Chemical weathering and associated sedimentary processes

Chemical weathering is a fundamental process of the Earth system that primes atmospheric carbon dioxide for removal and storage in sedimentary rocks, generates life-sustaining soil at the surface, and produces much of the dissolved flux of elements from continents that are needed as nutrients in the oceans. Chemical weathering can be studied at different points along the source (starting rock exposed to chemical weathering) to sink (deposition of eroded sediment or removal of dissolved chemical species from waters in minerals) sedimentary continuum. The BRG focuses research on the mineralogy and detailed elemental and isotopic chemistry of weathering profiles or clastic sediment/sedimentary rocks. Specific interests are often related to the development of new geochemical proxies for chemical weathering intensity, specific mineral reactions, and extreme conditions of Eh and pH. There is also emphasis on better understanding the importance of mafic-ultramafic rock weathering and its relationship to atmosphere-ocean chemistry in modern and ancient Earth surface environments.