Programs:
Biogeochemistry [website]
Biogeochemistry analyzes the interactions between life and the chemical cycles in the earth system. This is an inherently multidisciplinary endeavor, as it integrates the biological, chemical, geological, and physical sciences. Biogeochemists at Penn State address fundamental questions spanning from the millisecond to the millennia and from the molecular to the planetary scales. Example questions include: (i) How do microbes affect mineral weathering? (ii) How can we decipher the information contained in marine sediments or ice cores? (iii) How have the biogeochemical cycles interacted with climatic change in the geological past and during the current anthropogenic perturbation? (iv) How can life survive in extreme environments that may be found on other planets? We approach these questions in expeditions from the tropical oceans to the polar ice caps and by using techniques such as isotope mass spectroscopy, culture experiments, molecular methods, and computer modeling.
Environmental Molecular Science [website]
Research interests lie in the broad area of geochemical reaction
mechanisms. Specifically, this includes diffusion and solubility of
volatiles in melts and glasses, adsorption and sequestration of organic
contaminants in soils and sediments, aqueous complexation of metals with
dissolved organic matter, isotope exchange, dissolution of silica and
feldspars, and adsorption of metals and organic ligands at mineral
surfaces. The main approach in these studies has been to apply molecular
modeling techniques to help interpret and understand experimental and
spectroscopic data.
Chemistry and Physics of Rocks and Minerals [website]
The Physics and Chemistry of Rocks and Minerals Group at Penn State is working to unravel the mechanisms by which atomic-scale properties of Earth materials control large-scale geologic processes. We are investigating the relationship between mineral chemistry and rock behavior using a variety of methodologies, which include but are not limited to: theoretical molecular modeling; crystal structure analysis by synchrotron X-ray diffraction; high resolution transmission electron microscopy; stable and radiogenic isotope analysis; major and trace element microanalysis; and mineral surface spectroscopy. We are aided in this work by Penn State ’s Materials Characterization Laboratory, which features a wide array of state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation.
Petrology and Volcanology [website]
The Petrology and Volcanology group at Penn State explores the physical
and chemical processes attendant to eruptive activity in a variety of tectonic
settings, including active arcs, continental rifts and ocean islands. Our efforts integrate a range of techniques that encompass field work, SEM and TEM microanalysis, electron microscopy, image analysis, bulk rock analysis with DCP and ICP-MS, radiogenic isotope mass spectroscopy and direct low- and high-pressure experimentation. We address fundamental questions that span a range of temporal and spatial scales, such as: (i) What is the role of mantle plumes in continental rifting? (ii) How do melt segregation and transport processes affect eruptive geochemistry? (iii) What is the role of subducted fluids in arc magma genesis? (iv) How can major explosive eruptions be predicted more accurately? We take an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, collaborating closely with geophysicists, chemists and computer scientists both at Penn State and around the globe.
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