Robert Minard Garrels

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Robert Minard Garrels (born August 24, 1916 in Detroit , Michigan , † March 8, 1988 in Saint Petersburg , Florida ) was an American geochemist . Garrels applied data and methods of experimental physical chemistry to problems of geology and geochemistry . His book Solutions, Minerals, and Equilibria , co-edited with Charles L. Christ in 1965 , revolutionized the geochemistry of aqueous solutions .

Scientific career

Garrels received his BA in geology from the University of Michigan in 1937 . He graduated from Northwestern University with an MS in 1939 and his 1938 thesis dealt with iron ores in Newfoundland . His Ph.D. he received in 1941 when Charles Henry Behre with a thesis on laboratory studies of complex compounds of lead and chloride - ions in aqueous solution ( Factors influencing deposition of galena and sphalerite in the Mississippi type lead-zinc deposits ).

Garrels worked for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) during World War II and then returned to Northwestern University to teach there until 1952. In 1952 he published the scientific article Origin and Classification of Chemical Sediments in Terms of pH and Oxidation-Reduction Potentials with William C. Krumbein . The paper became a classic study of sedimentary rocks from the point of view of physical chemistry, which together with the papers published subsequently revolutionized sedimentary geochemistry and that of aqueous solutions.

After working for the USGS again for some time, he resumed his academic career and went to Harvard in 1955 , where he received a full professorship in 1957. His work, as well as the laboratory he directed, produced many classic works. In addition to the Solutions, Minerals, and Equilibria work , he and his colleagues published the following classic studies:

  • Oxidation of Pyrite by Iron Sulfate Solutions
  • Stability of Some Carbonates at 25 ° C and One Atmosphere Total Pressure
  • Control of Carbonate Solubility by Carbonate Complexes
  • A Chemical Model for Sea Water at 25 ° C and One Atmosphere Total Pressure

Garrels returned to Northwestern University in 1965 and carried out influential studies on the buffering of seawater by silicate and carbonate , also on the formation of groundwater and the theoretical treatment of irreversible reactions in geochemical processes.

In 1969 he moved to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and later to the University of Hawaii . During this time he investigated the thermodynamic properties of silicate minerals and published Cycling of Carbon, Sulfur, and Oxygen through Geologic Time in 1974 with Ed Perry.

In 1974 he returned to Northwestern University and published together with Abraham Lerman and Fred MacKenzie important studies on the isotopic composition of sulfur and carbon in phanerozoic rocks.

In 1979 he went to the University of South Florida , where he published the book The Carbonate-Silicate Geochemical Cycle and Its Effect on Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide over the Past 100 Million Years in 1983 . Although he was battling cancer, he continued to work: in 1986 he published Modeling Atmospheric 0 2 in the Global Sedimentary Redox Cycle and in 1987 A Model for the Deposition of the Microbanded Precambrian Iron Formations.

Awards and honors

Garrels has received numerous awards and honors, including:

Works (selection)

  • 1951: A Textbook of Geology. Harper's Geoscience Series
  • 1956: Behavior of Colorado Plateau uranium minerals during oxidation (Trace elements investigations report). United States Geological Survey
  • 1960: Mineral Equilibria at Low Temperature and Pressure. Harper
  • 1965: Solutions, Minerals, and Equilibria. 2nd edition Freeman Cooper Co., 1982. Revised edition 1990: ISBN 0-86720-148-7 (with Charles L. Christ)
  • Evolution of Sedimentary Rocks. Norton, 1971, ISBN 0-393-09959-8 (with Fred Mackenzie)
  • Water the Web of Life. Norton 1972, ISBN 0-393-09407-3 (with Cynthia Garrels)
  • Chemical cycles and the global environment: Assessing human influences. W. Kaufmann 1975, ISBN 0-913232-29-7 (with Cynthia Garrels and FT Mackenzie)
  • Thermodynamic Values ​​at Low Temperature for Natural Inorganic Materials: An Uncritical Summary. Oxford University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-19-504888-1 (with Terri L. Woods)

Individual evidence

  1. Solutions. Minerals and Equilibria
  2. biographical data, publications and Academic pedigree of Robert Garrels at academictree.org, accessed on 7 February 2018th
  3. Origin and classification of chemical sediments taking into account the pH value and the oxidation-reduction potential
  4. The cycle of carbon, sulfur and oxygen in geological time periods
  5. The geochemical carbonate-silicate cycle and its impact on the atmospheric carbon dioxide cycle over the past 100 million years
  6. The modeling of atmospheric O 2 in the global sedimentary Reodx cycle.
  7. A model for the deposition of the finely banded Precambrian iron formations

Web links