PhD in Geochemistry - Environmental Geochemistry in Pasadena United States | California Institute of Technology

Geochemistry explores Earth's chemical makeup and structural changes, along with its various components like the atmosphere, oceans, crust, mantle, and core, as well as celestial bodies such as meteorites, comets, planets, the sun, and distant stars. This field focuses on how elements move and are distributed within Earth and its surrounding environment. Originally a descriptive discipline, geochemistry has grown to emphasize understanding the underlying processes driving its findings. Modern geochemistry branches into specialized areas like aqueous geochemistry, cosmochemistry, inorganic geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, organic geochemistry, and trace-element geochemistry. Because chemical reactions play a key role in geological phenomena, geochemical insights help explain processes across the geosciences. At Caltech GPS, geochemical research since 1952 has examined element distribution in Earth and the solar system, developed dating techniques for planetary processes, analyzed the composition of terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials, and investigated chemical reactions within Earth's interior, surface, and beyond. Environmental geochemistry research at Caltech spans multiple academic departments and extends to the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Listed below are Caltech faculty and JPL scientists involved in environmentally focused geochemical studies.