Geochemistry of Earth Surface Systems A derivative of the Treatise on Geochemistry

Geochemistry of Earth Surface Systems offers an interdisciplinary reference for scientists, researchers and upper undergraduate and graduate level geochemistry students a sampling of articles on earth surface processes from The Treatise on Geochemistry that is more affordable than the full Treatise. For professionals, this volume will provide an overview of the field as a whole. For students, it will provide more in-depth introductory content than is found in broad-based geochemistry textbooks. Articles were selected from chapters across all volumes of the full Treatise, and include: Volcanic Degassing, Hydrothermal Processes, The Contemporary Carbon Cycle, Global Occurrence of Major Elements in Rivers, Organic Matter in the Contemporary Ocean, The Biological Pump, and Evolution of Sedimentary Rocks.

Volcanic degassing, Hydrothermal processes, The contemporary carbon cycle, The global sulfur cycle, The history of planetary degassing as recorded by noble gases, Natural weathering rates of silicate minerals, Soil formation, Global occurrence of major elements in rivers, Trace elements in river waters, The geologic history of the carbon cycle, Organic matter in the contemporary ocean, The biological pump, The biological pump in the past, The oceanic CaCO₃ cycle, The global oxygen cycle, The global nitrogen cycle, Evolution of sedimentary rocks, Generation of mobile components during subduction of oceanic crust, Appendix 1, 2, 3, and 4

KARL KAREKIN TUREKIAN (1927–2013)

Karl Turekian was a man of remarkable scientific breadth, with innumerable important contributions to marine geochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, cosmochemistry, and global geochemical cycles. He was mentor to a long list of students, postdocs, and faculty (at Yale and elsewhere), a leader in geochemistry, a prolific author and editor, and had a profound influence in shaping his department at Yale University.

In 1949 Karl joined a graduate program in the new field of geochemistry at Columbia University under Larry Kulp with students Dick Holland and his fellow Wheaton alums Wally Broecker and Paul Gast. This was a propitious time as Columbia’s Lamont Geological Observatory had only been established a few years beforehand. It was during these years that Karl began to acquire the skills that led to his rapid emergence as a leader in geochemistry.

After a brief postdoc at Columbia, Karl accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Geology at Yale University in 1956, where he set out to create a program in geochemistry from scratch. Karl spent the rest of his life on the Yale faculty and was immersed in geochemistry to the end. He was deeply involved in editing this edition of the massive Treatise on Geochemistry, which has grown to 15 volumes, until only a month before his passing away on 15 March 2013.

Karl turned to the study of deep-sea cores and especially the analysis of trace elements to study the wide variety of geochemical processes that are recorded there. His work with Hans Wedepohl in writing and tabulating the Handbook of Geochemistry (Turekian, 1969) was a major accomplishment and this work was utilized by many generations of geochemists. Teaming up with his graduate students and in association with Paul Gast, he developed a mass spectrometry lab at Yale and began to thoroughly investigate the Rb–Sr isotopic systematics of deep-sea clays, not only as repositories but also as sites for exchange

• Comprehensive, interdisciplinary and authoritative content selected by leading subject experts
• Robust illustrations, figures and tables
• Affordably priced sampling of content from the full Treatise on Geochemistry