Status and Highlights of the Geochemistry Program

1. Several important research findings: • Developed techniques that allows in-situ analysis of 67 elements in less than 5 minutes. In Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy • Discovery of in-vivo mercury isotope fractionation in fish1. In Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. • Palladium partition experiments that indicate that there is no need to call on a late veneer of meteorites (after core formation) to explain the high abundances of platinum group elements in the silicate Earth2. In Nature Geoscience • Record of expansion of C4 plants in Central Inner Mongolia shows a shift in the monsoon pattern in Eastern Asia during the Cenozoic3. In Earth and Planetary Science Letters • Determined rates of methane production in boreal and subarctic peatlands and the consequences for methane flux to the atmosphere4. In Global Biogeochemical Cycles • Since Jan 1, 2008 awarded $1.45M NSF (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Divisions), $750k NASA, $1M NOAA ,and $150k from EPRI5. Collaborations with Georgia Tech, University of Miami and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Our main outside users6 were awarded $2.2M7 since Jan 1, 2008. Status and Highlights of the Geochemistry Program

2. Maintain our research profile which includes high-temperature geochemistry and cosmochemistry, aquatic chemistry, and low-T geochemistry and global warming • Take advantage of research funding related to the oil spill in he Gulf of Mexico • Expansion into biogeochemistry and the interaction of metals with organic matter in the environment1. • Replace inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer2. • Continue to look at possibilities for natural overlap interests with other parts of the NHMFL. Potential areas are: • Mössbauerspectroscopy • Micro analytical facility for in-situ analyses of elemental abundances and isotopic compositions3. Visionfor the Geochemistry Program as of summer 2010, mid-point in current award period

3. References for Slide 1 Reference list (NHMFL affiliated authors in bold): Humayun, M, Davis, D A and Hirschmann, M M (2010) Major element analysis of natural silicates by laser ablation ICP-MS, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 25, 998–1005. Das, R, Salters, V J M, Odom, A L (2009) A case for in vivo mass-indeoendent fractionation of mercury isotopes in fish, Geochem, Geophys, Geosys, 10, Q11012 Righter, K, Humayun, M, Danielson, L (2008) Partitioning of palladium at high pressures and temperatures during core formation, Nature Geosciences, 1, 321-323. Zhang, C, Wang, Y, Deng, T, Wang, X, Biasatti, D, Xu, Y, Li, Q (2009) C4 expansion in the central Inner Mongolia during the latest Miocene and early Pliocene, Earth Plan. Sci. Lett. 287, 311-319. Chanton, J P, Glaser, P H, Chasar, L S, Burdige, D J, Hines, M E, Siegel, D I, Tremblay, L B and Cooper, W T (2008) Radiocarbon evidence for the importance of surface vegetation on fermentation and methanogenesis in contrasting types of boreal peatlands, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 22, GB402.