Decoding Past Environments with Sedimentology and Isotopes
Decoding Past Environments with Sedimentology and Isotopes
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The Paleoenvironment Research Group is led by Dr. Huan Cui, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology at Kansas State University. Together with my students and collaborators, we combine sedimentology, stratigraphy, stable isotope geochemistry, and paleontology to investigate global and planetary changes across Earth’s deep-time history. My research addresses fundamental questions about biogeochemical cycles and the processes that shape planetary habitability. By reconstructing past environments and events, we aim to improve our understanding of Earth’s long-term sustainability and its relevance to planetary systems more broadly.
Research Themes — Paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, geobiology, planetary habitability, global and planetary change through deep time
Methodological Approaches — Isotope geochemistry, biogeochemistry, sedimentology, chemostratigraphy, paleontology
Analytical Techniques — Gas-source isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), basin analysis
Key Topics — Carbon and sulfur cycles, redox evolution and anoxic events, chemical weathering, atmospheric oxygenation, Snowball Earth, authigenesis, sediment-hosted ore deposits, early life evolution, and biomineralization
NEWS:
10/2025 - Field Trips: Over the past few weeks, Dr. Cui led two field trips, spanning three days in total, across Kansas with students in GEOL 540 – Geologic Record of Climate Change at Kansas State University. View trip photos HERE. Together, they traced Kansas’ ancient glaciers and oceans through deep time, exploring a diverse suite of outcrops that record key moments in Earth’s climate history, including (1) Dakota Sandstone – Cretaceous beach and delta environments; (2) Niobrara Formation – chalky seafloor of the Western Interior Seaway during major greenhouse conditions, with lots of fossils; (3) Mushroom State Park – giant concretions showing a complex story of deposition, diagenesis, and weathering; (4) Glacial erratics – evidence of the Pleistocene Ice Age; (5) Early Permian cyclothems – cyclic records of sea-level fluctuations through time; (6) Blue Hill Shale – an anoxic ocean deposit rich in organic matter and large septarian concretions; (7) Sternberg Museum – the largest natural history museum in Kansas, with fantastic exhibits on geology, paleontology, and Earth history. It was wonderful to see students connect classroom concepts to the rocks, landscapes, and museum collections that tell the story of Earth’s dynamic climate past.
09/2025 - New Lab: A wet chemistry laboratory equipped with two new fume hoods for Dr. Cui’s Paleoenvironment Team is under construction in the K-State Chemistry/Biochemistry Building and will be ready for use by the end of this year.
09/2025 - New School: At K-State, the Department of Geology, Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences, Kansas Water Center, and Environmental Science Program are in the process of merging to form a new interdisciplinary unit — School of Earth and Environment. Stay tuned!
09/2025 - New Buildings: The K-State Department of Geology will be relocating to two newly renovated buildings located in the heart of K-State’s beautiful campus by the end of the year.
08/2025 - New Student: We are pleased to welcome Brayden Rowley (B.A. in Geologic Science, 2025, Albion College, Michigan), who will be joining our group this fall as a new graduate student.
Methane and Snowball Earth (2024)
The Shuram Controversy (2022)
Probing Authigenic Carbonates (2022)
Dynamic Biogeochemical Cycles (2022)
Origin of Carbon Isotope Excursion (2021)
Methane and Carbon Cycle Anomaly in Brazil (2020)
Strontium Isotope Anomaly in Saudi Arabia (2020)
Sedimentology and Chemostratigraphy (2019)
The Great Oxidation Event (2018)
Enigmatic Superheavy Pyrite (2018)
Carbon Isotope Positive Anomaly (2018)
Methane-derived Authigenic Carbonate (2017)
Ancient Phosphogenic Event (2016)
Paleoenvironment of Early Macroorganisms (2016)
The Earliest Animal Biomineralization (2016)
Deep-time Redox Architecture (2015)
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we live, teach, and conduct research on the ancestral lands of the Kaw, Osage, and Pawnee Nations. This land was taken from them, and we recognize this truth with respect and humility. For more information, please see the K-State Land Acknowledgement.
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