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Geochemistry

Core Capabilities
People

Ken WIlliams taking muddy sediment samples beside East River, Colorado. Photo Cr. Carl Steefel, Berkeley Lab.Overview

The Berkeley Lab Geochemistry Department’s scientists offer world-class expertise and wide-ranging research interests/activities in challenges facing the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States, and the world today.  Activities address key societal needs, from contaminant fate and transport, alternative energy, carbon mitigation, to deep understanding of fundamental geochemical processes taking place in the Earth’s Critical Zone.  Particular strengths of the department are reactive transport modeling, isotope geochemistry, molecular and nanogeochemistry, biogeochemical cycling, and water quality-energy issues.

Core Capabilities

Our six core capabilities are:

  • Reactive Transport
  • Isotope Geochemistry
  • Water Quality
  • Biogeochemical Cycling
  • Molecular and Nanogeochemistry
  • High Temperature Geochemistry

Biogeochemical Cycling

Our Biogeochemical Cycling scientists interrogate and quantify biogeochemical cycles of carbon, metal, and other nutrients. These studies focus primarily on the Earth's Critical Zone and range in scale from nano- to watershed, making use of Department of Energy Facilities such as the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley Lab.

Te Manaroa hot spring in New Zealand. (Photo credit: Dr. Jen Blank/New Zealand Astrobiology Network).

High Temperature Geochemistry

We conduct bench-scale experiments using hydrothermal reactors with high temperatures up to 400°C and pressures up to 200MPa. We work closely with reactive transport modelers to analyze field-scale geothermal and hydrothermal system behavior.

Shaun Brown works on the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer at Berkeley Lab.

Isotope Geochemistry

Isotope geochemists use isotopic ratio methods to study fundamental earth processes, and environmental and energy problems of national interest. Several EESA research programs are served by gas source, radiogenic and non-traditional isotope mass spectrometry offered by the Center for Isotope Geochemistry (CIG).

Molecular and Nanogeochemistry

This research field studies the fundamental, molecular-scale phenomena that underpin biogeochemical processes in the natural world and includes a significant effort addressing the properties and environmental roles of natural nanoparticles.

Simulated flow and pH inside a crushed calcite capillary experiment (Molins et al., 2014 Environ. Sci. Technol.)

Reactive Transport

Reactive Transport group specializes in model development and simulation of coupled microbe-mineral-water-gas reactive transport in porous media.

Water coming out of pipes

Water Quality

The Water Quality technical group focuses on deep understanding of the interface between water and the subsurface, the surface, and the atmosphere—and applies the results to solving complex water quality problems.

Bhavna Arora portrait

Bhavna Arora

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-495-2163
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Jillian Banfield

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-642-9488
[email protected]

Amitra Bhattacharyya

Amrita Bhattacharyya

Project Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5335
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Markus Bill

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-5659
Fax: 510-486-5496
[email protected]

Madison Burrus

Research Assistant

Phone: 732-677-6350
[email protected]

Mary Kay Camarillo

Visiting Faculty

Phone: 209-946-3056
[email protected]

John Neil Christensen

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6735
Fax: 510-486-7152
[email protected]

Mark Conrad

Isotopic Geochemist & Geologist

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6141
Fax: 510-486-5496
[email protected]

Robert Crystal-Ornelas

Postdoctoral Fellow

Phone: 510-495-8890
[email protected]

Joan Damerow

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

[email protected]

Hang Deng

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-4537
[email protected]

P. James Dennedy-Frank

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 505-795-0409
[email protected]

Donald J. DePaolo

Graduate Professor of Geochemistry and Senior Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7560
Fax: 510-486-7714
[email protected]

Pat Dobson

Patrick F. Dobson

Geothermal Systems Program Lead

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5373
[email protected]

Jeremy K. Domen

Research Associate

Phone: 808-754-5812
[email protected]

Wenming Dong

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-7499
[email protected]

Dipankar Dwivedi

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-4005
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Daniel Lee Eldridge

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-495-2748
[email protected]

Patricia M. Fox

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-495-2037
[email protected]

Benjamin Gilbert

Discovery Geosciences Program Domain Lead

BES Geochemistry Program Lead

Senior Scientist

Phone: 510-495-2748
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Claresta M. Joe-Wong

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-5335
[email protected]

Burton M. Kennedy

Guest Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-6451
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Kevin Knauss

Guest Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 925-667-5674
[email protected]

Ram Kumar

Postdoctoral Fellow

Phone: 813-570-0512
[email protected]

Laura Nielsen Lammers

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-664-4210
[email protected]

Ji Yeon Lee

Research Associate

Phone: 510-495-6455
[email protected]

Pei Li

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-4537
[email protected]

Harrison Lisabeth

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7262
[email protected]

Fadji Zaouna Maina

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-6220
[email protected]

Utkarsh Mital

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 626-390-8375
[email protected]

Sergi Molins Rafa

Sergi Molins Rafa

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7540
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Satish Myneni

Visiting Faculty

Phone: 510-486-4591
[email protected]

Peter S. Nico

Soil and Environmental Biogeochemist;

Staff Scientist;

Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure Program Domain Lead

Phone: 510-486-7118
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Ilhan Ozgen

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-309-3037
[email protected]

Emily A. Robles

Student Assistant

Phone: 510-495-8890
[email protected]

Michael (Mike) Rowley

Postdoctoral Fellow

Phone: 510-486-7118
[email protected]

Maegen B. Simmonds

Project Scientist

Phone: 707-694-6079
[email protected]

Eric L. Sonnenthal

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5866
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Garrison Sposito

Guest Faculty

Affiliate

Phone: 510-643-8297
[email protected]

Nicolas Spycher

Nicolas Spycher

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-495-2388
Fax: 510-486-7897
[email protected]

Carl I. Steefel

Geochemistry Department Head

Senior Scientist & Department Head

Phone: 510-502-3660
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Daniel Stolper

Faculty Scientist

[email protected]

William T. Stringfellow

Director, Ecological Engineering Research Program

Environmental Staff Engineer

Phone: 510-486-7903
Fax: 510-486-7152
[email protected]

Nithya Subramanian

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-664-4210
[email protected]

Sebastian Uhlemann

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5631
[email protected]

Charuleka Varadharajan

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-495-8890
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Helen Weierbach

Research Assistant

Phone: 571-730-7903
[email protected]

Michael Whittaker

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6596
[email protected]

Kenneth H. Williams

Staff Geological Scientist

Environmental Remediation and Water Resources Program Lead

Phone: 510-701-1089
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Erica Woodburn

Research Scientist

Seaborg Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-5711
Fax: 510-486-5686
[email protected]

Qina Yan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 779-456-0985
[email protected]

Piotr Pawel Zarzycki

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6272
[email protected]

Department Contacts

Carl I. Steefel
Senior Scientist & Department Head

Christine Ramos
Administrator

News & Events

EESA Faculty Affiliate Dan Stolper Awarded F.W. Clarke Award

May 8, 2020

EESA Faculty Affiliate Dan Stolper has received this year’s honor of the Geochemical Society’s F.W. Clarke Award, named for Frank Wigglesworth Clarke who has been called the father of geochemistry. The award honors a single outstanding contribution to geochemistry or cosmochemistry by an early-career scientist, published as a single paper or a series of papers…

Dark Fiber Lays Groundwork for Long-Distance Earthquake Detection and Groundwater Mapping

February 6, 2019

In traditional seismology, researchers studying how the earth moves in the moments before, during, and after an earthquake rely on sensors that cost tens of thousands of dollars to make and install underground. And because of the expense and labor involved, only a few seismic sensors have been installed throughout remote areas of California, making…

CouFrac Conference Focused on Advances in Coupled Processes in Fractured Media

November 29, 2018

The International Conference on Coupled Processes in Fractured Geological Media: Observation, Modeling, and Application (CouFrac) was held in Wuhan, China, November 12-14, 2018. Berkeley Lab Senior Scientist Jonny Rutqvist initiated the new conference with the objective of focusing on exciting advances in all areas of coupled processes associated with fractured geological media. The conference was…

Berkeley Lab Isotope Geochemists Study Isotopic Fractionation by Plants

August 3, 2018

            Isotope geochemists at Berkeley Lab are the first to establish the degree of Potassium (K) isotopic fractionation by plants. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have a different number of neutrons. Scientists have just in the past decade begun studying for key nutrient elements (other than C,…

Three Amazing EESA Women Take Home Women @ The Lab Awards

July 12, 2018

     Romy Chakraborty, Ecology Department Head Sixteen women at various stages of their careers were honored for making extraordinary contributions to STEM and Operations here at Berkeley Lab at the third Women @ The Lab event on Monday, July 9. Hundreds of friends and colleagues cheered as each woman approached the stage in the B50…

EESA Mentoring Program Underway

January 25, 2018

The EESA Mentoring Pilot Program for FY2018 kicked off with two training sessions on January 11 for individuals grouped in pairs of 43 mentors and mentees from our Area who will meet over the next nine months. Mentors learned effective mentoring skills in a morning training with breakout sessions. Mentees gathered in an afternoon training…

Upcoming Events

  • Feb 1

    Black History Month 2021

    Monday, February 1, 12 am - Sunday, February 28, 11 pm, 2021

  • Mar 5

    K-12 Live Science Event: Microscopic Chefs

    Friday, March 5, 2 pm - 3 pm, 2021

  • Mar 10

    LiRRIC Seminar Series: Robert Bowell, SRK Consulting

    Wednesday, March 10, 10 am - 11 am, 2021

  • Mar 11

    K-12 STEM Talk: The Future of Food

    Thursday, March 11, 2 pm - 3 pm, 2021

  • Full Calendar
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