Earth Sciences Division Staff: Nicolas Spycher

Biographical Summary

Dr. Spycher has over fifteen years of applied research experience in aqueous geochemistry and water/rock/gas interactions, including the development and application of multicomponent geochemical and reactive transport models to study metal transport and deposition processes in a variety of geochemical environments.  He is a co-author of the CHILLER/SOLVEQ geochemical modeling codes and of the TOUGHREACT reactive transport simulator, which are being used internationally at many academic and private research institutions. 

Education

• BA        Geological Sciences, 1979, University of Geneva, Switzerland
• MS        Geological Sciences (Geophysics), 1980, University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Ph.D.    Geological Sciences (Geochemistry), 1987, University of Oregon

Professional Experience

• 1998-present    Staff Geological Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• 1993-1997        Geochemist/Hydrogeologist, DBA AquaLogic (private consultant)   
• 1988-1998        Senior Project Scientist, International Technology Corporation, Irvine, CA   
• 1987-1988        Post-Doctoral Research Associate (Geochemistry), University of Oregon   
• 1981-1987        Research Assistant (Geochemistry), University of Oregon

Research Interests

Current research activities focus on developing biogeochemical conceptual and numerical models to understand water/gas/rock/sediment interactions in various types of subsurface environments.  He is also working on the development of gas solubility correlations for carbon dioxide sequestration and geothermal studies, and has developed and compiled thermodynamic data for use with geochemical models, including data for the aqueous speciation of metals such as arsenic, antimony and mercury.  He is actively involved in projects involving reactive transport modeling at various scales at contaminated DOE sites, uranium reoxidation by iron (hydr)oxides, carbon sequestration, metal cycling in contaminated lake sediments, and the study of coupled thermal, hydrological, and chemical processes related to nuclear waste.  Besides his academic background, Dr. Spycher has extensive experience in the field of environmental hydrogeology and hydrogeochemistry, including ten years of consulting experience dedicated to the remedial investigation of contaminated sites.  His investigations included predicting the fate of metals, spilled fuels, and solvents in the subsurface using field measurements and modeling techniques.  He has worked with geochemical speciation and surface complexation models to evaluate metal mobility in specific contaminated environments, as well as flow and transport models for risk assessments.