Michael A. Velbel
Professor
Ph.D. Yale Geochemical kinetics & petrography of mineral-water reactions Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University 'phone (517)353-5273 velbel@pilot.msu.edu
Research Interests
My students and I study the geochemical kinetics (rates and mechanisms) of mineral-water interactions during rock and mineral weathering, from mineral to landscape scales. Our research emphasizes the geological, mineralogical, geochemical, and geomorphic factors which control mineral alterations at the Earth's surface and the migration of chemical elements through the landscape. Mineralogical and petrographic studies establish textural and paragenetic relationships among primary rock-forming silicates and their weathering products, and help constrain reaction stoichiometries and rate-determining steps. Watershed-scale field studies have investigated thermodynamics and kinetics of solute acquisition, and mass balance (input-output budgets) of southern hardwood forest watersheds of the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Related areas of research include; rock and mineral weathering and landform/landscape evolution; weathering contributions to global geochemical and sedimentary cycles, ancient and modern; weathering of building and monument stone; mineral weathering and landscape response to acid deposition; dissolution kinetics of halides and other evaporite minerals; terrestrial weathering of Antarctic meteorites; and pre-terrestrial aqueous alteration on meteorite parent bodies and other rocky solar-system objects.
Aerial view of the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Otto, North Carolina (U.S. Department of Agricultural, Forest Service).
Historical streamflow on Little Tennessee River near Coweeta, 1965-1991 (USGS-WRD) - Larger Image
SNC meteorite from Antarctic Meteorite Collection (NASA/JSC).
Teaching Activities
I presently teach GLG 201 The Dynamic Earth; GLG 321 Mineralogy and Geochemistry; GLG 431 Sedimentation and Stratigraphy; and GLG/CSS 863 Mineral-Water Interactions. In conjunction with other faculty from the Departments of Geological Sciences, Entomology, Botany and Plant Pathology, and Sociology, new classes in Earth System Science are being developed as part of the USRA/NASA Earth System Science Education initiative. I participated in the National Science Foundation Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement Program's Workshop on Teaching Mineralogy, held at Smith College in June 1996, and remain active in the Mineralogical Society of America's Mineralogy Teaching interest group. In the past, I have taught undergraduate courses in Historical Geology, Geology of the Human Environment, and Sedimentology, and graduate-level classes in Sandstone and Shale, Chemistry of Natural Waters, and Clay Mineralogy.
- GLG 201 The Dynamic Earth
- GLG 321 Mineralogy and Geochemistry
- GLG 431 Sedimentation and Stratigraphy
- GLG/CSS 863 Mineral-Water Interactions
Research, Publications & Other Information
Michael A. Velbel - Department of Geological Sciences - 206 Natural Science Building - Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 46624-1115 -
phone (517)353-5273 - fax (517)353-8787 - velbel@pilot.msu.edu
