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Environmental Sciences Lab

iron WLSCJeff Research

Student ResearchGeoprobe

Faculty at ISU are actively engaged in numerous environmentally oriented research projects.  Most of which support field and laboratory-oriented graduate and undergraduate research projects.  For more information on individual faculty research projects, visit the faculty member web page.

Dr. Sandra Brake

  • Microbial communities in acid mine drainage environments
  • Geochemistry of coal-related acid mine drainage systems
  • Plant stress associated with mining activities

Dr. Jennifer Latimer

  • Phosphorus and carbon geochemistry of paleo-Lake Mababe, Botswana: indicators of landscape development and internal lake processes
  • Phosphorus geochemistry during Cretaceous ocean anoxic events at Demerara Rise (OAE2)
  • Export production in the south Pacific Ocean on glacial/interglacial time scales
  • Paleoproductivity in the Bering Sea over the last glacial cycle
  • Dust iron fluxes to the south Pacific Ocean
  • Metal bioavailability and remobilization in stream and lake sediments impacted by acid mine drainage
  • Export production in the south Atlantic Ocean at glacial terminations

Dr. Tony Rathburn

  • Geochemistry and ecology of cold methane seeps
  • Development of a quantitative means by which marine methane seepage can be determined in the geologic record
  • Ecological and biogeochemical responses of modern and ancient seafloor ecosystems to organic loading and low-oxygen conditions
  • Relationships between environmental changes and trace element composition of calcareous microfauna
  • Seasonality in deep-sea microfauna as a response to environmental changes in the water column

Dr. Jim Speer

  • Use of tree-rings to reconstruct environmental variables such as fire history, insect outbreak, and climate 

Environmental Lab Equipment includes:

  • Water depth indicator
  • Constant- and falling-head permeameters
  • YSI 600XL multi-parameter probe
  • Desktop dissolved O2 meter
  • Portable pH meter
  • Portable sample filtration device
  • Weighing scales
  • Fume hoods
  • Convection drying oven

Department of Earth and Environmental Systems