Geochemistry Department Core Capability: Low Temperature Environmental Geochemistry
Low Temperature Environmental Geochemistry is a growing discipline within the Earth Sciences Division's Geochemistry Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Low Temperature Environmental Geochemistry group consists of scientists focusing on both environmental and earth surface problems. The experimental approach combines field and laboratory investigations with state-of-the-art spectroscopic and microscopic imaging techniques (principally utilizing the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley Lab, and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Light Source at SLAC). The group works closely with the Geochemistry Department's Reactive Transport Modeling group so as to develop an integrated understanding of complex environmental and geochemical systems.
At present, the research focus for this group is on:
- Contaminant transport and speciation, especially in biostimulated systems
- Chemical weathering, including the kinetics of mineral precipitation and dissolution
- Biogeochemical cycling
Group members include Peter Nico, Carl Steefel, Li Yang, and Joern Larsen.
In addition to their access to the synchrotron-based beamlines at the National Laboratories, the group maintains a state of the art ICPMS facility consisting of a Perkin-Elmer Elan DRC-II with a dedicated HPLC system for speciation studies. In addition, the group has recently added capabilities for surface area measurement, along with measurement of both total inorganic and organic carbon. A microwave digester that links to the ICPMS for analysis of solid samples will be procured in July 2010.