Research

Current Research Projects:

· Critical Mineral Assessment in the Salton Sea - Beyond Lithium: Applying in situ elemental analysis of mineral components of lithologies in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field to determine the mineralogical hosts of Co, Ni, Zn, Mn, and the REEs in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field and explore the water-rock interactions responsible for commodity enrichment in the Salton Sea hydrothermal brines. Under the supervision of Dr. Maryjo Brounce at the University of California, Riverside.

· Were Microaerophilic Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria responsible for the deposition of ca. 1.88 Ga Granular Iron Formations?:

Petrographic, stratigraphic, and geochemical investigation of the ca. 1.88 Ga GIFs from the Gibraltar Formation from the Slave craton. Well-preserved stromatolites contain promising microbial structures that may lend insight into the mechanisms behind a global resurgence of iron formation deposition at ca. 1.88 Ga.

· Basinal Setting and Redox Controls over the North China Craton (NCC) Mesoproterozoic Granular Iron Formations (GIFs):

A comprehensive geochemical study of NCC GIFs combined with Earth Systems Modeling in cGEnIE to understand the relative importance of different critical controls over the deposition of these iron formations and to constrain ferruginous ocean conditions during the Mesoproterozoic.

· A Geochemical Investigation of the Exceptional Preservation of Weng'an Microfossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation:

Phosphatization of organic matter is a form of exceptional fossil preservation that preserves biological structures with micrometer scale crystalline phosphate in extraordinary detail. This project focuses on the chemical makeup of the Ediacaran Weng'an microfossil (including the earliest fossil evidence for metazoan embryos) to identify the chemical-sedimentary conditions that enable this type of phosphate crystallization .

Publications:

· Kovalick, A., Heard, A.W., Johnson, A.C., Chan, C.S., Ootes, L., Nielsen, S.G., Dauphas, N., Weber, B., Bekker, A., 2024. Living in Their Heyday: Iron‐Oxidizing Bacteria Bloomed in Shallow‐Marine, Subtidal Environments at ca. 1.88 Ga. Geobiology 22, e70003. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.70003

· Hodgskiss, M.S.W., Lechte, M.A., Rainbird, R.H., Whelan, M.A., Creaser, R.A., Davis, W.J., Slagstad, T., Mansur, E.T., Kirsimäe, K., Kovalick, A., Bekker, A. 2025. The Paleoproterozoic Otish and Mistassini basins of Quebec, Canada: a record of the aftermath of Earth’s atmospheric oxygenation and early Nuna assembly. GSA Bulletin 137 (7-8): 3647–3669. https://doi.org/10.1130/B37948.1

· Halla, J., Noffke, N., Reis, H., Awramik, S., Bekker, A., Brasier, A., Callefo, F., Choudhury, A., Duda, J.-P., Fedo, C., Galante, D., Haddock, J., Haines, P., Hinnov, L., Hofmann, A., Homann, M., Huston, D., Johnson, S., Kah, L., Kaufman, A., Kovalick, A., Kuchenbecker, M., Köykkä, J., Lowe, D., Nhleko, N., Reno, B., Sanchez, E., Shukla, Y., Smith, A., Zuilen, M.V., Westall, F., Whitehouse, M., 2024. Ratification of the base of the ICS Geological Time Scale: the Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA) for the Hadean lower boundary. Episodes Journal of International Geoscience 47, 381–389. https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2024/024002

· Francovschi, I., Shumlyanskyy, L., Soesoo, A., Tarasko, I., Melnychuk, V., Hoffmann, A., Kovalick, A., Love, G., Bekker, A., 2023. U–Pb geochronology of detrital zircon from the Ediacaran and Cambrian sedimentary successions of NE Estonia and Volyn region of Ukraine: Implications for the provenance and comparison with other areas within Baltica. Precambrian Research 392, 107087. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2023.107087

· Heard, A.W., Bekker, A., Kovalick, A., Tsikos, H., Ireland, T., Dauphas, N., 2022. Oxygen production and rapid iron oxidation in stromatolites immediately predating the Great Oxidation Event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 582, 117416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117416

· Bekker, A., Kovalick, A., 2021. Ironstones and Iron Formations, in: Alderton, D., Elias, S.A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Geology (Second Edition). Academic Press, Oxford, pp. 914–921. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102908-4.00199-5

· Stepanyuk, L., Shumlyanskyy, L., Hoffmann, A., Kovalick, A., Hofmann, M. and Bekker, A., 2020. On the Mesoarchean Age of Detrital Zircons From Meta-Terrigenous Rocks of the Skelyuvatka and Saksagan Suites of the Kryvyi Rih Structure, According to the Results of U-Pb Dating. Mineralogical Journal, 42(2), pp.46-62. https://doi.org/10.15407/mineraljournal.42.02.046

· Xiao, S., Bykova, N., Kovalick, A., Gill, B.C., 2017 Stable carbon isotopes of sedimentary kerogens and carbonaceous macrofossils from the Ediacaran Miaohe Member in South China: implications for stratigraphic correlation and sources of sedimentary organic carbon. Precambrian Research, 302, pp.171-179. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12240

Invited Seminars:

· Comparing Precambrian Granular Iron Formations and Phanerozoic Oolitic Ironstones – Similar Beasts with Different Origins? - Invited presentation - University of Southern California Paleo/Environmental Seminar - University of Southern California - April 2024

· Comparing Precambrian Granular Iron Formations and Phanerozoic Oolitic Ironstones – Similar Beasts with Different Origins? - Invited presentation -Weekly Geology Department seminar - Pomona College - November 2022

· Were Microaerophilic Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria responsible for the deposition of ca. 1.88 Ga Granular Iron Formations? - Invited presentation -Department of Geological Sciences Geobiology Supergroup - University of Colorado, Boulder - September 2022

· Environmental and Biological controls over the deposition of ca. 1.88 Ga Granular Iron Formations and how they compare to Phanerozoic Ironstones - Invited presentation -Weekly Division of Earth Sciences seminar - CICESE in Ensenada Mexico - August 2022

Conference Presentations:

• Were Microaerophilic Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria responsible for the deposition of ca. 1.88 Ga Granular Iron Formations? - Poster Presentation -2022 SoCal Geobiology Conference -April 2022

· Kovalick, A., Bekker, A., Prokopenko, M., Gaines, R., 2022. Deposition of the Carboniferous Amsden Formation ironstone has been linked to upwelling of deep ferruginous hydrothermally influenced seawater. GSA Connects 2022 - Oral Presenation

· Kovalick, A., Bekker, A., Heard, A., Dauphas, N., Chan, C., Ootes, L., 2021. Were Microaerophilic Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria responsible for the deposition of ca. 1.88 Ga Granular Iron Formations?. GSA Connects 2021 - Oral Presenation

· Kovalick, A., Bekker, A., Heard, A., Dauphas, N., Chan, C., Ootes, L., 2021. Were Microaerophilic Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria responsible for the deposition of ca. 1.88 Ga Granular Iron Formations?. Socal Geobio - Oral Presenation

· Kovalick, A., Bekker, A., Heard, A., Dauphas, N., Ootes, L., 2021. Unusual geochemical signatures from a Paleoproterozoic GIF- Oral Presentation -GAC-MAC - Virtual -October 2021

· Kovalick, A., Bekker, A., Heard, A., Dauphas, N., Ootes, L., 2021. Unusual geochemical signatures from a Paleoproterozoic GIF- Oral Presentation -2021 SoCal Geobiology Conference -April 2021

· Kovalick, A., Bekker, A., Heard, A., Dauphas, N., C., Ootes, L., 2021. Unusual geochemical signatures from a Paleoproterozoic GIF - Oral Presentation -GSA Annual Conference - GSA Connects 2020 Virtual -October 2020