Overview

Professor Lou Derry joined the EAS faculty in 1996 following an appointment as a Visiting Fellow. Lou studies the complex and intricate interactions of chemistry, biology and geology that occur near the Earth`s surface. These interactions have great consequences for the function and habitability of the Earth`s environment, both through long geological time scales and in the coming decades and centuries for human society. Derry is currently the Director of the Cornell Program in Biogeochemistry and Environmental Change, an interdisciplinary program with faculty and graduate student participation from across the University.

Research Focus

Evolution and function of the carbon and related biogeochemical cycles through time, Coupling between climate, tectonics and surface processes, CO2 sequestration.

Instruction Focus

Biogeochemistry, Hands-on instructional techniques, fully integrating mathematics into the undergraduate environmental science curriculum.

Additional Links

• Biogeochemistry and Environmental Biocomplexity
• Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
• Critical Zone Exploration Network
• Louis Derry

Honors, Awards and Appointments

• Fellow, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIfAR) - 2003

Professional Activities

• Energy and the Cornell Institute for the Sustainable Future, President`s Council (Cornell). - 2007
• Goldschmidt Meeting, Geochemical Society, session organizer - 2007
• Geological Society of America - 2006
• American Geophysical Union - 2006
• University of Colorado, Dept. of Geological Sciences - 2006

Selected Publications

• L. A. Derry, A. Kurtz, K. Ziegler, O.A. Chadwick, (2005) Biological control of terrestrial silica cycling and export fluxes to watersheds. Nature, 433, 728-731.
• Evans, M.J., L.A. Derry and C. France-Lanord, Degassing of metamorphic carbon dioxide from the Nepal Himalaya. Geophys. Geochem. Geosyst., in press 2/19/08.
• Sacks, G.L., L.A. Derry and J.T. Brenna, 2006, Elemental Speciation by Parallel Elemental and Molecular Mass Spectrometry (PEMMS) and Peak Profile Matching. Analytical Chemistry, 78, 8445-8455, doi 10.1021/ac0612170.
• Monastra, V.M., L.A. Derry and O.A. Chadwick, 2004, Multiple sources of lead in a Hawaiian soil chronosequence. Chemical Geology, 209, 215-231.
• Evans, M. J. and Derry, L. A. (2002) Quartz control of high germanium-silicon ratios in hydrothermal fluids. Geology, 30, 1019-1022.
• Kurtz A. C., Derry L. A., and Chadwick O. (2002) Germanium/silicon fractionation in the weathering environment. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 66, 1525-1537.
• Kurtz A. C., Derry L. A., and Chadwick O. A. (2001) Accretion of Asian dust to Hawaiian soils: isotopic, elemental and mineral mass balances. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 65, 1971-1983.
• Chadwick, O. A., Derry, L. A., Vitousek, P. M., Huebert, B. J. and Hedin, L. O. (1999) Changing sources of nutrients during four million years of ecosystem development. Nature, 397, 491-497.
• Kennedy, M.J., O.A. Chadwick, P.M. Vitousek, L.A. Derry and D.M. Hendricks (1998) Replacement of weathering with atmospheric sources of base cations during ecosystem development, Hawaiian Islands. Geology, 26, 1015-1018.
• France-Lanord C., Derry L.A. (1997) Organic carbon burial forcing of the carbon cycle from Himalayan erosion. Nature, 390, 65-75.
• Derry L.A. and France-Lanord C. (1996) Neogene Himalayan weathering history and river 87Sr/86Sr: Impact on the marine Sr record. Earth Planet. Sci. Letts. 142, 59-76.
• Derry, L.A. Kaufman A.J. and Jacobsen S.B. (1992) Sedimentary cycling and environmental change in the Late Proterozoic: Evidence from stable and radiogenic isotopes. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 1317-1329.

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