Isotope forensics using the isotopic composition of Hg and Pb to trace heavy metal pollution sources

Abstract: Humans and natural ecosystems are exposed to toxic metals from many sources and following many exposure pathways. In this seminar, Dr. Blum will explain how small variations in the isotopic compositions of lead and mercury are created and how they can be used to unravel many of the mysteries of the exposure of these metals to people and ecosystems.

Speaker bio: Joel Blum holds the MacArthur and Keeler Professorships in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan. He earned his B.A. from CWRU, M.S. from the University of Alaska, and Ph.D. from Caltech. Professor Blum’s research focuses on the sources, fate, and cycling of metals and on the application of stable and radiogenic isotopes across earth sciences, chemistry and ecology. He has studied topics that include granite petrogenesis, ore deposits, meteorites, impacts, soils, forest nutrient cycling, hydrogeochemistry, terrestrial and aquatic foodwebs, animal migration, atmospheric chemistry and chemical oceanography. Blum is a past editor of Chemical Geology and Elementa and is currently the editor of the American Chemical Society’s journal Earth and Space Chemistry. He is a Fellow of the Geochemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the AAAS. He was awarded the Patterson Medal of the Geochemical Society for his work on the application of mercury isotopes in the environment.