Need%20for%20a%20Global%20Biogeochemist%20/%20Geochemical%20Thermodynamicist

1
Need for a Global Biogeochemist / Geochemical
Thermodynamicist

• Retirement of two eminent scientists from our
  department
• Fred Mackenzie
• Telu Li

2
Qualifications

• Fundamental, facile knowledge of thermodynamics
  and kinetics
• Ability to apply this knowledge to the Earths
  coupled ocean-atmosphere-biosphere-sediment
  system
• Ability to build models to address questions on
  different temporal and spatial scales
• Combine observational - laboratory - modeling
  work (e.g. Berner, Kump, Kasting, Wollast.)
• Expertise in contemporary environmental issues

3
Carbon Cycle over the Phanerozoic

• Saturation state of carbonate minerals
• Seawater DIC and pH
• Atmospheric PCO2
• Mineralogy of carbonate precipitates

Mackenzie (unpubl.)
4
To Construct a Model

• Map out reservoirs and fluxes between reservoirs
  for relevant elements
• Identify processes controlling multi-element
  cycling
• Experimentally-determined rates for key processes
  (e.g. precipitation, dissolution)
• Mesocosm experiments quantifying vital effects on
  biogenic carbonate precipitation
• Pitzer equations for application to time-variant
  seawater composition
• Petrographic study of mineralogical shifts
  throughout geologic time
• Synthesis of data of many individuals

5
Education and Inspiration

• Provide fundamental, first-principles basis for
  understanding surficial biogeochemical processes
• From the atomic to the global scale
• For the present and the geologic past
• Provide synthetic, Earth System Science
  perspective as a context for smaller scale
  studies of more limited focus