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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

Carbon Removal and Mineralization Program Head;

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-495-2163
Fax: 510-486-5686
barora@lbl.gov

Jillian Banfield

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-642-9488
jfbanfield@lbl.gov

Markus Bill

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-5659
Fax: 510-486-5496
mbill@lbl.gov

Madison Burrus

Research Assistant

Phone: 732-677-6350
mburrus@lbl.gov

Mary Kay Camarillo

Visiting Faculty

Phone: 209-946-3056
mkcamarillo@lbl.gov

John Neil Christensen

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6735
Fax: 510-486-7152
jnchristensen@lbl.gov

Mark Conrad

Isotopic Geochemist & Geologist

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6141
Fax: 510-486-5496
msconrad@lbl.gov

Joan Damerow

Project Scientist

Phone: 510-685-3120
joandamerow@lbl.gov

Donald J. DePaolo

Graduate Professor of Geochemistry and Senior Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7560
Fax: 510-486-7714
djdepaolo@lbl.gov

Patrick F. Dobson

Geothermal Systems Program Lead

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5373
pfdobson@lbl.gov

Jeremy K. Domen

Research Associate

Phone: 808-754-5812
jkdomen@lbl.gov

Wenming Dong

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7499
wenmingdong@lbl.gov

Dipankar Dwivedi

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-4005
Fax: 510-486-5686
ddwivedi@lbl.gov

Patricia M. Fox

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-495-2037
pmfox@lbl.gov

Benjamin Gilbert

Discovery Geosciences Program Domain Lead

BES Geochemistry Program Lead

Senior Scientist

Phone: 510-495-2748
Fax: 510-486-5686
bgilbert@lbl.gov

Burton M. Kennedy

Guest Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-6451
Fax: 510-486-5686
bmkennedy@lbl.gov

Kevin Knauss

Guest Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 925-667-5674
kgknauss@lbl.gov

Ayumi Koishi

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-6384
akoishi@lbl.gov

Ram Kumar

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 813-570-0512
ramkumar@lbl.gov

Laura Nielsen Lammers

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-664-4210
lnlammers@lbl.gov

Ji Yeon Lee

Research Associate

Phone: 510-495-6455
jyl@lbl.gov

Chunhui Li

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-6272
chunhuili@lbl.gov

Harrison Lisabeth

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7262
hlisabeth@lbl.gov

Utkarsh Mital

Project Scientist

Phone: 626-390-8375
umital@lbl.gov

Sergi Molins Rafa

Sergi Molins Rafa

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7540
Fax: 510-486-5686
smolins@lbl.gov

Peter S. Nico

Deputy Director, Energy Geosciences Division;

Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure Program Domain Lead;

UC Berkeley Associate Adjunct Professor;

Senior Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7118
Fax: 510-486-5686
psnico@lbl.gov

Jasquelin Pena

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-643-9951
jpena@lbl.gov

Emily A. Robles

Student Assistant

Phone: 510-495-8890
emilyarobles@lbl.gov

Michael (Mike) Rowley

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-7118
mrowley@lbl.gov

Eric L. Sonnenthal

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5866
Fax: 510-486-5686
elsonnenthal@lbl.gov

Carl I. Steefel

Geochemistry Department Head

Senior Scientist & Department Head

Phone: 510-502-3660
Fax: 510-486-5686
cisteefel@lbl.gov

Daniel Stolper

Faculty Scientist

dstolper@berkeley.edu

Lucien Stolze

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

lstolze@lbl.gov

William T. Stringfellow

Director, Ecological Engineering Research Program

Environmental Staff Engineer

Phone: 510-486-7903
Fax: 510-486-7152
wstringfellow@lbl.gov

Christophe Tournassat

Visiting Faculty

ctournassat@lbl.gov

Charuleka Varadharajan

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-495-8890
Fax: 510-486-5686
cvaradharajan@lbl.gov

Helen Weierbach

Research Associate

Phone: 571-730-7903
HWeierbach@lbl.gov

Michael Whittaker

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6596
mwhittaker@lbl.gov

Kenneth H. Williams

Senior Scientist

Environmental Remediation and Water Resources Program Lead

Phone: 510-701-1089
Fax: 510-486-5686
khwilliams@lbl.gov

Erica Woodburn

Research Scientist

Seaborg Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-5711
Fax: 510-486-5686
erwoodburn@lbl.gov

Piotr Pawel Zarzycki

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6272
ppzarzycki@lbl.gov

Keni Zhang

Scientific Software Developer

Phone: 510-486-7312
Fax: 510-486-5686
kzhang@lbl.gov

Department Contacts

Carl I. Steefel
Senior Scientist & Department Head

Shelby Bemiss
Administrative Assistant

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…

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