Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

About the PNAS Member Editor
Name Blum, Joel D.
Location University of Michigan
Primary Field Geology
Secondary Field Environmental Sciences and Ecology
 Election Citation
Blum elucidates scientific understanding of fundamental relationships in weathering processes and innovative approaches to understanding mercury cycling in modern and past environments.
 Research Interests
Joel Blum's research has contributed to knowledge of the geochemistry and environmental chemistry of metals, nutrients and climate change. Most recently he has focused on understanding the biogeochemistry of the elements mercury, lead and arsenic in atmospheric, aquatic and terrestrial systems utilizing new methods developed in his laboratory. Most notably, Blum and co-workers developed a technique for high precision measurement of mercury stable isotope ratios using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. In addition to mass dependent isotope fractionation, they documented several unprecedented patterns of mass independent isotope fractionation caused by the magnetic isotope effect and the nuclear volume effect. His research group experimentally calibrated the isotope fractionation due to a wide range of biotic and abiotic oxidation-reduction reactions and used these isotopic patterns to explore mercury chemistry at the isotopic level. This has led to advances in understanding of mercury biogeochemistry in the atmosphere, oceans, lakes, rivers, forests, soils, rocks, ore deposits and meteorites.

 
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