Project Title: Couples Biogeochemical Cycles of Macronutrients and Trace Metals in Soil
Mendenhall Fellow: JoAnn M. Holloway, (303) 236-2449, jholloway@usgs.gov
Duty Station:Denver, CO
Start Date: October 1, 2003
Education: Ph.D. (Hydrologic Sciences), University of California - Davis, 1999
Research Advisor: Martin Goldhaber, (303) 236-1521, mgold@usgs.gov
Project Description: Soils are the reactive interface between rock and water that control the release of major cations and trace metals through weathering. The extent to which trace metals associated with bedrock are leached into solution is controlled largely by soil chemistry (e.g., sorption and desorption to mineral surfaces, hydrolysis) and soil microbiology (e.g., oxidation to soluble species; reduction, methylation). Thus, it is vital to understand the role of soil biogeochemical cycles in the mobilization and/or sequestration of trace metals. This study has two goals:
- Characterize the interaction between major nutrient (carbon and nitrogen) cycles and the biogeochemistry of arsenic and mercury in the soil environment using solid and solution-phase soil chemistry, organic biomarkers and isotope geochemistry of soil and plants.<
- Evaluate different approaches to quantify microbial processes (phospholipid fatty acid analysis, enzyme characterization, soil gas measurements) involved in biogeochemical cycling of arsenic and mercury
This work is being conducted in the California Coast Range at the UC Davis McLaughlin Reserve, in part because of the wealth of background information on soils, geology and plant ecology. The reserve includes historic mines that supplied mercury used during the Mother Lode gold mining period along the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Collaborators:
- Richard Dick (University of Oregon): enzyme characterization
- Dave Finkelstein (Indiana University): biomarker analysis
- Isabel Montanez (University of California – Davis): Carbon isotope characterization
- Kate Scow (University of California – Davis): PLFA characterization
Davis Creek Reservoir, UC Davis McLaughlin Natural Reserve
Previous Profile Project Profiles Next Profile <URL:http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/profiles/holloway.html>
Maintained by: Eastern Publications Group Web Team
Last updated 2-June-2004 (krw)