Chemical/Geological Oceanography Research Focus
Chemical/geological oceanography is one of the research areas that graduate students can pursue in the Department of Marine Sciences.
Faculty
Graduate students work directly with our faculty to design a plan of study that fits their research and career goals. Our faculty use geology, chemistry, biology and physics to understand chemical and geological processes in the complex natural environment. We have a broad range of interests, including:
- Environmental chemistry and cycling of mercury and other trace elements.
- Organic geochemistry.
- Evaluation of the rates of transport and reaction in aqueous systems.
- Nutrient cycling inferred from stable isotopic tracers.
- Microbial dynamics of nutrient transformations, air-sea gas exchange, and sensor development.
- Geomicrobiology of carbonate precipitation and dissolution.
- Paleo-reconstruction of the ocean circulation, carbon cycle, and climate system.
- Biosignature production in microbial mats.
- Astrobiology.
- Modeling of the carbon cycle.
- Biogeochemical modeling.
- Hypoxia forecasting.
- Marine geology.
- Marsh biogeochemistry.
- Polar biogeochemistry.
- Marine Carbon Dioxide removal (mCDR).
Chemical and geological oceanography includes both field and laboratory work. The group works in a range of environments, from the cold of the Arctic to the heat of hydrothermal environments and tropical areas, from the open ocean to coastal environments. Analytical techniques used include high-performance liquid-chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), a range of trace metal analytical systems, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), spectrophotometry, fluorometry, micro-electrodes, GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), isotope ratio mass spectrometry, ICP with infra-red detection (ICP-IR) and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.
The group also uses many more chemical instruments belonging to the Suspended Matter Analysis Laboratory for Education and Research, an NSF-funded facility housed in the department. Five clean rooms, ranging from class 10,000 to class 100, are available. The clean rooms make it possible to carry out sensitive trace analysis of metals and organic materials.
Courses
Our program combines traditional core courses in the oceanographic subdisciplines with interdisciplinary advanced offerings and intensive seminar courses. We offer the following chemical/geological oceanography courses:
- MARN 5030 Chemical Oceanography
- MARN 5032 Coastal Pollution and Bioremediation
- MARN 5033 Biogeochemical Dynamics
- MARN 5036 Advanced Chemical Oceanography
- MARN 5050 Geological Oceanography
- MARN 5052 Paleoceanography
- MARN 5202Q Models of the Ocean Carbon Cycle
- MARN 5830 Seminar in Chemical Oceanography
- MARN 5995 Aquatic Organic Geochemistry
- MARN 6003 Modeling Biogeochemical Cycles in the Coastal Ocean
- MARN 6031 Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry
Contact Us
For more information, please contact Penny Vlahos, professor of marine sciences:
| Phone: | 860-405-9269 |
|---|---|
| E-mail: | penny.vlahos@uconn.edu |