. . . Is using chemical information found in rocks
There is a wealth of information buried in the liquids, gases, and mineral deposits of rock. The geochemist's job is to understand this information and make informed decisions on a range of industrial and scientific research applications. Understanding the chemical composition of rocks tells oil companies where to drill for oil; enables scientists to put together broad-based theories about the way the earth is changing; helps environmental management companies decide how to dispose of a toxic or hazardous substance; and it steers mining companies towards use of natural resources with a minimum environmental impact.

. . . Provides help for the environment
Maria Montour, geochemist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), specializes in the area of aqueous geochemistry. Her work focuses on the chemistry part of geology problems, specifically, the interactions between water and rock that relate to mining activities.

When minerals once buried in the mountains are exposed to oxygen and water, they begin to break down more rapidly, making the metals more readily available to become part of the water system in the environment. Mining activities exacerbate this process. Mining activities have also often resulted in abandoned mine waste piles, and metals in these piles are often attached to sulfide-a key player in creating acid mine drainage. After a rain event or snow melt, acidic metal-rich waters drain off of these waste piles.

Since mountains are often the headwaters of a lot of river systems, these contaminated streams can impact aquatic, animal, and human life because the water is often diverted for irrigation purposes and well water for some rural areas. As a result, the effect of acid mine drainage on the environment has raised great concern.

Montour collects and analyzes samples from abandoned mine land piles and performs leach studies to determine the geology or the makeup of the rock and how the elements in the rock affect the water that comes into contact with them. She also tests the waters that have come into contact with the minerals in these waste piles to determine their acidity and metal content.

"We try to correlate what the rocks are made of and how that affect water coming into contact with the rocks," says Montour. "There are thousands of abandoned mine lands in the United States. We try to help land management agencies predict the potential environmental impact of the abandoned mine sites to aid them in prioritizing their cleanup efforts."

. . . Ties together a variety of related disciplines
A broad base of knowledge in toxicology, hydrology, math, physics, plant ecology, and soil chemistry (to name only a few) will help students prepare themselves to handle today's interdisciplinary scientific work environments. Geoff Plumlee, an environmental geochemist for the USGS says, "There's a lot of room for cross disciplinary work, combining geochemistry, toxicology, and plant ecology for example, or combining geochemistry and hydrology. In today's environment this kind of integration is very important."

Geochemists stress the importance of a firm grounding in a basic chemical discipline. Analytical chemistry is vital for this kind of work. While a degree in pure chemistry may have been a viable route into the field 10 or 20 years ago, an advanced degree in geochemistry is now more desirable. Ph.D.s may not be necessary for those going into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Unless you are working for a consulting firm that specializes in geochemical problems, it may not be much of an advantage," Plumlee says.

. . . Is about puzzles, curiosity, and the outdoors
Geochemists describe themselves as people with a propensity for solving puzzles and with a natural curiosity about the earth and its composition. "Often, we don't know what kind of material we are starting with," says Oliver Zafiriou, senior scientist in the department of chemistry and geochemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. "There is often a difference between geochemistry and pure chemistry. You have to accept what the situation hands to you, simplify it, and find out what parts can be dealt with according to your expertise."

Because geochemists spend a significant amount of time in the field, this is also a career for people who enjoy the outdoors, camping, hiking, and climbing. Montour's job also involves a lot of outdoor work, collecting samples in the field and often analyzing them in the field. "I think that one of the best parts of the job is being able to work outside. I love being in the outdoors. Even though some of these abandoned mine land sites may not pleasant to the eye, they're often in beautiful surroundings, and it's great to be able to spend a large portion of your time in the outdoors. I consider it to be one of the best perks of the job."

Melodye Rooney, geochemist for the oil industry
Melodye Rooney's work as a staff geochemist at Mobil Research and Development Corporation is driven by the oil exploration needs of her company. "When exploration teams find a trap, they need to know if it is filled with oil," she says. "If the source rock has not reached a certain temperature, it will not produce oil. By analyzing the oil in source rock, we get information that helps us make a decision of whether to drill deeper or to explore somewhere else." This "forensic geochemistry" allows oil companies to be more selective about the sites they choose, saving time and money, and potentially diminishing environmental impact.

Rooney has a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry and her doctoral research was focused on plant physiology, particularly on stable carbon isotopes. "This background has been very useful to my career, " she says, "because plants contribute to the organic matter that becomes oil." With this specialized knowledge, she is a valuable part of the interdisciplinary teams of scientists who provide the technical expertise in oil exploration.

"I like the work I do and especially the people I work with," says Rooney. "When I was in graduate school, there were people who told me not to go into industry. There is the perception that you are not allowed to think in industry. But this is not true. I have worked on very challenging projects and with people who have been willing to teach me a great deal."

Geoff Plumlee, environmental geochemist at the U.S. Geological Survey
Studies of the Summitville open-pit gold mine in Colorado could answer a lot of questions about the environmental effects of mining on soil, water, wildlife, and agricultural systems. Geoff Plumlee, an environmental geochemist for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), explains that Summitville has received considerable public attention for environmental problems caused by recent mining activity. These problems, including highly acidic heavy-metal-rich mine drainage and a leaky cyanide processing system, were left for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up after the bankruptcy of the mining company that operated Summitville.

At Summitville, the USGS plays the role of an unbiased researcher and information provider. Plumlee helps coordinate a team of geologists, geochemists, soil scientists, and botanists who are investigating what happens to contamination from Summitville once it gets off the site. "We take rock samples and collect and analyze water samples from a geologic point of view. We also analyze soil, looking at plants and evaluating the metal uptake from irrigation water," says Plumlee. With this information, his team can try to predict long-term environmental impact and help mitigate problems or develop a remediation plan for cleaning up contamination.

Seth Frisbie, analytical chemist/field chemist in environmental management
When large environmental management companies such as ENSR are cleaning up hazardous waste sites, they require constant analysis of the soil and the geological materials they are handling. It is Seth Frisbee's job to provide the sophisticated capabilities of an analytical lab, but in a field environment.

"We have one lab operating at a disposal site in the Midwest whose purpose is to help the engineers working on the site to determine if the soil can be removed from the site and landfilled, or is hazardous and must be incinerated," he explains. This field lab has saved ENSR's client money in analytical costs and transport and disposal costs by being able to quickly identify the safest fate for the materials on site. "Having analytical capabilities on site is important because, often, materials change when they are transported, such as metals which are subject to oxidation. If you analyze these off site, you get different information than if you analyzed them directly on site."

Frisbie has a Ph.D. in chemistry and most of his work falls under the category of analytical chemistry. Bachelor's degree holders who do routine analysis at off-site labs often repeatedly test for the same compound, such as lead or PCBs, he says. "The work I do is a nice way to do analytical chemistry without being subject to the tedium of being an analytical chemist in a lab."

Frisbie advises, "It's important when you are in graduate school to think beyond the defense of your dissertation. I chose benzene as the subject of my dissertation because it is the fourth most commonly detected substance at Superfund sites. This meant my topic had broad application in industry. Education is learning to think, but it is good to learn to think about something you'd like to do as a career," says Frisbie.

John Viets, basic research for the US Geological Survey (USGS)
John Viets' career has been in basic geochemical research. He studies the reactions of fluids with rocks in the earth's crust. Studying variations in the chemistry of fluids and gases contained there helps scientists understand basic geological pheonomena-how the flow of fluids contributes to the formation of oil and metal deposits, or how these fluids affect the activity of earthquakes and volcanoes.

In some cases, Viets has a specific application. "By characterizing the fluids in large blocks of rock, we can often recognize areas for mineral exploration or areas that are suitable for waste storage," he says. Viets studies the chemical and physical characteristics of these fluids with a number of analytical tools such as ion chromatography and mass spectrometry. "It's more than curiosity-driven science," he says. "We are looking for answers to societal questions such as environmental and resource issues that we couldn't ask fifteen years ago. We can ask them now because of the newly-developed instrumental resources and new technical resources at our disposal.

"This kind of research is on the wane at government agencies such as the USGS because of shrinking budgets," says Viets. "There's more of a focus on applied work such as environmental issues. This means we are less involved in other areas where the USGS has traditionally been strong, such as exploration technology and mineral resource studies."

Bill Hallam, environmental management, business management

Laidlaw is one of North America's largest haulers and handlers of hazardous waste. Bill Hallam, a trained geochemist, spent many years in the field identifying waste compounds and packaging them for disposal. He now manages the company's transfer, storage, and disposal facility at La Porte, Texas.

"I'm responsible for the entire operation of this facility," he says, "for the generation of revenue, cost controls, maintenance of hazardous waste, and making sure the facility meets all environmental regulations." Hallam likes being on the management side of business, particularly because it involves interaction with a broad range of people. Though officially employed as a geochemist, Hallam says his chemistry training is the skill he draws on most often for his work in the field.

"Environmental management is definitely an area for people who like working outside," asserts Hallam. "You have to be ready to put on rubber boots to slosh around to find out what's going on." Environmental work for the geochemist also means being willing to put in long hours. "This is absolutely not a nine-to-five job," he says. "You usually put in 50 hours a week and on weekends you are often on call in case there's an emergency cleanup or a spill."

Steve Machemer, geochemist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Steve Machemer is a geochemist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Part of his job is to collect and analyze samples of enforcement-related actions. For example, EPA may be trying to determine who is at fault for the contamination of water or soil. "A lot of these cases don't end up in court," says Machemer. "But the data we gather could be used if there is any suspicion of criminal negligence."

Samples of material that has potentially caused harm are taken from storage drums or waste pits. As a geochemist, Machemer's work focuses on the soil, ground, or surface water that may have become contaminated through spillage or leaching.
"A solid training in analytical chemistry is really important if you are looking at working as a geochemist," he says. "In this field, one is inevitably looking at data and determining what conclusions you can draw from the collected evidence. Analytical chemistry is at the basis of most of this work."

One aspect of his work Machemer particularly enjoys is the opportunity for developing new analytical techniques in the field. "There's a lot of opportunity to be innovative and a huge variety of projects. Sometimes you develop a new technique for each project."

Arnold McGuire, chief chemist in the mining industry
Arnold McGuire grew up in Northern Canada where, as he puts it, "They mine almost anything you can think of." Today, he is chief chemist for the Newmont Mining Corporation. "To work in mining, you need to live far outside cosmopolitan areas," he says. "If you like nature and the outdoors, this could be the right field for you. The job outlook is good, but often it's hard to attract people to the places we're located."

McGuire's job is solving chemical problems for the company's mining sites. One example of this is in gold mining where certain ores are refractory in nature and do not lend themselves to conventional treatment. These ores, often sulfide ores or carbonaceous ores, he says, need special treatment-such as roasting, auto claving or bioleaching-so that gold can be extracted from them. McGuire identifies these ores and makes recommendations regarding their handling.

"Scientists in the mining industry tend to wear many hats," he adds. "You're not tied down to the bench. You can be involved in environmental issues, hygiene issues, and exploration issues. And because U.S. companies are now going far afield with projects all over the world, there is a fair amount of opportunity for travel." The mining industry is in need of young, well-trained metallurgists, he says. For this area it is important to have a strong background in inorganic chemistry, process metallurgy, and a thorough understanding of unit processes.

Oliver Zafiriou, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Oliver Zafiriou, senior scientist in the department of marine chemistry and geochemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, describes himself as having entered oceanography sideways. "Today, almost everyone working in this area comes from geochemistry or marine chemistry," he says. But in the late 1960s, Zafiriou found that joining Woods Hole with a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry was a good way to get out of hard core chemistry, but still apply his post doctoral work in photochemistry.

Zafiriou still studies photochemical processes. Recently, he has been working on a project to determine how light breaks down colored, dissolved, organic matter, or CDOM, a geologic material that plays an important role in the ocean. "One of our goals in this project is to better understand the marine production of carbon dioxide and how CDOM breaks down and forms CO2." The work he does will provide one part of the mass of data that will help scientists evaluate the role of CO2 in global change. Zafiriou says he uses lab studies of CDOM samples and time-series studies to come up with specific information from which we can build a bridge back to the global ocean.

Zafiriou adds that the ocean is a particularly challenging lab for geochemical research. "It's always changing. You can't expect to go back and get the same answer every time." While this appeals to a spirit of adventure common among geochemists, Zafiriou cautions it's not all fun and games. "It's easy for students to fall in love with this area," he says. "The fun end is more visible in this kind of chemistry, but there's also a lot of work. A professor of Woods Hole in the 1970s used to say there was one word for success in oceanography-doggedness.

WORK DESCRIPTION
Geochemists study the occurrence and distribution of chemical elements in rocks and minerals. They also study the movement of these elements into soil and water systems. Their work contributes to natural resource use and environmental management policies. For example, the analytical work done by geochemists guides oil exploration, it helps predict the occurrence of earthquakes, and it is used to develop remediation plans to clean up toxic waste sites.

WORKING CONDITIONS
Geochemists spend a lot of time in the field, gathering data, and analyzing samples on site. Some time is spent in the lab, but geochemists underscore that this is a field for people who like to work outdoors. Travel can be extensive, particularly since much of the new exploration work is happening overseas. Government jobs in geochemistry follow a relatively regular schedule, but in industry, and especially in environmental management, hours will be long and some scientists may be on call during weekends to respond to emergencies.

PLACES OF EMPLOYMENT
The government has traditionally employed a large number of geochemists, particularly the geochemistry branch of the U.S. Geological Survey. The working atmosphere at the USGS stands somewhere between academia and a government agency. Geochemists there say they have a lot of latitude in their research and, unlike industry geochemists, are not tied to a customer's requirements or financial constraints. The agency's focus is turning from pure research to applied research-most of it in the environmental area. In the 1970s oil companies were the largest industrial employer of geochemists. Geochemists have careers in a variety of work environments, but employment opportunities in many of these areas are highly competitive. Today, environmental management and consulting firms are probably the single most promising employer. Geochemists also work in oceanographic institutes, mining companies, the Bureau of Mines, as well as at colleges and universities. The mining industry is increasingly extending itself overseas potentially offering new employment possibilities for those willing to travel.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Geochemists describe themselves as having always had a natural curiosity about the way the earth works and the way our environment is affected by the earth's processes. Some describe geochemistry as solving a puzzle and say you have to be able to work in teams of people, each of which contributes an expertise towards putting together all the pieces. All underscore that this is a field ideally suite for people who like to work outside.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING
People come to geochemistry from a range of undergraduate studies, including math, physics, and oceanography as well as chemistry and geology. Training outside geochemistry is increasingly beneficial as the field has become more interdisciplinary. A sound foundation in analytical chemistry and a breadth of coursework is recommended. Environmentally-related areas such as toxicology, hydrology, and sedimentology will prepare you for a job in environmental geochemistry. If you want to go into research, a Ph.D. and post-doctoral work are necessary. However, a career in industry or environmental management often does not require an advanced degree.

JOB OUTLOOK
The job market for geochemists is highly competitive. Fewer positions are opening up in government and academia. The one bright spot is environmental management which is expected to have the work and resources to employ geochemists into the next century. Positions in industry will pick up if oil company profits increase and exploration efforts are broadened. Opportunities in the mining industry may also be better if overseas projects come to fruition.

SALARY RANGE
TK

FOR MORE INFORMATION
American Geological Institute
4220 King Street
Alexandria, VA. 22302-1507
(703) 379-2480

Geological Society of America
3300 Penrose Place
P.O. Box 9140
Boulder, CO. 80301
(303) 447-2020

American Association of Petroleum Geologists
1444 South Boulder Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74119
(918) 584-2555

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
Geochemists recommend getting a strong foundation in a basic scientific discipline and stress the importance of analytical chemistry. Working as a research assistant for professors is suggested as a way to gain confidence about research and to help you get on your feet more quickly in a job environment. For those interested in working in the oil industry, mining, or in environmental management, summer internships are strongly recommended as a means of gaining early exposure to an industry work atmosphere.