Don Porcelli

My research has been focused on understanding a range of processes in the Earth Sciences using trace element distributions and isotope ratios, both with laboratory measurements and quantitative models. This includes research in:

• The origin of volatiles in the terrestrial planets and their distribution within the Earth using noble gas isotopes and models of planetary growth and interior structure.
• Weathering, water-rock interaction, and aqueous transport using naturally occurring radionuclides in the U and Th decay series and a range of trace metal stable isotopes.
•  The geochemistry of the Arctic Ocean to trace the circulation and behaviour of terrestrial inputs, to identify sediment-water interactions in coastal regions, and to quantify the fluxes of terrestrial carbon.
• The geochemistry of the Lena River of eastern Siberia that supplies nutrients and trace metals to the Arctic Ocean, and which drains a vast area underlain by permafrost subject to substantial changes during climate warming.
• The isotopic changes in trace elements due to weathering, water-rock interactions, and microbial processes, as the basis for developing methods for tracing environmental processes.
• The reconstruction of paleoenvironments in depositional basins using isotopic signatures found in sediments, including redox conditions and the sources of deposited material.

I am coordinator of the EC Marie Curie Initial Training Network MetTrans (Metal Transport in the Environment).

Teaching Profile

I provide lectures and tutorials on early history of the Solar System, basic aqueous chemistry, radiogenic isotope geochemistry, and mathematical methods in Earth Sciences.