DR. ROSEMARY CAPO

Position: Associate Professor
Degree: Ph.D. (1990)
Institution: University of California at Los Angeles

Specialty: surficial processes and low-temperature geochemistry, using radiogenic isotopes as chemical tracers in marine and terrestrial environments
Research Group(s): Geochemistry; Environmental Science

Office: SRCC-401
Phone: 412-624-8873
Email:  click here
Research Web Page: n/a
Research Lab Group Page: n/a
Curriculum Vitae:  click here

Courses Offered:

Research Interests:

Dr. Capo's research involves studies of surficial processes and low-temperature geochemistry, in particular the use of radiogenic isotopes as chemical tracers and geochronological tools in marine and terrestrial environments. Current research includes detailed field, petrologic and geochemical study of weathering in arid (Las Cruces, New Mexico) and tropical (Kohala Peninsula, Hawaii) climates to quantify and determine the nature of eolian inputs to soils, to trace the weathering-induced release of cations from bedrock to soil and from soil to the hydrologic regime, and to model the effects of climate change on Quaternary terrestrial weathering and soil-forming processes. Other research includes the study of paleosols to better understand the nature of terrestrial weathering in the geologic past, studies of ground water and carbonate diagenesis, correlation of the strontium isotopic evolution of the oceans to paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic events, and the application of radiogenic isotopes to high resolution correlation of marine sediments.

Recent/Significant Publications:

Winters, W.R. and Capo, R.C., 2004, Groundwater flow parameterization of an Appalachian coal mine complex, Ground Water, v. 42, p. 700-710.

Whipkey, C.E., Capo, R.C., Hsieh, J.C.C., and Chadwick. O.A., 2002, Development of magnesian calcite and dolomite in Quaternary soils on the island of Hawaii, J. Sedimentary Research, v. 72, pp. 158-165.

Capo, R.C., Winters, W.R., Weaver, T.J., Stafford, S.L., Hedin, R. S., Stewart, B.W., 2001, Hydrogeologic and geochemical evolution of deep mine discharges, Irwin syncline, Pennsylvania, Proc. 22nd W. Virginia Surface Mine Drainage Task Force Symposium, p. 144-153.

Stewart, B.W., Capo, R.C., and Chadwick, O.A., 2001, Effects of precipitation on weathering rate and base cation provenance in volcanic soils, Kohala Peninsula, Hawaii, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 65, no.7, 1087-1099.

Capo, R.C., Whipkey, C.E., Chadwick, O.A., and Blachhre, J., 2000, Pedogenic origin of dolomite in a basaltic weathering profile, Kohala Peninsula, Hawaii, Geology, v. 28, p. 271-274.