Alex McCoy-West

Dr. Alex McCoy-West research focuses on using a wide range of geochemical tools to understand the processes involved in the formation, differentiation and evolution of the terrestrial planets and their major geochemical reservoirs. He is a geologist and geochemist with expertise in a large range of radiogenic (Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb-Os) and novel stable (Fe, Zn, Mo, and Nd) isotope systems.

His major scientific achievements include using Mo isotopes to demonstrate that twice the volume of the continental crust today was generated in the first billion years of Earth’s history, implying rapid crustal growth and destruction on the early Earth (McCoy-West et al., Nature Geoscience 2019). Dr. McCoy-West has been pioneering the development of double-spike neodymium (Nd) stable isotope analyses, the first measurements of this kind in the world (McCoy-West et al., EPSL, 2017). This powerful technique has many future applications as from a single measurement it simultaneously allows constraints to be placed on both the source or age of a material and the processes involved in its formation.

Dr. McCoy-West's current research focus is placing new constraints on continental emergence (when Earth's contienents emerged from the ocean). A multiple isotope record will be generated from Banded Iron Formations to track changes in the weathering flux and chemistry of Earth’s earliest oceans. He also continues to research and collaborate on a wide selection of projects using non-traditional stable isotopes to explore planetary formation, early crustal growth, igneous rocks, hydrothermal systems, weathering processes and mineralization.

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