Professor 

Contact Information

Office Phone: 403-220-5389
Email: bmayer@ucalgary.ca
Location: Earth Sciences 506A

Biography

Professor Bernhard Mayer is an internationally recognized isotope tracer geochemist whose research integrates aqueous, gas, and isotope geochemistry to investigate the sources, transport, and fate of methane, ethane, and other redox-sensitive compounds such as sulfate and nitrate in subsurface environments. His work applies innovative scientific approaches to improve fossil fuel recovery while reducing environmental impacts.

Dr. Mayer has co-authored more than 160 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 book chapters covering a broad range of geochemical topics, including shale gas development, geological CO₂ sequestration, and water sources in the Athabasca oilsands. He also conducts extensive research on the sources and fate of nutrients in surface water and groundwater systems.

His expertise led to his appointment to the national scientific review panel on Harnessing Science and Technology to Understand Environmental Impacts of Shale Gas Extraction, coordinated by the Council of Canadian Academies in response to a request from the Government of Canada’s Minister of Industry from 2012 to 2014. He was also awarded an Annual Killam Professorship at the University of Calgary in 2017–2018.

Dr. Mayer earned his PhD in isotope geochemistry from the University of Munich, Germany, in 1993. After completing an 18-month postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary, he returned to Germany to serve as an assistant professor in the Department of Sedimentary and Isotope Geology at Ruhr University Bochum from 1994 to 1997. In September 1997, he accepted a professorial appointment at the University of Calgary.