Department Seminar: Thomas Blattmann

Title: From radiocarbon geochemistry to organo-mineral worlds and beyond

Abstract: Interactions between organic matter and minerals play key roles in myriad biogeochemical processes. We will view organic matter-mineral interactions across mega and molecular scales in modern natural laboratories in the South China Sea and eastern Pacific and expand on their broader importance for our Earth system. As part of this talk,  first ever amino acid-specific radiocarbon of marine sediment will be presented which I propose as natural molecular markers for investigating organic matter-mineral interactions in complex environmental matrices. At the University of California Irvine, I seek to establish an Organo-Mineral Research Group that will unite approaches in organic geochemistry with mineralogy, leading with a new interdisciplinary research concept in Earth System Science.