Marcos Salas-Saavedra, PhD — Isotope Geochemist | Founder and Scientific Director, SPICe Lab (Chile)

I’m an isotope geochemist who integrates geochronology, analytical chemistry, and climate reconstruction to understand how reef systems and sea level have changed through time. From January 2023 to September 2025 I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University, where I investigated past climate and sea-level variability using coral archives and other carbonate materials. My technical expertise spans U–Th geochronology; radiogenic and stable isotope analysis; trace-element and REE geochemistry; and advanced instrumentation including LA-ICP-MS, MC-ICP-MS, LIBS, micro-CT/3D imaging, and SEM. I develop and apply high-precision methods to challenging carbonate samples—especially meteoric calcite phases in highly altered fossil corals—to refine sea-level reconstructions. I also build Python-based workflows for data reduction, time-series analysis, and rigorous QA/QC at ultra-low detection levels, enabling me to extract seasonal to multi-decadal signals (e.g., ENSO) from coral proxy records. My portfolio includes instrument optimization, automated column chemistry (prepFAST MC), and gravimetric spike preparation to improve dating accuracy. I’ve led and supported field campaigns on the Great Barrier Reef and in the southern Caribbean (Curaçao), collecting materials for geochronology, carbonate chemistry, and stable-isotope studies of reef metabolism. My publications include work in Quaternary Science Reviews, Chemical Geology, and Sedimentary Geology, and I’ve presented at major meetings such as AGU. At Princeton I mentored graduate students in advanced analytical techniques and contributed to laboratory operations and instrument maintenance planning. I earned my PhD in geochemistry from The University of Queensland (UQ), in Geochemistry and Geochronology, and hold a Licentiate and a Bachelor’s in Biological Sciences from the Austral University of Chile. My training was supported by competitive funding, including Chile’s CONICYT Scholarship and internal research support during the Princeton appointment. In 2025 I founded SPICe Lab SpA in Lanco, Los Ríos, Chile, where I am founder and scientific director. SPICe Lab does not have its own laboratory: isotope analyses are run at The University of Queensland. Its lines include SPICe Agro (https://agro.spicelab.cl), which takes that science into agriculture and gardens in southern Chile, and the Huerto app (https://huerto.spicelab.cl), for planning beds, keeping photo records, and tracking weather, harvests, and irrigation from a phone.