School of the Environment

Associate Professor Evelyn Mervine

Adjunct Fellow
School of the Environment
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Researcher biography

I lead the Carbon & Climate Change Group in the Centre for Environmental Responsibility in Mining.

My research to date has focused on:

  • The role of weathering of serpentinites and other ultramafic rocks in the global carbon cycle
  • Development of carbon offset projects for mining companies, including reforestation, enhanced rock weathering, and carbon mineralisation projects
  • Sourcing feedstocks for reaction with carbon dioxide
  • Carbon accounting at mine sites, with a focus on accounting for land-use change emissions
  • Environmental impacts of nickel mining, particularly laterite deposits
  • Exploration and mining of marine placer deposits, including diamond, gold, and platinum‑group‑element deposits
  • Geochemical and mineralogical tools for mineral exploration, for both traditional commodities and feedstocks for reaction with carbon dioxide

I joined the Sustainable Minerals Institute in 2026 after 14 years working in the mining industry in both geology and sustainability roles, including working as a Climate Change Specialist for the De Beers Group and a Carbon Mitigation Principal for Anglo American.

I have worked on mining and mineral exploration projects on four continents: North America, South America, Africa, and Australia. During my Ph.D. studies, I conducted fieldwork in the Sultanate of Oman in the Middle East.

In addition to my academic research, I am a writer and enjoy writing about science for a general audience. I wrote a geology blog for the American Geophysical Union for several years, and my book Rocks & Minerals: An Illustrated Field Guide was published by Cider Mill Press (an imprint of HarperCollins) in 2023.

Publications

Journal Articles (12)

Journal Articles

Betts, Marissa J., Smith, Patrick M., Paterson, John R., Mervine, Evelyn M., Stirling, Daniel A. and Holmes, James D. (2025). Biostratigraphy and correlation of the Cambrian Series 2 (Stage 4) to Miaolingian (Wuliuan) Thorntonia Limestone, south-eastern Georgina Basin (Queensland, Australia). Papers in Palaeontology, 11 (5) e70028. doi: 10.1002/spp2.70028
Mervine, Evelyn M., Valenta, Rick K., Paterson, James S., Mudd, Gavin M., Werner, Tim T., Nursamsi, Ilyas and Sonter, Laura J. (2025). Biomass carbon emissions from nickel mining have significant implications for climate action. Nature Communications, 16 (1) 481, 1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55703-y
Jiang, Qiang, Olierook, Hugo K. H., Jourdan, Fred, Carmona Hoyos, Diana, Merle, Renaud E., Mervine, Evelyn M. and Sager, William W. (2024). Earth's longest preserved linear volcanic ridge generated by a moving Kerguelen hotspot. Nature Communications, 15 (1) 9692, 1-8. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54092-6
Stubbs, Amanda R., Power, Ian M., Paulo, Carlos, Wang, Baolin, Zeyen, Nina, Wilson, Sasha, Mervine, Evelyn and Gunning, Chris (2023). Impact of wet-dry cycles on enhanced rock weathering of brucite, wollastonite, serpentinite and kimberlite: implications for carbon verification. Chemical Geology, 637 121674, 121674. doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2023.121674
Olierook, Hugo K.H., Mervine, Evelyn M., Armstrong, Richard, Duckworth, Rowena, Evans, Noreen J., McDonald, Bradley, Kirkland, Christopher L., Shantha Kumara, Anusha, Wood, David G., Cristall, Jamin, Jhala, Kamalendra, Stirling, Daniel A., Friedman, Ira and McInnes, Brent I.A. (2022). Uncovering the Leichhardt Superbasin and Kalkadoon-Leichhardt Complex in the southern Mount Isa Terrane, Australia. Precambrian Research, 375 106680, 1-23. doi: 10.1016/j.precamres.2022.106680
Siegrist, Manuel, Bowman, Gary, Mervine, Evelyn and Southam, Colette (2020). Embedding environment and sustainability into corporate financial decision-making. Accounting and Finance, 60 (1), 129-147. doi: 10.1111/acfi.12533
Mervine, Evelyn M., Wilson, Siobhan A., Power, Ian M., Dipple, Gregory M., Turvey, Connor C., Hamilton, Jessica L., Vanderzee, Sterling, Raudsepp, Mati, Southam, Colette, Matter, Juerg M., Kelemen, Peter B., Stiefenhofer, Johann, Miya, Zandile and Southam, Gordon (2018). Potential for offsetting diamond mine carbon emissions through mineral carbonation of processed kimberlite: an assessment of De Beers mine sites in South Africa and Canada. Mineralogy and Petrology, 112 (S2). doi: 10.1007/s00710-018-0589-4
Falk, E. S., Guo, W., Paukert, A. N., Matter, J. M., Mervine, E. M. and Kelemen, P. B. (2016). Controls on the stable isotope compositions of travertine from hyperalkaline springs in Oman: insights from clumped isotope measurements. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 192, 1-28. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2016.06.026
Mervine, Evelyn M., Sims, Kenneth W. W., Humphris, Susan E. and Kelemen, Peter B. (2015). Applications and limitations of U-Th disequilibria systematics for determining ages of carbonate alteration minerals in peridotite. Chemical Geology, 412, 151-166. doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.07.023
Mervine, Evelyn M., Humphris, Susan E., Sims, Kenneth W. W., Kelemen, Peter B. and Jenkins, William J. (2014). Carbonation rates of peridotite in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman, constrained through 14C dating and stable isotopes. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 126, 371-397. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2013.11.007
Sims, Kenneth W. W., Maclennan, John, Blichert-Toft, Janne, Mervine, Evelyn M., Blusztajn, Jurek and Gronvold, Karl (2013). Short length scale mantle heterogeneity beneath Iceland probed by glacial modulation of melting. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 379, 146-157. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.07.027
Levchenko, O. V., Sager, W. W., Frey, F. A., Pringle, M. S., Krishna, K. S., Gopala Rao, D., Gauntlett, E., Mervine, E., Marinova, Yu. G., Piotrowski, A., Paul, C. F., Huang, S. and Eisin, A. E. (2010). New geological-geophysical data on the structure of the Ninetyeast ridge. Doklady Earth Sciences, 434 (1), 1208-1213. doi: 10.1134/s1028334x1009014x