Current opportunities for researches
We are looking for motivated students and postdoctoral researchers to join our research on the processes shaping coastal aquifers, seafloor sediments, and their interactions with the ocean. Our work combines field sampling, laboratory analysis, modeling, and isotope geochemistry to answer key questions about water, chemistry, and life beneath the sea.
| Microbial Life in Coastal Aquifers How does the transition from the open ocean to the dark, isolated aquifer—across steep redox, salinity, and light gradients—shape microbial communities and the evolution of their metabolic pathways? How do microbes adapt and interact at the interface of submarine groundwater discharge and the ocean, and how does this affect the balance between heterotrophic and autotrophic life? |
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| Sediment–Water Interactions on the Mediterranean Shelf Investigating porewater and groundwater exchanges with sediments to understand the fluxes of solutes and trace elements along the continental shelf, and their implications for coastal ecosystems. |
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| Mg and Sr Isotopes in Offshore Groundwater Using magnesium and strontium isotope geochemistry to study water–rock interactions in offshore groundwater and porewaters beneath the continental shelf off Martha’s Vineyard (U.S. East Coast). |
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| REEs and Nd Isotopes in Coastal Aquifers Assessing the behavior of rare earth elements and neodymium isotopes in coastal aquifers to quantify their fluxes to the ocean and their role in shaping marine geochemical budgets. |
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| Global Estimation of Solute Fluxes via Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) This project will quantify solute fluxes through SGD by integrating reactive-transport and groundwater flow models with geochemical frameworks. Transfer functions derived through interpolation will be applied alongside global geospatial databases to produce worldwide flux estimates. The work will address fundamental questions about the mechanisms governing solute transport in coastal aquifers, culminating in two key deliverables: rigorous global flux estimates and an SGD Flux Atlas — an interactive software platform with a graphical user interface for visualizing element-specific fluxes at a global scale. |
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| Coastal Aquifer Feedbacks on Climate Across Glacial–Interglacial Timescales This project investigates feedback mechanisms linking coastal aquifers to climate variability across glacial–interglacial cycles and under future climate change scenarios. By modeling the influence of sea level fluctuations on solute and alkalinity fluxes into the ocean, the study will quantify how these inputs evolve through time. The resulting flux estimates will be coupled with an ocean carbon box model to assess their impact on atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, providing new insight into the role of groundwater systems in the long-term carbon cycle. |
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