Who we Are
We are the John Lab, a research group led by Professor Cédric John and hosted in the Digital Environment Research Institute (DERI) at Queen Mary University of London. At DERI, Professor John leads the Data Science for the Environment and Sustainability Research Platform, one of four key research directions for the institute. Before joining DERI, the group was based for nearly 16 years in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London.
Our research approach blends machine learning and AI with cutting edge field and experimental methods in Earth and Planetary Sciences. The Digital Environment Research Institute is the centre of digital, data science, and AI research at Queen Mary and it underpins the university’s vision for its research Strategy 2030. For us, DERI is the perfect home for an interdisciplinary team working on scientific machine learning applied to environmental and Earth Science problems.
DERI and Queen Mary University of London are affiliated with the Alan Turing Institute.
Testimonials
Hear what former members of the lab have to say about their time with us.
Marta Marchegiano(Postdoc, 2019-2021)
Qi Adlan (PhD Student, 2019-2022)
Tobias Kluge (Postdoc, 2012-2015)
Annabel Dale (PhD Student, 2011-2015)
Sarah Robinson (PhD Student, 2019-2022)
John MacDonald (Postdoc, 2013-2015)
Niranjana Sundararajan (MSc Student, 2022)
Adhipa Herlambang (PhD Student, 2018-2021)
research Highlights
We have two main research themes: Applied Artificial Intelligence for Earth and Space Sciences (we call it Earth-Centric AI) and Carbonate Research. You can also find about our publications and the software and data stemming from our research.
AI Research
Our group applies data-centric machine learning techniques to Earth and planetary sciences, leading to innovative approaches for analyzing and interpreting data in these fields.
Carbonate Research
Our research in carbonates focuses on the processes involved in their formation and alteration, and how these processes impact the geochemistry and stratigraphy of carbonate rocks.
Publications
Our group has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in a variety of fields, including clumped isotopes, carbonate diagenesis, climate change, stratigraphy, AI and machine learning.
Software and Data
Our research has led to the development of free software tools that have been widely used by researchers in our fields. These tools have made it easier to analyze and interpret data..
Spotlight on our Papers:
InterCarb: A community effort to improve interlaboratory standardization of the carbonate clumped isotope thermometer using carbonate standards
Increased use and improved methodology of carbonate clumped isotope thermometry has greatly enhanced our ability to interrogate a suite of Earth‐system processes. However, interlaboratory discrepancies in quantifying carbonate clumped isotope (Δ47) measurements persist, and their specific sources remain unclear. To…
Clay assemblage and oxygen isotopic constraints on the weathering response to the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, east coast of North America
The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, a transient global warming event, is characterized by extensive evidence of a more active hydrological cycle. This includes a widespread pulse of kaolinite accumulation on continental margins, viewed as the by-product of either enhanced chemical weathering…
A new approach to geobarometry by combining fluid inclusion and clumped isotope thermometry in hydrothermal carbonates
This study presents a new approach to geobarometry by combining fluid inclusion and clumped isotope (Δ47) thermometry on carbonate minerals. The offset between homogenisation temperatures of primary fluid inclusions with known composition and Δ47 temperatures of the host mineral allows…
Disentangling the impact of global and regional climate changes during the middle Eocene in the Hampshire Basin: new insights from carbonate clumped isotopes and ostracod …
We present a novel multiproxy data set (bulk and clumped isotopes on gastropod shells and variations in ostracod assemblages) of the Hampshire Basin (Southern‐England) that sheds light on the connection between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean through the…
The response of heterozoan carbonate systems to Paleoceanographic, climatic and eustatic changes: a perspective from slope sediments of the Marion Plateau (ODP Leg 194)
In this paper we explore the relative control of paleocean-ography, eustasy, and water temperature over the evolution of a car-bonate slope system deposited on the Marion Plateau (Northeastern Australia). Growth of several carbonate platforms started in the early Miocene on…
Community software for challenging isotope analysis: First applications of ‘Easotope’to clumped isotopes
The measurement of complex isotope systems, notably the multiply substituted isotopologues of CO2 derived from carbonates, is challenging from a mass spectrometric point of view, but it is also time consuming and difficult from a data reduction and normalization perspective.…
Exploring the geological features and processes that control the shape and internal fabrics of late diagenetic dolomite bodies (Lower Khuff equivalent–Central Oman Mountains)
The Lower Permian carbonate rock succession of the Oman Mountains represents a stratigraphical surface analogue for Middle Eastern Lower Khuff hydrocarbon reservoirs. The characteristics of the carbonate rocks are highly variable both laterally and vertically due to the superposition of…
δ18O and Marion Plateau backstripping: Combining two approaches to constrain late middle Miocene eustatic amplitude
δ 18 O benthic values from Leg 194 Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1192 and 1195 (drilled on the Marion Plateau) were combined with deep-sea values to reconstruct the magnitude range of the late middle Miocene sea-level fall (13.6–11.4 Ma). In…
Effects of oxygen plasma ashing treatment on carbonate clumped isotopes
For clumped isotope analysis (Δ47), hydrocarbon and organic molecules present an important contaminant that cannot always be removed by CO2 purification through a Porapak‐Q trap. Low‐temperature oxygen plasma ashing (OPA) is a quick and easy approach for treatment; however, the…
Determination of the spatial distribution of wetting in the pore networks of rocks
The macroscopic movement of subsurface fluids involved in CO2 storage, groundwater, and petroleum engineering applications is controlled by interfacial forces in the pores of rocks. Recent advances in modelling these systems has arisen from approaches simulating flow through a digital…
Multi-phase dolomitization and recrystallization of Middle Triassic shallow marine–peritidal carbonates from the Mecsek Mts.(SW Hungary), as inferred from petrography, carbon …
Shallow marine to peritidal carbonates of the Triassic Csukma Formation in the Mecsek Mts. of SW Hungary are made up of dolomites, limestones and dolomitic limestones that show evidence of a complex diagenetic history. Integration of petrographic, conventional stable oxygen…
Influence of climate and dolomite composition on dedolomitization: insights from a multi-proxy study in the central Oman Mountains
Dedolomitization is an important diagenetic process that can yield information on the history of paleo-fluids in a given aquifer or outcrop, and by extension it offers a window into past hydrologic conditions. Dedolomitization is also relevant economically as it can…