What do we know about the composition of the mantle (Part 1)? An Interview with Dominique Weis
As Goldschmidt shows each year, geochemistry is a small, but mighty field. Yet like many sub-fields in the Earth Sciences, geochemistry remains a male-dominated field. Women remain one of the under-represented groups at the top of the academic ladder, decreasing with each rung of seniority (Anand et al., 2024). This means that senior women scientists at the top of the geochemical ladder, although increasing in numbers, are still few and far between. So imagine my delight that there is a session dedicated to not one, but two women geochemists! The session “02l – Chemical heterogeneities in the Earth’s mantle (session in honor of Catherine Chauvel and Dominique Weis)” covers three oral sessions and an extensive poster session, a testament to the legacies of Drs. Weis and Chauvel.
(This is the first of a 2-part series dedicated to the work of Profs. Dominique Weis and Catherine Chauvel).
- How does it feel to have a session at Goldschmidt honoring your contributions?
I am deeply honoured and touched to have a session celebrating the contributions of Catherine Chauvel and me at the Goldschmidt conference in Prague. The conveners of the session are all scientists I respect and have enjoyed interacting with over the years. The session promises to be both interesting and fun, with the potential to generate stimulating discussions. From what I can see in the program, the session encouraged the active participation of young scientists. It provided them with a forum to present their research at the premier international geochemical conference, and I am delighted to have been a conduit for that. The invited talks and keynote speakers are younger scientists working on fascinating science, and techniques and with whom I have enjoyed working over the years (e.g., Harpp & Weis, G-cubed, 2020) or recently (Weis et al., Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, 2023 – this publication is also co-authored with Dr. Chauvel).
- Combined, you and Dr. Chauvel have made significant contributions to mantle geodynamics and geochemistry. Finding a niche and/or a novel research question is becoming a challenge. Why should we keep researching mantle geochemistry and geodynamics?
Finding a niche is not primarily a challenge. Many scientific questions are still unresolved in mantle geochemistry. It is a fun field to work in because, over the years, the development of new analytical techniques has opened up new avenues as well. It is not always truly novel research, but nowadays, progress is likely to be incremental. In the invited review in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment in 2023, we discussed the effectiveness and challenges of using isotopic analyses of plume-generated rocks to infer mantle composition and to constrain geodynamic models. Looking to the future, significant progress will benefit from collaboration across geochemical laboratories, as well as among geochemists, mineral physicists, seismologists, and geodynamicists.
- What advice would you give to early career researchers starting out in the field?
My advice to young scientists is straightforward: let your passion and instincts guide you. Do not hesitate to reach out and seek mentors and opinions. Science provides numerous benefits to society, fosters an understanding of the world, drives medical advancements, addresses global challenges, and many other topics. Science plays a critical role in education and training, which is also why scientists need to relate their science to the public. We need you, young scientists!
Honoree Biography
Prof. Dominique Weis is a Belgian-Canadian isotope geochemist from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada whose research interests are as broad as they are deep. Over the course of her storied career, Dominique demonstrates how powerful isotope geochemistry can be as a fingerprinting tool to study a wide range of geological phenomena, from radiogenic geochemical fingerprinting of mantle plumes on Earth [Weis et al., 2023], to developing honey as a geochemical bio-monitor of pollution in the metro-Vancouver area [Smith et al., 2021]. Among the many accolades Dominique garnered include the Daly Lecture at the AGU Fall Meeting of 2010 and AGU Fellow, Geochemical Fellow in 2011, UBC Killam Professor, Canada Research Chair Tier I in mantle geodynamics for multiple years, and Canadian Federation of Earth Science Mentorship Medal in 2020. Dr. Weis is also the Director of the Pacific Centre for Isotope Geochemical Research (PCIGR) at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
References:
Anand, P., Bots, P., Gagnon, J., Appiah, F., Maters, E., Bhagwat, S., Little, S., Riches, A., ChiFru, E., Lawrence, A. and Ngwenya, B., 2024. You can’t climb a broken ladder: examining underrepresentation of multiply-disadvantaged groups in secure and senior roles in UK geochemistry. Earth Science, Systems and Society, 4(1), p.10098.
Smith, K.E., Weis, D., Amini, M., Shiel, A.E., Lai, V.W.M. and Gordon, K., 2019. Honey as a biomonitor for a changing world. Nature Sustainability, 2(3), pp.223-232.
Weis, D., Harpp, K.S., Harrison, L.N., Boyet, M., Chauvel, C., Farnetani, C.G., Finlayson, V.A., Lee, K.K., Parai, R., Shahar, A. and Williamson, N.M., 2023. Earth’s mantle composition revealed by mantle plumes. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 4(9), pp.604-625.