College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Geology

Julia Perdrial

Assistant Professor of Geochemistry

Teaching and Research

As an environmental bio-geochemist and mineralogist I take a strong interdisciplinary approach to study low temperature environmental terrestrial and aquatic processes by combining experimental and field approaches. The aim of my research is to elucidate how the geosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere interact to shape the Earth’s terrestrial surface, now often termed the Critical Zone (CZ). This Critical Zone can be thought of as the skin of the earth: the terrestrial surface spans from the top of the canopy down to the bedrock - including ground water - and provides us with water, nutrients and many other ecosystem services.

My current overall research goal is to elucidate how low-temperature aquatic and terrestrial biogeochemical processes are impacted by disturbances linked to global environmental change. For this I look at metals, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon in soils and streams with a combination of analytical tools (C-Analyzer, ICP-OES, Ion Chromatography, UVvis-, fluorescence- and FTIR-spectroscopy) and computational quantification (PARAFAC analysis of fluorescence data).

I enjoy teaching geochemistry (GEOL135, GEOL 235, GEOL 371) and Earth materials (GEOL110) in the lab, field and classroom and I supervise research projects (GEOL198).

Publications

McIntosh, J., Schaumberg, C., Perdrial, J.N., Harpold, A.A., Vazquez-Ortega, A., Rasmussen, C., Vinson, D., Zapata-Rios, X., Brooks, P.D., Meixner, T., Pelletier, J., Derry, L., Chorover, J. (2017). Geochemical evolution of the Critical Zone across variable time scales informs concentration-discharge relationships: Jemez River Basin Critical Zone Observatory. Water Resources Research.
Clark, K.E., Shanley, J.B., Scholl, M.A., Perdrial, N., Perdrial, J.N., Plante, A.F., McDowell, W.H. (2017). Tropical River suspended sediment and solute dynamics in storms during an extreme drought. Water Resources Research.
Miller, M. Boyer, E., McKnight, D., Brown, M., Iavorivska, L., Hunsaker, C. Inamdar, S. McDowell, W., Kaplan, L., Gabor, R., Lin, H., Johnson, D., Perdrial, J.N. (2016). Variation of organic matter quantity and quality in streams at Critical Zone Observatory watersheds. Water Resources Research 52(10): 8202-8216.
Li, L., Maher, K., Navarre-Sitchler, A., Druhan, J., Meile, C., Lawrence, C., Moore, J., Perdrial, J.N., Sullivan, P., Thompson, A., Jin, L., Bolton, E.W., Brantley, S., Dietrich, W., Mayer, K.U., Steefel, C.I., Valocchi, A., Zachara, J., Kocar, B., McIntosh, J., Bao, Ch., Tutolo, B.M., Beisman, J., Kumar, M., Sonnenthal, E. (2016). Expanding the role of reactive transport models in critical zone processes. Earth-Science Reviews 165: 280-301.
Caulk, R. A., E. Ghazanfari, Perdrial, J.N and N. Perdrial (2016). "Experimental investigation of fracture aperture and permeability change within Enhanced Geothermal Systems." Geothermics 62: 12-21. (Effort 10%, Impact factor 2.32).
Vázquez-Ortega, A., D. Huckle, Perdrial, J.N, M. K. Amistadi, M. Durcik, C. Rasmussen, J. McIntosh and J. Chorover (2016). "Solid-phase redistribution of rare earth elements in hillslope pedons subjected to different hydrologic fluxes." Chemical Geology 426: 1-18.
Vázquez-Ortega, A., Perdrial, J.N, A. Harpold, X. Zapata, C. Rasmussen, J. McIntosh, M. Schaap, J. Pelletier, P. Brooks, M. K. Amistadi and J. Chorover (2015). "Rare earth elements as reactive tracers of biogeochemical weathering in forested rhyolitic terrain." Chemical Geology 391 19-32.
Stielstra, C.M., Lohse, K.A., Chorover, J., McIntosh, J.C., Barron-Gafford, G.A., Perdrial, J.N., Litvak, M., Barnard, H.R., Brooks, P.D. (2015). Climatic, Landscape, and Edaphic Controls on Soil Carbon Fluxes in Seasonally Snow-covered Forest Ecosystems. Biogeochemistry. (Effort 10%, Impact factor 3.73).
Perdrial, J.N., Thompson, A., Chorover, J. (2015). “Soil geochemistry in the Critical Zone: Influence on atmosphere, surface- and ground-water composition” in “Principles and dynamics of the Critical Zone”, Houser, C., Giardino, R. (eds).
Perdrial, J.N., J. McIntosh, A. Harpold, P. Brooks, P. Troch, J. Ray, X. Zapata-Rios, C Porter, J.Chorover. (2014). Controls of stream water carbon in seasonally snow-covered mountain catchments: impact of water fluxes, catchment aspect and seasonal processes. Biogeochemistry 118(1-3): 273-290.