Webinar title: Environmental Change Impacts on the Fate and Speciation of Metal(loid)s in Soil and Water

Speaker: Donald L. Sparks

Webinar time: October 23, 2024 (Wednesday) 14:30

Venue: Room 231, New Environmental Building

Inviter: Xinde Cao, Xiaoyun Xu

Abstract:

Environmental changes influence the environmental behavior and fate of soil metals. This lecture, grounded in the current situation of American agriculture, investigates how toxic metals such as arsenic, nickel, and zinc, as well as plant nutrients like phosphorus and sulfur, interact with soil under different environmental conditions. Utilizing synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy, it integrates kinetic processes with molecular studies. From a molecular perspective, it elucidates the limiting factors and mechanisms involved in the soil chemical kinetics of heavy metals, reveals the formation mechanism of surface deposits on layered double hydroxides, and discovers their crucial role in the migration and transformation of toxic metals in natural soils. These findings provide a scientific basis for formulating remediation strategies for heavy metals in soil.

About the speaker:

Donald L. Sparks is the Lead Professor at the University of Delaware, Director of the Delaware Environmental Institute, and an internationally renowned soil scientist and environmental geochemist. He previously served as the President of both the International Union of Soil Sciences and the Soil Science Society of America. His primary research area is soil interface geochemistry, where he employs in-situ spectroscopic and microscopic techniques to systematically study the chemical speciation and biogeochemical behavior of heavy metals, nutrients, and organic matter in soils, sediments, and water bodies. His publications have been cited nearly 58,105 times (H-index of 122), and he has served as an editorial board member for journals such as Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., Chem. Geol., Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., Geoderma, and Pedosphere.