Agustin Kriscautzky

Visiting Assistant Professor
Sedmimentology/Stratigraphy, Introductory Geology

Contact Information

akriscautzky@ualr.edu
501-916-6786
ETAS 329L

Education

Research Interests

My interest includes different areas within geosciences. I specialize in the geochemistry of Precambrian carbonates, diagenetic and lithification processes, trace element distribution, and carbonate fabrics. I do extensive fieldwork followed by detailed analytical characterization of carbonates and associated rocks. My background also includes mineralogy and petrology of alkaline suites, which I am passionate about. I have worked with the mineralogy of phases bearing rare earth elements and high field-strength elements, supergene sulfate deposits, volcanic systems in Patagonia, and basement rocks.

The petrographic analysis I perform includes, for the most part, electron probe microanalysis, scanning electron microscopy, polarized light microscopy, and cathodoluminescence microscopy. I am currently working with non-traditional stable isotopes (triple-oxygen and clumped), and high-resolution C and O isotopic analysis from secondary ion mass spectrometry.

Professional Biography

I graduated with a B.S. from the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba (founded 407 years ago!), located in Cordoba City, Argentina. It was a field-based program, which gave me the experience to work in a multiplicity of geologic settings and with variable rock types. As an undergraduate, I was very active in research and teaching. I participated in many fieldwork and research projects with researchers from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, and I held a Teaching Assistant position for four years. For graduation, both an internship and a research thesis are required. In my internship, I worked with analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and electron microprobe, among many other lab methods. This work focused on characterizing and describing supergene sulfates from an old mining company. I confirmed the existence of the mineral homannite in Argentina for the first time and studied the hygroscopic properties of sulfates that may change mineral phases within minutes. My research thesis was on the mineralogy of a syenite-carbonatite complex and information from it was later requested and used by the National Atomic Energy Commission. In addition, a new amphibole was discovered, named ferro-ferri-katophorite.

I came to the U.S. in the Fall of 2017 to work with Dr. Linda Kah at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I transitioned from high-temperature to low-temperature processes. During the last almost 6 years I mostly focused on the geochemistry and diagenesis of Precambrian carbonates from all over the world. I worked with an enigmatic fabric, called “molar-tooth structure”, which we thought may preserve geochemical information of the original fluid from which it precipitated: say Proterozoic seawater! I graduated with an M.S. in geology with an invited paper published in the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences and with a Ph.D. in geology in the Summer of 2022. My Ph.D. dissertation project shifted a few times during the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, which left me with a variety of side projects to keep working on and which are part of my future research (triple-oxygen and clumped isotopes, micro-PIXE and SIMS analysis).

Since the Fall of 2022, I have been a visiting assistant professor of geology at UA Little Rock. I am currently teaching Geochemical Methods, Petrology, Earth and the Environment, and Undergraduate Research.