Staff profile

Jacob Adetunji


Visiting Research Fellow in Mineral Chemistry

Subject

Geoscience

College

College of Science and Engineering

Department

School of Built and Natural Environment

Campus

Derby Campus

Email

j.adetunji@derby.ac.uk

About

Visiting Research Fellow in Mineral Chemistry.

I retired from the University as a full-time staff member in Geosciences, Department of Natural Sciences. However, I am continuing with research in collaboration with Professor Hugh Rollinson and am also teaching as an Associate Lecturer.

Teaching responsibilities

I teach in the IOA General Acoustics module and I'm part of the team running the Laboratory for the Diploma in Acoustics.

I also teach some of the IOA Short Courses in Environmental Noise Measurement and Workplace Noise Assessment.

I am part of the team supervising the first-year laboratory module on Rocks, Minerals and Gemstones.

Before retiring, I was the leader in two modules for the On-Campus MSc Environmental Management Program: modules on Air Pollution and Radiation Pollution aspects of Environmental Physics and Chemistry. Among others, I also taught in the undergraduate Geophysics module.

Research interests

Over the years, my research activities have spanned TEM studies of Ar-ion channelling and sputtering behaviour of single crystal carbonates, as well as pseudo-potential defect centre calculations in alkali-halides. Later my attention was focused on the use of the Fe-Mössbauer technique in the characterisation of iron-bearing natural and synthetic minerals. Fortunately, Fe, which is a typical Mössbauer element, is one of the major constituents of the earth’s crust (5%) and is commonly found in rocks, soils and sediments. Iron exists in various oxidation states which can be characterised by the Mössbauer spectroscopic technique, and its 14.4keV gamma radiation source can serve as a probe for monitoring chemical changes occurring in the atomic environment, elucidating their mechanisms.

In recent years, my research has focused on the use of the Mössbauer technique for characterising geological materials, with particular interest in chromite from mantle sections of ophiolites. Chromite is the only mineral in basalts that contains both Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions and, therefore, their ratios can be a geo-thermometry to study the oxygen environment that existed in the magma, helping to establish whether the origin or evolution of the magma is associated with different oxygen fugacities.

Membership of professional bodies

Qualifications

Recent conferences

International experience

In the media

I wrote an article entitled, ‘Explainer: what dust from the Sahara does to you and the planet', for an online journal, The ConversationTrust, issue 21 April 2016. The article can be accessed at: http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-dust-from- the-sahara- does-to-you-and-the-planet-57373

The ConversationTrust journal is funded by seventy UK Universities, the Wellcome Trust, The Royal Society, the Press Association, the Research Council, the Nuffield Foundation, etc.

Recent publications