People | Thomas M. Church

• Postdoc, CNRS-NSF Postdoctoral Exchange Fellow, University of Paris VI, IPG, 1972.
• Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California (E. Goldberg), 1970.
• A.B., Chemistry (m.c.l.), Colgate University (S. Brown), 1964.

• Atmospheric Chemistry: Transport of continental emissions to the ocean; Chemistry of marine precipitation; Trace element deposition to natural waters
• Chemical Oceanography: Trace metal transport and cycling in salt marsh, estuarine, coastal and open ocean waters
• Sedimentary Geochemistry: Redox processes of metals, sulfur, and nutrients
• Marine Chemistry: Sea water precipitates and oceanic mineralization

NSF Volatile Polonium and Tellerium Species in the Marine Environment

The basic chemical properties of polonium and tellurium suggest that alkylation will occur via common reactions, and strong field evidence exists for the production of volatile species of both elements in marine enviornments. However volatile species have not yet been directly observed in marine systems.

NSF Impact of Atmospheric Depostition on the Distribution and Speciation of Trace Elements in the Upper Ocean

Focus on Iron in the Sargasso Sea: This study will contribute toward an understanding of the biogeochemistry of the Sargasso Sea, building on the foundation of NSF-funded programs such as BATS, BTM, OFP and AEROCE. It will also provide general, mechanistic information regarding the delivery of aeolian iron to the surface ocean, and the biogeochemical transformations of iron in the upper water column.

Maria Wilburn,  M.S. student, Oceanography Program,  (B.S. Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry concentration, University of Delaware, 2007)  Research Interest:  Estuarine biogeochemistry, nutrient flow and pollution sources to the Delaware Bay. 

Amanda Vandermark, Ph.D. student, Oceanography Program, (B.S. in Chemistry, Biogeochemistry concentration, St. John Fisher College, 2009), Research Interest:  Environmental Chemistry and Biogeochemistry.

David Marsan, M.S. Student, Oceanography Program (B.S. Biochemistry and B.A. History, University of Delaware, 2011).  Research Interest:  Biogeochemical cycles of trace elements in estuarine and ocean environments, Environmental Chemistry and Biogeochemistry.

Sylvain Rigaud, Post Doc, Oceanography Program, (Ph.D. Environmental Geosciences, University of Aix-Marseilles III, 2011),  Research Interest:  Biogeochemical cycles of trace elements in coastal aquatic environments, sediment biogeochemicstry, early diagenesis, modeling of transport-reactions processes, thermodynamic calculations, bioavailability and ecotoxicological implication.

Elizabeth Naylor, Staff Assistant.

• CHEM/MAST667 Environmental Chemistry
• MAST601 Introduction to Oceanography
• MAST646 Chemical Oceanography
• MAST853 Oceanography Seminar
• MAST867 Isotope Geochemistry

Thesis

Church, T. M. 1970. Marine Barite. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, San Diego. 100 pp.

Book

Refereed Publications
Recent

167. Baskaran, M., T.M. Church, G. Hong, A. Kumar, M. Qiang, H. Choi, S. Rigaud, and K. Maiti. 2013.  Effects of flow rates and composition of the filter, and decay/ingrowth correction factors involved with the determination of in situ particulate ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb in seawater.  Limnol. Oceanogr.: Methods 11: 126-138. doi: 10.4319/lom.2013.11.126. (pdf)

166.  von Glasow, R., T.D. Jickells, A. Baklanov, G.R. Carmichael, T.M. Church, L. Gallardo, C. Hughes, M. Kanakidou, P.S. Liss, L. Mee, R. Raine, P. Ramachandran, R. Ramesh, K. Sundseth, U. Tsunogai, M. Uematsu, T. Zhu. 2013.  Megacities and Large Urban Agglomerations in the Coastal Zone: Interactions Between Atmosphere, Land, and Marine Ecosystems.  Ambio, 42: 13-28, doi: 10.1007/s13280-012-0343-9. (pdf)

165.  Church, T.M., S. Rigaud, M. Baskaran, A., Kumar, J. Friedrich, P. Masque, V. Puigcorbe, G. Kim, O. Radakovitch, G. Hong, H.-Y. Choi, and G. Stewart. 2012.  Intercalibration studies of ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb in dissolved and particulate seawater samples.  Limnol. Oceanogr.: Methods, 10: 776-789, doi: 10.4319/lom.2012.10.776. (pdf)

164.  Bahrou, A. S., P.R.L. Ollivier, T.E. Hanson, E. Tessier, D. Amouroux, T.M. Church. 2012. Volatile dimethyl polonium produced by aerobic marine microorganisms. Environ. Sci. Technol. 46(20):114402-11407. doi: org/10.1021/es3006546. (pdf)

163.  Sholkovitz, E.R., P.N. Sedwick, T.M. Church, A.R. Baker, C.F. Powell. 2012  Fractional solubility of aerosol iron: Synthesis of a global-scale data set.  Geochimical et Cosmochimica Acta, 89, 173-189.  doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2012.04.022.(pdf)

162.  Shelley, R.U., P.N. Sedwick, T.S. Bibby, P. Cabedo-Sanz, T.M. Church, R.J. Johnson, A.I. Macey, C.M. Marsay, E.R. Sholkovitz, S.J. Ussher, P.J. Worsfold, and M.C. Lohan. 2012.  Controls on dissolved cobalt in surface waters of the Sargasso Sea: Comparisons with iron and aluminum.  Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 26, GB2020, doi:10.1029/2011GB004155. (pdf)

161. Kim, G., T.-H. Kim,  and T.M. Church. 2011.  "²¹⁰Po in the Environment: Biogeochemical cycling and Bioavailability" in Chapter 14,  Baskaran, M. (Ed.), Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry, vol 2, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.  doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-1063.7-8_14. (pdf)

160.  Ollivier, P. R. L., A. S. Bahrou, T. M. Church. and T. E. Hanson.  2011.  Aeration Controls the Reduction and Methylation of Tellurium by the Aerobic, Tellurite-Resistant Marine Yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 77(13):4610-4617.  doi: 10.1128/AEM.00351-11.    (pdf)

*Pellenbarg, Robert E. (1976) Ph.D.   

*Leone, Gerald M. (1977) M.S.    

*Conway, William P. (1979) M.S.   

"Lord, Charles J. III (1980) Ph.D.      

*Eastman, Kurt W. (1980) M.S.

*Fleisher, Martin (1985) M.S.

*O'Shea, Leo E. (1987)  M.S.

*Hartman, Mary (1987) M.S.         

*Ferdelman, Timothy G. (1988) M.S.

*Johnston, Kirk (1989) M.S.

*Ferdelman, Timothy G. (1994) Ph.D

*Burkhard, Caroline (1994) Ph.D.

*Kim, Guebuem (1998) Ph.D.

*Roadman, Megan (2001) M.S.

*Achilles, Kate (2004) Ph.D.

*Tian, Zheng-Long (2006) M.S.

*Bahrou, Andrew (2008) M.S.

*Ruocco, Maria (2011) M.S.

*Vandermark, Amanda (2011) M.S.  

Click here for a complete list of publications.

Click here for a list of thesis titles for Former Students.