Caroline L. Peacock, distinguished professor of School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Vice President of Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and Matthew G. Siebecker, Assistant Professor of Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, paid a visit to HZAU for academic exchanges from May 9 to 12 at the invitation of Prof. Feng Xionghan from College of Resources and Environment.
During the visit, Prof. Peacock and Dr. Siebecker visited laboratories. On May 10th, they gave academic reports respectively entitled “Mineralogical controls on Earth’s climate” & “Understanding trace metal sorption by marine minerals to validate and calibrate geochemical palaeoproxies” and “Applied environmental soil chemical research at Texas Tech University: From agricultural nutrient cycling (potassium) to environmental contaminants (arsenic)” to teachers and students of the College of Resources and Environment. The report was hosted by Prof. Feng Xionghan. Attendees included Prof. Liu Fan, Prof. Qiu Guohong, Prof. Cai Peng and other teachers as well as many graduate students from the College of Resources and Environment.
In the report, Prof. Peacock mentioned that birnessite is the main manganese oxide mineral in aerobic marine sediments, playing a major role in controlling the concentration of trace metal in micronutrient elements in seawater. Under the condition of sedimentary diagenesis and warm water, birnessite will be transformed into todorokite, which proves that the micronutrient Ni in the marine sedimentary pore water is mainly generated from this process. These findings are important for studying the coupling relationship between marine sediments and micronutrient elements in the ocean. In the report, Dr. Siebecker gave a systematic introduction of the potassium in the agricultural nutrient cycle and the environmental pollutant ---arsenic.
In addition, Professor Peacock also listened to the research reports from the graduate students and gave her opinions and suggestions. She hoped that graduate students can be clear about the purpose before the experiment, understand that experiment designing should be related to natural environmental conditions, read excellent papers and get familiar with experimental highlights when writing their own papers. At the same time, she expressed her sincere expectation for further cooperation with HZAU, more opportunities for student exchanges, and more jointly published papers, and hoped that two parties can reach fruitful achievements in the field of geochemistry in heavy metal research.
Profile: Caroline L. Peacock, distinguished professor of School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, mainly engaged in the study of the cyclic process of trace elements in soil and marine sediments and biogeochemical behaviors, reaching fruitful achievement in predicting enrichment and distribution of trace elements in terrestrial and marine systems by using synchrotron radiation techniques, computational and geochemical models, served as Vice President of Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, associate editor of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta and Geochemical Transactions, Ad-hoc Reviewer of the Advanced Journal of Earth and Environmental Science, Invited Reviewer of International Earth and Environmental Science Foundation, winner of the award of 2015 European Association of Geochemistry Houtermans Medal, University of Leeds’s ‘Women of Achievement 2016’, and distinguished lecturer of American Mineralogical Society. She has published nearly 40 SCI papers in journals such as Science, Nature Communication, and Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
Matthew G. Siebecker, Assistant Professor of Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, doctor of Environmental Soil Chemistry of the University of Delaware, mainly engaged in Applied Environmental Soil Chemistry, using synchrotron radiation spectroscopy technology to explore chemical process and reaction mechanisms affecting the form, movement and fixation of nutrients and pollution elements in soils and sediments, having published many papers in authoritative journals such as Nature Communication, Advances in Agronomy, and Environmental Science & Technology, specially invited to give reports at the 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Brisbane, Australia and ACS National Conference in San Diego, California, winner of Wilford Gardner IUSS Conference Scholarship, Donald L. and Joy G. Sparks Graduate Scholarship, and University of Delaware Competitive Paper Scholarship.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2019/0515/54203.shtml
Translated by: Cai Jia
Supervised by: Wang Xiaoyan
