While a professor at Yale, Blake expanded on her graduate research focus using isotopic evidence in ancient marine phosphates to show that there was significant biological activity in the ocean during the Archean era.[4]
Blake has worked on numerous other research topics related to biological and/or chemical activity in oceans, sediments, and soils.[5][6] She has worked on methods development in isotope geochemistry.[7]
^D'Hondt, Steven; Jørgensen, Bo Barker; Miller, D. Jay; Batzke, Anja; Blake, Ruth; Cragg, Barry A.; Cypionka, Heribert; Dickens, Gerald R.; Ferdelman, Timothy; Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe; Holm, Nils G.; Mitterer, Richard; Spivack, Arthur; Wang, Guizhi; Bekins, Barbara; Engelen, Bert; Ford, Kathryn; Gettemy, Glen; Rutherford, Scott D.; Sass, Henrik; Skilbeck, C. Gregory; Aiello, Ivano W.; Guèrin, Gilles; House, Christopher H.; Inagaki, Fumio; Meister, Patrick; Naehr, Thomas; Niitsuma, Sachiko; Parkes, R. John; Schippers, Axel; Smith, David C.; Teske, Andreas; Wiegel, Juergen; Padilla, Christian Naranjo; Acosta, Juana Luz Solis (December 24, 2004). "Distributions of Microbial Activities in Deep Subseafloor Sediments". Science. 306 (5705): 2216–2221. Bibcode:2004Sci...306.2216D. doi:10.1126/science.1101155. PMID15618510. S2CID1055042.
^Greenwood, James P.; Blake, Ruth E. (November 2006). "Evidence for an acidic ocean on Mars from phosphorus geochemistry of Martian soils and rocks". Geology. 34 (11): 953. Bibcode:2006Geo....34..953G. doi:10.1130/G22415A.1.