Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences

Geochemistry

Using analyses, experiments, and observations of aerosols, minerals, organic compounds, and waters to understand biogeochemical cycles, climates, and igneous and tectonic processes on Earth and other planets.

We investigate the elemental and isotopic composition of geological and biological materials to address a wide variety of environmental and geological problems.  Research topics vary widely, and include the development of new biomarker and isotopic methods to reconstruct the Earth’s climate, geochemical and isotopic reconstructions of the Earth’s carbon and water cycles, isotopic investigations of atmospheric pollution and the nitrogen cycle, geochronological studies of tectonic processes, events, and weathering, and the kinetics of elements and isotope exchange in fluid systems. Through these studies, we develop novel methods to assess biogeochemical, climatic, and lithospheric processes on Earth and other planetary bodies.

Faculty

Geochemistry News

Brown's Initiative for Sustainable Energy recently announced Seed Research Awards for 2024-2025, including Assistant Professor Dan Ibarra for his project, “Investigating Mineralogical, Geochemical, & Thermodynamic Mechanisms Governing Lithium Enrichment in Lake Clay Deposits.”
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Gabriel Traietti ‘25, concentrating in Geochemistry, investigates the terrestrial paleoclimate of the Congo River Basin in Senior Associate Dean James Russell’s lab. He emphasizes how DEEPS gave him the tools to explore his passion for reconstructing ancient climate to help anticipate the effects of climate change on a local level.
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Assistant Professor Dan Ibarra and his team have published a special outreach article in in PAGES Horizons highlighting their cave monitoring efforts in the Philippines. Ibarra said, "it is exciting to share our efforts to develop this work in multiple cave systems in the Philippines over the last several years." The work is led by former Voss Postdoc Natasha Sekhon, co-authored by Celia Kong-Johnson, Justin Custado, Carlos CP David, Mónica Geraldes Vega, and many others, and made possible with support from the National Cave and Karst Research Institute and the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES).
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