Research Areas: Environmental and Theoretical Geochemistry

1. Aqueous Geochemistry
2. Environmental and Theoretical Geochemistry
3. Mineral Physics and Petrology
4. Paleoecology
5. Paleoclimatology and Paleoceanography
6. Planetary Science    
7. Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
8. Seismology
9. Space Geodesy
10. Tectonics and Structural Geology                                                                                                    

Our environment, from the atmosphere to the Earth's deeper interior, is driven by a great variety of geochemical processes involving gases, water, and solids. Many such processes are being studied with the goal of understanding the past, present and future of our environment--at physical scales ranging from atomic to global.

Abraham Lerman's research addresses global change and biogeochemical cycles, at time scales ranging from human (millenia to decades) to geologically long (>10 ⁶ years). This work focuses on the functioning of the global biogeochemical cycles of such vital elements as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and their responses to global change, in order to understand the natural and human forcings on the global cycle and land and oceanic bioproduction. His additional research activity deals with the problems of surficial and underground geochemical transport as it relates to nuclear and hazardous waste storage, and with the transport of radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar in sedimentary sequences as evidence by the Ar/K ratios in minerals.

Andrew Jacobson utilizes the elemental and isotopic chemistry of natural waters, soils, and bedrock to trace the spatial and temporal evolution of low-temperature geochemical processes. Currently, his research is examining tectonic controls on global-scale biogeochemical cycles and mechanisms governing the fate and transport of U-Th series nuclides in carbonate groundwater systems.