earth’s surface, climate change and Quaternary and Neoproterozoic earth history. He employs this breadth of knowledge in research and public outreach including geoconservation in the West Midlands. He is equally at home in the field and the laboratory with a wealth of experience in glacial environments, caves, rock successions and at national and international geochemical research facilities.

Anthropocene interview with the BBC - 3 March 2016

Qualifications

  • BSc University of Nottingham
  • PhD University of Nottingham

Teaching

Ian occasionally supervises advanced undergraduate projects.

Postgraduate supervision

Ian Fairchild employs this breadth of knowledge in teaching, in public outreach, and professional activities such as examining and research assessment. He is equally at home in the field and the laboratory with a wealth of experience in glacial environments, caves, rock successions and at national and international geochemical research facilities.

Dr Fairchild has research interests in the following areas:

Speleothems and Climate Change, especially the development of palaeoclimate proxies and the understanding of karst processes including their hydrology. See also www.speleothemscience.info
Glaciation and carbonates in deep time - The Cryogenian. See GAINS project
Aqueous Geochemistry in relation to weathering reactions and hydrology in glacial and riverine environments (Iceland, Himalayas).
Experimental studies of mineral-water interactions

Other activities

  • Chair, NERC Isotope Geoscience Facilities (NIGF) Steering Committee (2016-2019)
  • Trustee, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust (2015-)
  • Member, Anthropocene Working Group, International Commission of Stratigraphy (2013- )
  • Voting Member of the Cryogenian sub-commission of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (2012-)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Domínguez-Villar, D, Krklec, K, Boomer, I & Fairchild, IJ 2021, 'ISODRIP, a model to transfer the δ18O signal of precipitation to drip water — implementation of the model for Eagle Cave (central Spain)', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 797, 149188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149188

Bian, F, Coleborn, K, Flemons, I, Baker, A, Treble, PC, Hughes, CE, Baker, A, Andersen, MS, Tozer, MG, Duan, W, Fogwill, CJ & Fairchild, IJ 2019, 'Hydrological and geochemical responses of fire in a shallow cave system', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 662, pp. 180-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.102

Wynn, PM, Fairchild, IJ, Borsato, A, Spötl, C, Hartland, A, Baker, A, Frisia, S & Baldini, JUL 2018, 'Sulphate partitioning into calcite: Experimental verification of pH control and application to seasonality in speleothems', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 226, pp. 69-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.01.020

Fairchild, IJ, Spencer, AM, Ali, DO, Anderson, RP, Anderton, R, Boomer, I, Dove, D, Evans, JD, Hambrey, MJ, Howe, J, Sawaki, Y, Shields, GA, Skelton, A, Tucker, ME, Wang, Z & Zhou, Y 2018, 'Tonian-Cryogenian boundary sections of Argyll, Scotland', Precambrian Research, vol. 319, pp. 37-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2017.09.020

Klaebe, RM, Smith, MP, Fairchild, IJ, Fleming, EJ & Kennedy, MJ 2017, 'Facies-dependent δ 13 C variation and diagenetic overprinting at the onset of the Sturtian glaciation in North-East Greenland', Precambrian Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2017.12.008

Waters, CN, Zalasiewicz, J, Summerhayes, C, Fairchild, IJ, Rose, NL, Loader, NJ, Shotyk, W, Cearreta, A, Head, MJ, Syvitski, JPM, Williams, M, Wagreich, M, Barnosky, AD, Zhisheng, A, Leinfelder, R, Jeandel, C, Gałuszka, A, Ivar Do Sul, JA, Gradstein, F, Steffen, W, Mcneill, JR, Wing, S, Poirier, C & Edgeworth, M 2017, 'Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene Series: Where and how to look for potential candidates', Earth Science Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.12.016

Ali, DO, Spencer, AM, Fairchild, IJ, Chew, KJ, Anderton, R, Levell, BK, Hambrey, MJ, Dove, D & Le Heron, DP 2017, 'Indicators of relative completeness of the glacial record of the Port Askaig Formation, Garvellach Islands, Scotland', Precambrian Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2017.12.005

Zalasiewicz, J, Waters, CN, Summerhayes, CP, Wolfe, AP, Barnosky, AD, Cearreta, A, Crutzen, P, Ellis, E, Fairchild, IJ, Gałuszka, A, Haff, P, Hajdas, I, Head, MJ, Ivar Do Sul, JA, Jeandel, C, Leinfelder, R, Mcneill, JR, Neal, C, Odada, E, Oreskes, N, Steffen, W, Syvitski, J, Vidas, D, Wagreich, M & Williams, M 2017, 'The Working Group on the Anthropocene: Summary of evidence and interim recommendations', Anthropocene, vol. 19, pp. 55-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2017.09.001

Dominguez-Villar, D, Krklec, K, Pelicon, P, Fairchild, I, Cheng, H & Edwards, RL 2016, 'Geochemistry of speleothems affected by aragonite to calcite recrystallization - potential inheritance from the precursor mineral', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.11.040

Fleming, E, Stevenson, C, Fairchild, I, Benn, DI, Petronis, MS & Hambrey, MJ 2016, 'Glacitectonism, subglacial and glacilacustrine processes during a Neoproterozoic panglaciation, north‐east Svalbard', Sedimentology, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 411–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12251

Treble, PC, Fairchild, I, Baker, A, Meredith, KT, Anderson, MS, Salmon, SU, Bradley, C, Wynn, PM, Hankin, S, Wood, A & McGuire, E 2016, 'Roles of forest bioproductivity, transpiration and fire in a nine-year record of cave dripwater chemistry from southwest Australia', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 184, pp. 132-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.04.017

Fairchild, I, Stevenson, C, McMillan, E, Fleming, E, Grassineau, N, Bonnand, P, Parkinson, I, Halverson, G & Hambrey, M 2016, 'The Late Cryogenian Warm Interval, NE Svalbard: chemostratigraphy and genesis', Precambrian Research, vol. 281, pp. 128-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2016.05.013

Fairchild, I, Fleming, E, Huiming, B, Benn, DI, Boomer, I, Dublyansky, Y, Halverson, G, Hambrey, MJ, Hendy, C, McMillan, E, Spotl, C, Stevenson, C & Wynn, P 2015, 'Continental carbonate facies of a Neoproterozoic panglaciation, north-east Svalbard', Sedimentology. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12252

Treble, PC, Fairchild, IJ, Griffiths, A, Baker, A, Meredith, KT, Wood, A & McGuire, E 2015, 'Impacts of cave air ventilation and in-cave prior calcite precipitation on Golgotha Cave dripwater chemistry, southwest Australia', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 127, pp. 61-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.001

Muller, CL, Baker, A, Fairchild, IJ, Kidd, C & Boomer, I 2015, 'Intra-event trends in stable isotopes: Exploring midlatitude precipitation using a vertically pointing micro rain radar', Journal of Hydrometeorology, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 194-213. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-14-0038.1

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