Graham Pearson is an isotope geochemist and geologist investigating the composition, structure and dynamics of the solid Earth. He uses mantle xenoliths and diamonds, erupted by deeply-derived melts, to constrain the origin and evolution of the continental mantle lithosphere. He has used diamonds to throw new light on the composition and dynamics of the deeper, sub-lithospheric portions of the mantle, discovering evidence of water in parts of Earth's transition zone.
Graham Pearson is Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate and Henry Marshall Tory Chair at the University of Alberta, Canada. He graduated from Imperial College, receiving his PhD from Leeds University. After post-docs at DTM - Carnegie Institution of Washington and the Open University he spent 15 years at Durham University, UK. Awards include the Lindgren Award of the Society of Economic Geologists (1999), Murchison Medal of the Geological Society (2021), the Bowen Award of the American Geophysical Union (2019) and the Bunsen Medal of the European Geosciences Union (2017). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Geochemical Society and the American Geophysical Union.
Professional position
- Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate and Henry Marshall Tory Chair, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Subject groups
- Earth and environmental sciences
Geochemistry, Geology
